Next Stop: Transit Tech

In this *special* crossover episode with the host of the National Center for Mobility Management's podcast, Mobility Lines. Andrew, Kevin and Marcela discuss recent news in transit technology - including new developments with the Transit app, the City of Pittsburgh's plans to launch Mobility as a Service (MaaS), automated vehicles and research on how to harness data for an equitable deployment of electric vehicles.

In this episode, Marcela and Andrew interview Christopher Belden, Duluth Transit Authority’s Director of Planning & Grants. DTA, in partnership with Masabi and Transit app, launched the MyDTA fare payment system. The launch gives DTA’s passengers the ability for a more seamless experience of mobile ticketing and trip planning through the MyDTA or Transit mobile applications. The launch is anticipated to provide shorten boarding time and provide riders and operators a more efficient and safe experience.

In this episode, Marcela chats with Peter Kimball and Kevin Polette from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC). In May 2021, a team from NIRPC launched a web feature that details the accessibility of every bus stop in Northwest Indiana. The map aims to inform transit riders to navigate bus stops across municipal and regional systems, determine their accessibility and plan their trip. Listen in for details on the data collection process, the launch of their map and lessons learned!

In this episode, Andrew and Marcela open up season 2 of Next Stop: Transit Tech. In the next year, public transportation will be navigating the post-pandemic world. What are some of the practices instilled during the pandemic that will continue forward? How has transportation changed, and what will the road ahead look like? How will emerging technologies facilitate transportation systems building back better?

Next Stop: Transit Tech hosts will also look forward to Year 2 activities of the National Center for Applied Transit Technology. Along with publications, webinars & podcasts, they discuss upcoming technical assistance opportunities for transportation providers and how to stay connected.

Next Stop: Transit Tech is hosted by the team behind the National Center for Applied Transit Technology, a Federal Transit Administration funded technical assistance center that is administered by the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA). CTAA is a national nonprofit association representing rural, small city, tribal and other forms of specialized transportation providers including services for seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, non-emergency medical and for Tribal areas. CTAA has over 1,000 members and affiliates in their network. Today, we are interviewing Scott Bogren, CTAA’s Executive Director to close out this season with a retrospective on 2020 and what are trends as we return to the new normal.

Next Stop: Transit Tech chats with Suzanne Murtha, with AECOM’s Automated Bus Consortium, and Jean Ruestman from Michigan DOT. The Consortium is a first-of-its-kind approach to accelerate the development of automated transit technologies, and will combine the purchasing power and decision-making of its founding transit agencies. If implemented, their pilot projects will use full-sized, full-speed, accessible buses and allow Consortium members to demonstrate and deploy automated technology in a live service environment. We'll chat about the state of automated vehicles and the future of the technology in the transit realm.

Next Stop: Transit Tech speaks to Angie Jones from the Grant County People Mover about the implementation process for their new platform, which allows their agency to provide real-time arrival updates, track ridership and provide passenger count information to their riders. People Mover provides curb-to-curb transportation that provides service to Grant County, OR, dial-a-ride service, and intercity service to Walla Walla, WA, Bend, OR and surrounding areas. The Grant County People Mover provided over 40,000 trips in FY2019 while putting over 260,000 revenue miles on the ground.

Next Stop: Transit Tech is thrilled to interview Delilah Garcia, the Operations Director at the North Central Regional Transit District (NCRTD) in New Mexico. NCRTD operates several local and intercity bus routes in northern New Mexico, serving Santa Fe, Espanola, Taos and other small communities. In total, NCRTD runs a network of 28 fixed and flex routes (26 of which are fare free), two demand response routes and one Dial-A-Ride service. Recently, NCRTD moved from a hand calculated scheduling and dispatching process to computer-aided dispatch (CAD). Throughout the country, agencies are moving toward software that streamlines and digitizes the scheduling and dispatch process. We’re here to hear more about the behind the scenes work that goes into the implementation of new software and processes, and about key takeaways for other agencies looking to do the same.

Next Stop: Transit Tech wanted to feature the team from We-Cycle and the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority in western Colorado to hear more about the interplay between We-Cycle’s bikeshare program, and the transit network in the Roaring Fork Valley. Micromobility solutions, such as bikeshare play a critical role in providing first/last mile trips to transit stops. We are thrilled to hear more about how bikeshare and public transportation are working together in the Roaring Fork Valley to keep people moving.

Next Stop: Transit Tech interviews CARTA in Chattanooga, TN to hear more about their partnership with Vanderbilt University to enhance mobility and energy efficiency in their transit system. Their goal is to improve public transportation accessibility in Chattanooga from 41% to 73% of people who have frequent public transportation access within ¼ mile of their home. In this episode, we’ll hear more about how this project came to fruition, how it’s going and takeaways for other transit agencies.