New and improved technologies are cropping up all over the world, including in the transportation industry. The speed of innovation has been felt by city engineers, planners, and policymakers as they work hard to meet the demands of their residents.   How can tech's need to move fast work with the government's responsibility to protect without breaking things? Tune in to our conversation about innovative procurement processes with Kirk Talbott, CIO of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and Jeremy Devray-Benichou, VP of Customer Success at UrbanLeap, a platform helps cities test and evaluate innovative solutions.   On another note, happy Thanksgiving and stay safe!   LINKS:

• Kirk Talbott, CIO of MARTA
• Jeremy Devray-Benichou, VP of Customer Success at UrbanLeap
• MARTA
• UrbanLeap

As more and more people move back into dense urban areas, demand for autonomous vehicles is inevitable. Whether you've thought about it or not, AV does affect logistics and consumer goods delivery. City planners must think quickly about how to manage this emergent technology to ensure utopian convenience doesn’t create a dystopian nightmare. 

On this episode, Allan Rutter, head of the Freight Mobility and Infrastructure Investment Analysis Division at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, stops by to share his insights on the future of consumer goods delivery.

LINKS:

• Allan Rutter
• Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• NACTO's Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism: Second Edition
• National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)

Policy actions from Capitol Hill touch local jurisdictions throughout the country, especially when it comes too funding. What kind of impact does DC have on your ability to innovate and your bottomline?

On this final INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART, John Roberti, VP of Government Relations and Strategy at Cubic Corporation, speaks with us about his job as a lobbyist and what's happening with transportation and mobility issues in Congress.

LINKS:

• John Roberti
• Cubic Corporation
• INTERSECT19

Once upon a time, transportation was about building roads and filling potholes. Like everything else in this world, however, it's now influenced by technology.

On this fourth INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART, we speak with Greg Winfree, Director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) about connected vehicles in Texas. Texas doesn't do anything small...and that includes transportation and mobility.

Tune in to hear what all the state's been up to!

LINKS:

• Greg Winfree
• Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• INTERSECT19 conference

We're wrapping up Day 3 of INTERSECT19 with Crissy Ditmore, Director of Strategy for Cubic Transportation Systems, and some policy talk on mobility as a service (MaaS)!

What exactly is MaaS? What does it involve and who does it serve? It's not a product...and it involves many different parties. Still don't know? Don't worry—tune into this episode and Crissy will explain everything from traffic management systems to on-demand services.

This is the third special episode covering INTERSECT19! We're so excited to have you join us this week and we hope you have a lot of helpful takeaways!

LINKS:

• Crissy Ditmore
• Cubic Transportation Systems
• INTERSECT19 conference

The transportation industry does a great job of talking to each other. However, it doesn't do such a great job of talking to people outside of the industry. Why does it need to be good at both?

Krishna Desai, the Global Marketing Manager for Cubic Transportation Systems, shares with POLICYSMART why it's so critical for the transportation and ITS industries to become better at speaking to others. Some of the reasons include the need to recruit great Millennial talent, to share with private companies what our real transportation needs are, and to explain clearly why important projects need funding.

We bring you another special episode on this second day of INTERSECT19! Tune in to find out more reasons why ITS needs a message makeover and how the industry can go about doing it.

LINKS:

• Krishna Desai
• Cubic Transportation Systems
• INTERSECT19 conference

Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), is the newest GRIDSMART Hall of Fame-er and we’re very excited to have him with us on our first special INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART!   Everyone knows that Bay Area traffic is heavy—it’s a popular place to live, after all. The good thing is that the Bay Area also happens to be one of America’s most innovative places, if not THE most innovative. That being said, what is CCTA doing to innovate in transportation?   CCTA was recently awarded a $7.5 million grant from USDOT. They’re using it to work on three cool demos as a part of a four-year Automated Driving System (ADS) pilot program. Randy talks about these demos with us. Tune in to find out more about these AV, CAV, SAV (and more!) initiatives.   LINKS:

• Randy Iwasaki
• Contra Costa Transportation Authority
• News release: Contra Costa Transportation Authority Wins $7.5 Million USDOT Grant for Automated Driving Systems Pilot Program
• INTERSECT19 conference

What happens when the curb becomes too appealing? What can we do about it? The curb is loved by more than just cars and trucks nowadays. Bikes, scooters, rideshare, and even food trucks want a piece of it—and they're willing to fight each other for it.

Jim Barbaresso, HNTB's Senior VP and National Practice Leader for Intelligent Transportation Systems, shares with us this week what's happening to the curb now, what will happen to the curb in the future, and how we can shape curb policy to ensure the most efficient and fair use of it.

LINKS:

• Jim Barbaresso
  • Jim's email: [email protected]
• Jim Barbaresso's column on Axios
• HNTB

Pedestrian fatalities have been rising every year for the last 10 years. Why? Do smartphones have anything to do with it? What about legalized marijuana? Maybe it's the type of car you're driving.

In the spirit of Pedestrian Safety Month, we speak with Wes Guckert, Founder and CEO of The Traffic Group, about what is causing all these pedestrian fatalities, who is getting hit, and what cities have been doing and can start doing to reduce the number of deaths.

LINKS:

• Wes Guckert, Founder and CEO of The Traffic Group
• "Pedestrian Fatalities: What is Going On?" by Wes Guckert, Freak Speak
• Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Report: Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State

It's back-to-school week for students across the country! Most of us would consider this bad news, but the Boston Public School District gives us something to smile and marvel about. The school district went from spending $2,000 a year per student—just on school buses—to trimming a total of $5 million. All done by an algorithm. That's not all: buses are driving 1 million fewer miles a year and cutting 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per day.

Want to hear about the results and how Boston achieved them? Tune in to this episode of POLICYSMART as we speak with Emma Coleman, Route Fifty's Assistant Editor!

LINKS:

• Emma Coleman
• How One City Saved $5 Million by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm