Transit Unplugged

Imagine starting your transit career as a driver when you were nineteen and then going on to launch an entirely new transit service for one agency and now at the helm to launch a revamped service for an up-and-coming transit agency.

This is what Josh Baker of DASH (Alexandria Transit) has done in his career thus far with more great plans on the way.

This is one of those "wow, that's amazing" interviews from a person who has done and tried almost everything there is to do in transit.

Josh and Paul also reflect on how traffic patterns have changed in the Washington DC Metro area and how transit needs to--and will--adapt to these changes.

Next week we hear from David Bruffy of Mountain Line Transit in West Virginia on what his community says it needs in a transit system and how David is making that a reality.

This week on Transit Tech, Tris interviews Tyler Dvorak of Trapeze and Terry Bills of Esri about the how and why of using data at your agency. Combining data sets, especially spatial and demographic data, gives transit agencies tremendous decision making power. Learn why the agencies who most effectively use data to learn about customers and make decisions are also the agencies who are most successful at delivering services to those customers.

In her Messaging Minute, Elea Carey talks back to school communications strategies to get kids back on transit.

And in Paul's transit industry news, he covers the results of an Imperial College of London study on COVID in transit.

Plus more news from around the transit industry.

This episode of Transit Unplugged In-Depth comes from the SUN Conference in Missoula, Montana.

Paul sat down with Scott Bogren of CTAA, Ed Redfern of The Bus Coalition, Rich Sampson of SWATA, and Elea Carey to talk about the massive infrastructure bill that just passed the U.S. Senate.

In this very special episode, Paul and the guests dive into why this bill could be a historic, watershed moment for public transit in the U.S. The pandemic opened eyes at all levels of government that public transit isn't just a local issue, it's a national imperative. The ramifications of this five-year investment in transit infrastructure allow transit agencies to create, as Ed Redfern said, "Not your grandma's or parent's transit system anymore."

This week on Transit Unplugged News and Views we have two Newsmaker interviews.

First Paul chats with John Seber Executive Director of the Central Indiana Regional Transport Authority (CIRTA) and they get into how John is helping the counties he serves work together and provide an integrated intercounty transit network. John also reflects on when he was working with Paul at WMATA and how a college poster sticks with him today.

If that wasn't enough, Paul chats with Stewart Mader and Scott Bogren about a new study from CTAA on how transit supported communities during the pandemic and 6 concrete things we should be doing next.

For the next several episodes look for Paul's interviews from the Small Urban Network Conference happening now in Montana.

If you like what you hear on Transit Unplugged, take a moment leave a rating and review. Ratings and reviews are how people find new shows to listen to, and don't you think more people should be listening to us!

And speaking of liking...guess what! We're in the running for another award! Take a moment and give a vote for us on the Podcast Awards.

This week Paul comes to you from the Bluegrass State and historic Louisville, Kentucky. Paul visited Carrie Butler, Executive Director of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC), in-person in her office in the former Union Station from the Louisville-Nashville rail line. You can read more about Paul's visit in his post on the Vontas blog. 

Carrie started at TARC almost a year ago in the midst of the pandemic, but that challenge only seems to have buoyed her optimism and drive to bring fresh optimism and excitement to the agency.

Listen to learn Carrie's plan for the future of TARC and how she's tackling the driver shortage that is dogging agencies across the U.S. and Canada.

Next week Paul is chatting with John Seber of Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority on Transit Unplugged News and Views. Paul is attending the upcoming SUN Conference., so look for some special interviews with transit leaders over the next several weeks.

Don't forget to rate and review Transit Unplugged wherever you listen to podcasts. Leaving ratings and reviews helps people find Transit Unplugged.

This week on Transit Unplugged News and View we have the first Transit Tech segment. These will be monthly segments where we interview on new innovations in transit technology.

This week Tris chats with Dr. Farrokh Mansouri, head of data science at Trapeze, about using machine learning and AI to predict how weather and traffic affect on-time performance. If you're interested in how Trapeze approaches machine learning and AI you might like Farrokh's recent blog post.

Paul gives his weekly look into the latest transit news and this week gives us some valuable tips for running more effective meetings in his future of transit segment.

Mike Bismeyer reflects on the transit leaders who were willing to take risks and try new technologies. Imagine where we'd be if we never innovated in transit?

Next week on Transit Unplugged In-Depth Paul talks with Carrie Butler, head of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC). This is another interview that will energize you and inspire you for what's coming as we emerge from the pandemic.

This week we wrap up our mini-tour of Latin America with Paul's conversation with Joubert Flores, Chairman of ANTPTRILHOS in Brazil.

Joubert has been an integral part of the transit industry for over 45 years and his insights into where the transportation system in Brazil has been, and where it's going in the future, are essential listening for all transit agencies.

To close out this pair of interviews, Paul hosted a roundtable with Paola Realpozo, VP Marketing at Trapeze, and Juan Goritti, Sales Director for Latin America, with their thoughts on the state of public transit in Latin America.

Next week on Transit Unplugged News and Views we have the first Transit Tech segment with Dr. Farohk Mansouri, Lead Data Scientist at Trapeze. Dr. Mansouri and Tris talk about what machine learning and AI have in store for the transit industry.

Thank you for being a Transit Unplugged listener. You can help support the podcast and help other people find it by leaving a rating and review in your podcast app.

If you'd like to be a guest on Transit Unplugged you can email our producer Tris Hussey at [email protected].

Until next week, ride safe and ride happy.

This week on the first episode of Transit Unplugged News and Views (what we use to call Comfort's Corner) Paul chats with Andrew Bata of UITP, North America. Paul and Andrew talk about Andrew's former role as Chief Innovator at New York MTA. He and Paul continue with his vision of the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for transit agencies around the world.

Elea Carey continues the thread with how agencies should communicate getting people back to transit.

And finally, Paul wraps up the episode with insights into one of the biggest challenges facing agencies right now: recruiting and training drivers for the coming ridership surge.

Next week on Transit Unplugged In Depth we continue our Latin American series with Joubert Flores of Brazil's national rail transport association.

The bustling city of Fortaleza could be a model for how operators, transit agencies, and cities can work together to deliver sustainable, technology-enabled public transit. This week Paul chats with Dimas Barreira is the president of SINDIONIBUS, a group of 17 transit operators serving the city of Fortaleza and the surrounding area.

What's unique in Fortaleza isn't the close partnership between SINDIONIBUS and the city, but the confederation of independent companies who have come together to agree on how to deliver transit to the 2.7 million people in the region.

Together they have invested in technology, like MaaS, bike sharing for transit riders, automated payment systems, and a fully GPS and ITS enabled fleet of over 2000 buses.

But technology and working together is the part of the story you see, beneath the surface Dimas is a true transit leader and visionary. He sees, and promotes, the connection between riders, the city government, and the city at large. He has a vision for transit supporting UN Climate and Sustainability goals and ensuring SINDIONIBUS leverages technology to adapt to our changing world.

For more show notes and a complete transcript visit TransitUnplugged.com.

What do you do when you're given the reins of one of the biggest rail projects in history that's three years late and well over budget? How do you take something that has gone decidedly off the rails, back on track?

For Mark Wild of Crossrail UK, it meant going back to the fundamentals of project management. He focused on grappling with the enormous complexity of the project, correcting things that had gone off course, and building a team that could adapt to uncertainty.

No project of this scale goes off without a hitch, and Crossrail is no different. After running The Tube, Mark took on the challenge of completing the project and getting trains into stations. This episode of Transit Unplugged is a great lesson in applying project fundamentals to a project that has gone pear-shaped.

Learn more in the show notes: https://www.transitunplugged.com/mark-wild-of-crossrail-uk/