Transit Unplugged

Paul's on vacation this week so our producer Tris Hussey is in the host's chair for this episode.

News in this episode:

• Proterra goes public on the NASDAQ
• US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg highlights and thanks the transit industry for its work getting people vaccinated.
• Robert Yu was tapped as President and General Manager for Oahu Transit Services.
• Vince Pellegrin, COO of Metro Transit retires after 24 years at the agency. We wish him the best on his retirement.
• The Chicago Transit Authority has ended capacity limits on buses and trains. Because the federal mask mandate is still in effect, they will deploy employee volunteers to help the public understand the rules and what the CTA is doing to keep them safe.

Our feature interview is with Stewart Mader of VAX Transit. Beyond spearheading getting transit agencies involved in rolling out vaccines in the U.S., Canada, and U.K., he's been doing a lot of thinkings about the future of transit.

After talking about the success of VAX Transit, they move on to discuss the role of commuter rail in our new reality. Stewart, and Paul, both feel a sea change is needed. Commuter rail is better thought of as regional rail that gets people into the city from outlying areas. This is a discussion we need to continue in another episode.

Related to masks and health, both Stewart and Elea Carey talk about communicating health and safety, and masks, to the public. Stewart mentions his article in Mass Transit with advice on masks for transit agencies and Elea talks about how to expand the discussion away from masks per se to how transit is a healthy way to travel.

Finally in Mike's Minute we get a great piece of advice from his dad that makes the world a little better place.

Next week Paul is back in the chair with an in-depth interview with Mark Wild CEO of Crossrail UK.

Have a great week and ride safe and ride happy.

This week Paul chats with Naif Bin Hwail of Saudi Arabia's Transport General Authority (TGA) on how his agency built a structure to serve millions of people--including the millions visiting Mecca and Medina for the Haj--using bus, rail, and taxis.

In his conversation with Paul, Naif Bin Hwail talks about developing bus rapid transit (BRT) in several cities and expanding the rail network to serve the millions of people who come to Saudi Arabia.

Unlike many transportation agencies, TGA is also responsible for the vast private taxi network in the country. Their job is to ensure all taxis meet the same high standard of safety, comfort, and reliability. Based on this foundation TGA is well-placed to build an expansive national transit system as part of their vision 2030 plans.

Next week, please join us for Comfort's Corner where Paul's guest will be Stewart Mader of VAX Transit. After talking about the herculean efforts to get people to vaccines and vaccines to people, Stewart and Paul talk about commuter rail and the future of masks on transit

For a complete transcript of this episode and links to our guests, please visit: https://www.transitunplugged.com/making-taxis-part-of-the-transport-solution-in-saudi-arabia/

This week on Comfort's Corner we have two newsmaker interviews for you. First, we talk with Candace Moore of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority about how she's used asset management data to improve maintenance in her fleet of nearly 200 vehicles. Then we travel to Saskatoon, SK, and hear an excerpt from Cory Shrigley's ThinkTransit session on how they used real-time ridership data to quickly adapt their service to meet the needs of essential workers during pandemic lockdowns and help health officials target COVID education programs right to the areas that needed it most.

These are two great uses of data that highlight how transit agencies can use data they might already have to make real, impactful decisions.

We also hear from Elea Carey in her messaging minute on using radio ads to promote your agency. What better way to increase ridership than target drives while stuck in traffic!

Finally, Paul shares some exciting news about some improvements we're making to the show starting in July. Listen to the whole episode to learn about the changes.

Interested in being a guest on Transit Unplugged? You can email our producer at [email protected]. We'd love to hear and share your stories on the transit industry's number one podcast. 

"We want to promote caring commuting culture here, a gracious one, ... working together with everyday commuters to try and improve each other's commute."

This week Paul talks with Jeremy Yap, Deputy Chief Executive for Public Transport, Policy and Planning for the Land Transport Authority, Singapore. In this wide-ranging interview, we learn how Singapore is creating and expanding a transit system to serve its 5.6 million people with bus and rail service that is clean, efficient, and kind.

From digging a kilometer a month and a new station every two months for their expanded metro line to seamless payment systems, Singapore is creating a transit system that aims to have every person within a 10 minute walk to a transit stop and 20 minute travel time across the city.

Learn more about this episode get show notes and complete transcript at https://www.transitunplugged.com/jeremy-yap-lta-singapore/

Show notes:

Welcome to Comfort's Corner for May 26th, 2021.

This week on Comfort's Corner we have a special newsmaker segment with board members of the North American Transit Alliance (NATA) and the International Association of Public Transit (UITP) discussing the results of a new study on private contracting in public transit agencies.

UITP completed the study on behalf of NATA and conducted interviews with transit agencies from around the world. The results of this study and give a rich, diverse, and global picture of contracting in public transit. You can download a copy of the report from the UITP website.

If your agency would like a presentation about the results of the study, contact Julia Gessner at NATA.

In transit news, Paul covers:

• Kevin Quinn appointed as the new CEO of TransLink.
• Greyhound Canada ceases all operations in Canada on May 13.
• The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is taking steps to curb fraud and abuse.
• Union City, CA is bringing back The Flea microtransit service to BART stations.

Finally, we hear from Elea Carey in her messaging minute talking about how to leverage the media for hiring at your agency.

Next week we have Jeremy Yap of Public Transport, Policy and Planning for the Land Transport Authority in Singapore speaking with Paul in another segment on public transit around the world.

Show transcript:

Paul Comfort: This is Transit Unplugged. I'm your host Paul Comfort. Great to be with you on another edition of Comfort's Corner, where we bring you the inside story and what's happening in and around the transit industry. Today, we've got a great show for you got some big headline news stories to give you. And then after that, we'll be going into an in-depth interview with the North American Transit Alliance in UATP. It's a great interview with them.

Um, and I'll tell you more about it in just a moment. We'll be talking about a new study on contracting and that'll take up most of today's show now on to headline news. my successor as MTA Baltimore's CEO, Kevin Quinn was announced this week that the TransLink Board of Directors have appointed him Kevin Quinn to serve as the agency's next Chief Executive Officer.

When we'll begin the role on July 19th and relocate to the Metro Vancouver, British Columbia area from the Baltimore, Maryland area. I've talked to Kevin multiple times this week, and very excited for him. And I know that he will be greatly missed at MTA. The TransLink folks are in for a great new CEO and, and Tony Gugliotta the Chair of TransLink's Board of Directors said.

"We look forward to welcoming Kevin Quinn to the TransLink enterprise, which will benefit from his bold, innovative and customer centered approach to leadership." Congratulations to Kevin and to Holly Arnold, who will step in. She's been the deputy CEO for a while at MTA. She stepping up to be the interim CEO at the Maryland Transit Administration headquartered in Baltimore.

On to some interesting news due to sustained ridership declines in Ontario and Quebec, Greyhound Canada is discontinuing all operations on its remaining routes in Ontario and Quebec and permanently closed all services in Canada effective May 13th. This announcement has no impact on Greyhound lines operation in the U S which will continue to operate cross border express service on the following routes when the border reopens Toronto to New York, Toronto to Buffalo Montreal, the New York Montreal to Boston, Vancouver to Seattle. Greyhound Lines, Inc, as a separate entity from Greyhound Canada, but a sad day when the inner-city bus Greyhound, Canada ceases to continue to operate their services. On to another interesting story out of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is beginning to take steps to institute better. Internal auditing measures through a report presented by a group within the HART Board of Directors. The Permitted Interaction Group or PIG, which consists of half the board was tasked with reviewing suggestions from the American Public Transportation Association about HART's internal auditing practices.

The report that PIG published, included 10 changes that should be implemented. One of the more substantial changes would implement an outsourced independent, internal audit function for HART. And they would report their findings to the committee, which is then charged with managing follow up actions resulting from the audit.

The recommendations from the PIG also suggested that the audit committee establish a fraud and corruption hotline with an independent provider. The hotline would be both for internal sources within Hart and external complaints from outside the authority.

 And now onto what a big trend is happening right now. And that is micro transit. I've been telling you about it as matter of fact, if you did not listen to our last Comfort's Corner from two weeks ago, I encourage you to go back and listen to it. It in it, and the final part of the program and the future of public transportation. I gave a heartfelt description of how I thought micro transit could help us add in equity and inclusion in a lot of cities are moving toward micro transit.

One of them is in Union City, California. They're reviving a micro transit program from the 1970s that uses vans to help people get to and from its industrial business district, the BART station and parts of the Dakota neighborhood. This being the 2020s though, the Flea as they call it this time around, we'll take advantage of technology to provide on demand van service.

The pilot program is set to launch this week and operate for 22 months. A Bay Area quality air quality management district grant will cover most of the $818,000 costs. And the city transit funds will pick up the balance. City officials hope the Flea will fill some of the gaps in regular bus service and be flexible enough for commuters to take advantage of.

And now onto our newsmaker interview on this week's Comfort's Corner. It's a great interview with a UITP, which is the International Public Transit Union, the director of strategy Sylvain Haon and members of the North American Transit Alliance, including board chair, Brad Thomas, president of First Transit.

The NATA Treasurer, Matt Wood, who is COO of National Express Transit Corporation here in North America and NATA a board member, Arnaud Legrand, who is CEO of RATP Dev along with Strategic Communications Manager, Julia Gessner. I interview them. Regarding the just released UITP study on contracting and transit the value and benefits of private contracting in North America and internationally to meet passenger needs.

It's a great in-depth interview. I know you'll enjoy it on this edition of Comfort's Corner. Thanks for being with us and stay safe out here.

This is Transit Unplugged and I'm your host Paul Comfort. We are on a newsmaker interview with Comfort's Corner. We like to travel around the world and talk to leading transit industry leaders about breaking news. And we've got breaking news for you today because UITP, the International Transit Union had just completed a brand-new study called Contracting and Transit The Value and Benefits of Private Contracting in North America and Internationally to Meet Passenger Needs.

And we have with us on the newsmaker hotline. Sylvain Haon who is Senior Director of Strategy at UITP calling us today from where Sylvain, where are you at today in the world Brussels Belgium. We also have on the on the newsmaker interview hotline, Brad Thomas, who was President of First Transit and the Chairman of the North American Transit Alliance.

Brad, welcome.

Brad Thomas: Good morning.

Paul Comfort: And we also have Clement Michel, who is the was the CEO of Keolis North America. And it just been promoted to an amazing new job at corporate headquarters. He's now in Boston, but headed to Paris, Clement. Welcome. And tell us the name of your new title you're gonna have.

Clement Michel: Oh, I don't remember. But the HR transformation so safety sustainable development and HR. Yes.

Paul Comfort: So Clementis one of the founders there's of the North American Transit Alliance, along with Brad and other CEOs. And he is on the Board and is Vice Chair, the I guess the outgoing Vice Chair, but the current Vice Chair of our organization.

We also have my good friend, Matthew Wood, who is a Chief Operating Officer of National Express and the Treasurer and a Board member of North American Transit Alliance. Matt, thanks for being with us.

Matthew Wood: Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone.

Paul Comfort: Good morning. And then we also have Julia Gassner. Julia is with First Transit and she's also basically the Vice Chair of the working group North American Transit Alliance, and has really been involved in integral in this study that was just completed.

That was commissioned by NATA, but conducted by an independent third-party which is UITP. Thanks for being with us today, Julia.

Julia Gessner: Thanks for having me.

Paul Comfort: So, let me set it up. Uh this group, actually, Brad, let me ask you first right off Brad. Why don't you tell us some about the North American Transit Alliance what your role is and why you commissioned this study?

Brad Thomas: Sure. Well, first, first things first the North American Transit Alliance has made up of the six largest. public transit contracting companies in North America. So that is First Transit, Keolis MV transportation, National Express, Transdev, and RATP Dev. And we formed the North American Transit Alliance in 2020, really to advocate for policies that promote public transportation.

 We knew that together we could bring more value supporting the industry as a group than we could. As individual organizations. And I think really the, the pandemic really served as you know, serves as catalyst. It got this group together more quickly than we may have otherwise, but it really, it demonstrated the need for our organization because we were able to advocate on behalf of the private contracting industry to get the support that we needed to continue to operate.

During COVID. And that was, that was obviously extremely important for these organizations and the, and all the folks who worked with us.

Paul Comfort: So the, the organization to me kind of reminds me of like an airline association, right? So you've got, you know, Southwest and United and American, but they formed together to work on Capitol Hill for things that affect them and also to promote their industry, it would, would that be a good analogy?

Brad Thomas: Absolutely.

Absolutely. I mean, you know, we believe sincerely in the value of private contracting. We believe this, we're passionate about it, and we believe the value that we in the value that we can bring to the market. We've got the experience, the expertise, the bandwidth, the resources, the ability to get best practices from all over the globe and deliver them to local transit authority.

So we, we really do you know, we, we believe in what we can bring to the market. But prior to this, we really didn't have a group that really represented us. and you know, we, we felt that that was important. Um, and we felt that there were a lot of issues that we needed to have a voice in. Um, and that has given us the vehicle to be able to do that.

Paul Comfort: And so why did NATA choose to commission, you know, this study with UITP?

Brad Thomas: Well, again, I mean, we knew the value. that private contracting brings to the market. We knew that, but we needed to, we really needed to challenge ourselves and to bring in what we felt. It important that we bring in a third party to kind of confirm what we believe.

Um, and we've contacted UITP. We talked to them about the best way to do that and what we kind of would be set. What we settled on was. Looking at private contracting around the globe, going all over the world to see the different models that are used throughout the rest of the world and to talk to the customer, talk to the agencies and, and to get their perspective on private contracting or private contractors bring to their market.

And ultimately the study, I mean, I think it's an amazing study. And I think it was you know, tremendous that the findings in it are tremendous. The ideas in it are just, you know, really amazing. We got we got folks from all over the world to talk about their experience and ultimately now in North America, we can look at those expand.

There were people from North America, too, in the, in, in the study. So. People and people can look at the study and see what we're doing here in North America, what's happening in the rest of the world. And now we can kind of look at it and say, you know, where what other things could we be doing? What other models could be using?

What other, what other ideas should we be bringing to North America from the rest of the world? And, and, you know, what might work in my community better than maybe, you know, how I'm operating today, where, you know, how could we improve? It's always best to get, you know, best practice when you can, when you can get best practice and you can see what others are doing and what's been successful in other places.

And you can then, and the ability to bring that to your local community. Um, you know, that's the best of you know, that's the best of the, of the, of the industry. Um, and you can, you can bring it into your, you know, your local community. So I think that's ultimately what this study proved Atlas.

There's amazing things happening in North America, and there are amazing things happening in the rest of the world. Now, people get to see all of those in one place and kind of look at them and see what's, you know, get some new ideas.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. Excellent. Well, thank you, Brad. That's a great kind of intro to it.

 now I want to turn to Sylvain from UITP. Sylvain thank you for being with us today. You've been kind of overseeing this study from the beginning. And why don't you tell us a little bit about UITP, just like Brad did about NATA and explain to listeners who may not be familiar. I know that you're basically like the APTA for the rest of the world outside of outside of the United States.

So tell us about your organization. You guys are phenomenal and a huge organization and really the leading transportation, public transportation organization in the world.

Sylvain Haon: Um, thank you. Thank you for those nice words. That's a better introduction that we'll do. I actually UITP a couple of things which are important for UITP. We are a global organization, as you rightly say. So we have members from more than a hundred countries. We have, I think the latest count is 1700 members from across the world. We are multi-stakeholders so our members come from. Um, the industry, they can manufacturers IT systems providers, et cetera.

Um, there are public transport operators. so running the services. And, and the authorities as well, whether it's a transit authority a city authority, a regional, federal, it depends on, it depends from country to country in a couple of cases of another country, transport authority as members and we represent public transport.

But, you know, in a very broad sense on one more as, you know, the, the, the. And the difference between mass transit and other forms of sharing equitable, but the transport is blurred. So w we, we believe we really, really represent the situ at-large in putting new mobility to the actors, um et cetera.

And our mission is really to work with our members to advance public transport. In a sense of developing knowledge had been done to learn from each other, working together to develop solutions. Make the case core urban and public transports towards decision makers of various kinds. So being the voice of the sector and repeating days after days that there won't be sustainable cities in the future, if there is not a good transit system.

Um, and we bring all those people also together in various ways and forms so that they can exchange and network with each other.

Paul Comfort: Excellent. And we want to do a shout out to our good friend, the UITP Secretary General Muhammad Mezghani, who was really the world's leading transit, you know official, I guess, representing all these folks.

So he's been a good friend to me personally, and to I've been on this podcast before and just wanted to make sure we acknowledged him. So I also want to acknowledge Arnaud Legrande who has joined us now on the podcast Arnaud is the CEO of RATP Dev USA. Arnaud thank you for joining us today.

Arnaud Legrand: Yeah, it's good morning. Sorry to be late, but that's, that's operations

Paul Comfort: better, late than never. Right. And, and he's also a founding member and a board member of the North American Transit Alliance. So great to have everybody on the show. So we were talking about Arnaud, and for our listeners is this study that's been commissioned by NATA and had this third-party organization independent, globally known for their work in public transportation to conduct this study that really provides a review of private contracting services in and outside of North America. The study includes case studies based on interviews with leaders at transit agencies and the varying contract models are looked at, and it shows the study shows that they were influenced by the context, the culture and the history of each location and the case studies point to the benefit of private contracting and best practices.

In partnership relations. And I think it's important Sylvain that you actually interviewed, like Brad has said before, you weren't like talking to the contractors themselves, per se. You were talking to the transit agencies who contract out, you're saying to them, Hey, tell us about contracting. Tell us about the model you use.

Are there benefits? Are there downsides to this? Let's get a full picture. So tell us overall, your, your, you know, kind of the overall summary of the study and any key points that you found coming out of it.

Sylvain Haon: It's exactly this it's there are various ways various governance models for, for, um transit.

I'm going to try to use the right terminology and there are various governance models each of them as its merits and they have a very good performance, but there is one thing we thought to our discussion with NATA. We it was the right time to highlight is. If she goes from contracting, how do you make it successful?

How do you,

This week Paul chats with Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi of the RAK Transport Authority in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Ras Al Khaimah is the northernmost of the seven Emirates in the UAE and home to over 60 km of beaches, the world's longest zip line, and...

A really innovative and integrated transit system. From buses to taxis, e-scooters and e-bikes to ferries, RAK Transport is creating a uniquely integrated system powered by new apps and technology.

Unlike many North American transit authorities, taxis are an essential part of the overall transit system. The system caters to both residents of Ras Al Khaimah, but also a large tourist industry. The goal is to get people quickly, easily, affordably, and sustainably from one place to another.

You can learn more about RAKTA on their website.

Episode transcript:

Paul Comfort: This is Transit Unplugged. I'm your host Paul Comfort. Thanks for being with us today. As we interview the world's top transit executives to bring you their insights about what's happening in their transit system and for the future of our industry. And today we're excited to enter into the world of the middle east.

Again, our guest today is Mr. Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi , the executive general manager. At the RAS Al Khaimah Emirates in the United Arab Emirates Transport Authority, they call it the RAK Transport Authority or rack Transport Authority. And today he discusses the vision for transportation there in the Emirate as reliable, smart, and sustainable. It's their vision.

 It includes all kinds of exciting innovations, including rolling in taxi as part of the overall mobility solution. Uh, e-bikes, e-scooters plans for a high-speed ferry service. Uh, inner city connections between the various city states of the UAE, all that. You'll get a real in-depth look today with this interview with Mr. Esmaeel Hassan Al Blooshi on Transit Unplugged.

Narrator: What does it mean to be a successful public transit agency? What are you doing to lead the way? It's time to learn from the top transit professionals in North America.

This is Transit Unplugged with your host Paul Comfort.

Paul Comfort: Welcome to Transit Unplugged. I'm your host Paul Comfort. Great to be with you today on another edition of the world's leading transit podcast, Transit Unplugged. And today we head to the Middle East in an interview with a leader of one of the large upcoming transit systems in the United Arab Emirates. Esmaeel Hassan Al Blooshi. Thank you so much for being with us today Esmaeel.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Pleasure to be here. Thank you very much for hosting this international podcast.

Paul Comfort: Wonderful to have you with us. And I know you're famous there in the UAE, but after this people in 99 countries will know about you.

So, so we're excited to hear about all the things you've got going on there. Uh, some, our listeners who are regular listeners around the world will recall that recently we had another interview with, with the Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, who is the head of the CEO of Dubai RTA, which is one of the cities in the United Arab Emirates. And for those in the Western World, they may not be totally familiar with that with the United Arab Emirates. Um, why don't you tell us just a little bit about how they work that the city states and the structure and all that. And then I'd like to ask you a little about your own background.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, we here in the United Arab Emirates. It's about seven Emirates united together, and we have one ruler. Who's his Highness, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He's the ruler of UAE. And all, all of the Emirates, they have their own rulers and all of us is working as a whole united country.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. And so the people can place it geographically. Where in the Middle East, is it kind of, can you, can you show it, tell us where it's at?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Actually, we are in the middle of Middle East connecting that Asia with Europe and United States and the world maps, we are in the middle. And Ras Al Khaimah  is the north, most of the seven Emirates, which lies in the north and all of us actually connected united and smoothly. You can transfer from each Emirates.

Paul Comfort: That's great. And you, you have a lot of a waterfront there, right? Don't you don't, you have a, a great beach area and everything.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Oh, we have a wonderful beaches actually, Ras Al Khaimah has almost 64 kilometer of beaches and terracotta dissolves.

And also, also Ras Al Khaimah has a diverse landscape.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. So Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, one of the seven Emirates in the UAE and you're the head of the transportation program there. That's wonderful. So tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and how you came to have this position.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, actually Twelve years of use experiences most of it in transportation.

I'm glad. And fortunately I worked with road transport authority in Dubai for more than five years. And I'm holding actually a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from American University of Sharjah. And also I have a Master Degree on Engineering Management. Most of my experience in transportation, or as I said, five years there in Dubai as a Director of Strategy and Business Development and higher, I have been moved to Ras Al Khaimah   for two years now as a General Manager for Transportation trying one of the youth leader, actually our government and the Ras Al Khaimah, especially give us the empowerment and delegation to execute their vision Ras Al Khaimah vision 2030, especially in transportation. I'm here now to execute Ras Al Khaimah strategy 2020, 20 25 in transportations. Try to achieve the ultimate goals and try to make the transportation here in Ras Al Khaimah reliable, smart, and sustainable.

Paul Comfort: That's great. So what is the vision? What is the vision that you're implementing there?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, our vision is aligned with Ras Al Khaimah government vision. Our vision is to provide for the tools for the residential people, to the Ras Al Khaimah  visitors a reliable, smart, sustainable transportation. Allow them to move from destination to another destination smoothly with. Uh, multiple transportation modes and these transportation modes should integrate to each other in order to build a solid infrastructure and transportation, which help the city to grow.

Paul Comfort: That's great. So about how many people are in a, what you call you normally call it RAK, right?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah. Yeah. RAK almost 350 thousands as a population. We are also 1,680 kilometer square. Ras Al Khaimah is, as I said, is the north most of the seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. It's known for its rich history, dating back seven thousands years and diverse landscape.

In Ras Al Khaimah you can have a unique experience. Especially when you have a 64 kilometer of beaches, when you have a terracotta desserts, when you have an amazing mountains, actually we are the home for the largest zip line worldwide. It's yeah, it's almost a three kilometer and this experience is really unique.

And also Ras Al Khaimah vision is to be the Ras Al Khaimah   city vision is to be one of the business service players and to be the host for the tourists also. The Emirates, economic lies, multiple major companies and diverse interests, including manufacturers and tourists and tourism. Major companies are here on Ras Al Khaimah, which is like and many other companies fortunately, fortunately for more than a decade Ras Al Khaimah  has been consistently rated as an eight range by Fitch and Standard Poore international rating agency and already there, but it is home to more than 20 thousands.

Of uh, businesses for from hundred countries representing over 50 industries and glad to say that Ras Al Khaimah courts is also the fastest courts in the world, enforcing contracts and commercial disputes. All of these facts are in Ras Al Khaimah, and you can also experience a very unique experiences like having uh, going to actually to desert line, going to hiking, to have five star hotels lying on the beaches.

So really Ras Al Khaimah my advice, you and the listeners to visit.

Paul Comfort: I'd love to, once we can travel again, maybe Matthew Brownlee, my colleague, and I can come there and hang out for a few days with you. That'd be fun. See your operations. So tell us about your operations Esmaeel. Tell us about the public transit operations and what you have there, and then maybe what's coming.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah. Uh, in Ras Al Khaimah now we have public transportation. And especially the intercity buses, intercity buses is linking Ras Al Khaimah to other seven Emirates. We have buses that goes to other Emirates, Dubai Abu Dhabi, and every hour, there is a trip goes to these Emirates. So, this is one of our main services here to link Ras Al Khaimah and to be as a hub, to be linked with other Emirates. Also, we have a fleet of taxis, which is 850 taxis that providing a taxi services here. In Ras Al Khaimah and we have mainly now three public bus routes, but this project has been uh, approved by the government and this project will be expanded. And in this year, we will have a new public bus project, which will link whole Ras Al Khaimah from the city center to other areas. This three main routes we'll have 12 buses to serve them and we will have four main stations.

Because say main hubs and 55 buses stops. So actually here in Ras Al Khaimah as a transportation, we have two main services, which is public bus and taxis.

Paul Comfort: Okay. And what type of buses are you going to do? Electric or zero emission buses.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yes for sure. Our vision here is to be sustainable. We will try to implement the electrical buses, but in the beginning, we'll try to have the, the most sustainable buses, which has zero five.

In order to be implemented here in Ras Al Khaimah   as per the government vision that all of our transportation should be sustainable. Uh, the great things about this one, we have a great initiatives during the pandemic that we launch RAK bus application, that RAK applications allow our customer to book their seats to book, to see the buses and track them not only that they can pay their tickets online. This application is premier here in UAE because this is the first application for inter-city buses in UAE. And actually we did that and we launch it during the pandemic almost on May, 2019 and to admit to the 2020. Uh, because of, we don't want the people to wait on the station and we don't want him to have a contact with the cashiers.

That's why they can use the RAK bus applications just to book their tickets and come before their trips, five minutes before the trips and have their trip safely.

Paul Comfort: So I know that RAK is a popular tourist destination, a lot of folks from Europe and other places come there. Um, how has that demographic of, of tourism, how has that impacted your plans for public transportation?

Are you focused on serving them or your own citizens or both? Or how has that impacted it? And then maybe we can talk about the, if any impact that COVID has had on your services.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, when we are planning our master plan in transportations and integrating the public service public bus services and the taxis. Always, we are putting one of the main inputs in our studies is to see the tourists and how much tourists are visiting Ras Al Khaimah.

We have almost before the pandemic 1 million. A tourist who was visiting, visiting Ras Al Khaimah and enjoying their stay here on Ras Al Khaimah. So all of these one of our main inputs in the studies. And we are trying to increase our taxes based on this number. And other items for terms for sure.

And try to do this uh, public transportation services, especially in bus. That's why the government approves the new master plan. Which is especially for bus services, which linked also the five star hotels and tourist destination to the city center, which, which will help them to move to Ras Al Khaimah and their tourist destinations is mostly not the only that also we launch.

Our collaboration with Careem applications, which is similar to Uber here and I sure pretty sure that, you know, Careem, this is providing limousine service and taxi service, for the tourists and residential people here in Ras Al Khaimah, which allows them to move smoothly in Ras Al Khaimah.

Paul Comfort: Let me ask you about that connection.

I think that's interesting here in the U S we don't have as much of a connection between public transit systems and taxis, but there, it seems like you do, is that right? You consider the taxi service kind of an integral part of your overall mobility,

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: For sure. And in order to have that, honestly, you have a, you have to have a solid transportation infrastructure systems.

But actually we did. We are, we now having RAK bus applications, this RAK applications, we will have a lot of data from it and this data will try to fill it in a platform. That platforms has also another inputs of data from taxi sectors. These data will be talking to each other, that systems and integrating each of those.

These data will take it and put it as a main input in our transportation master plan. Also this year, we are launching a smart meters for all of our taxis. Smart meters will allow us and we'll take, we will take data from it. Where are the heatmap and Ras Al Khaimah. We will know from this smart meter projects.

How many trips we have 7:00 AM in the morning. And where are the locations? All of these data, for example, will be taken from this smart meter will be filled on the transportation systems, especially in operation control center. OCC. That system will be a collective for taxi sectors, data, public transportations data, limousine data.

It will be analyzed in order to take the best decision of how making, how to make all of them integrated to each.

Paul Comfort: Very good. That's very interesting. Um, the mobility services like Uber, like you mentioned, or Lyft, the other company, a lot of transit systems are starting to connect with them, but not so many with taxi.

So it's a good example. Of how you're using existing resources, your big taxi fleets, which a lot of cities have and really creating a role for them in the overall mobility of, of your city. I think that's wonderful. Um, what else is happening? Do you have any other future plans coming rail or Metro or ferry or maybe your innovation hub.

Let's talk about what's coming.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, we can't think our marine sets. RAK Transport Authority. We are the authority who's recreating the marine services here in Ras Al Khaimah and the government of Ras Al Khaimah approved the master plan for marine services. It's includes three phases, actually. And it's the first phases will have five ministations in Mangrove Creek  and Ras Al Khaimah.

Okay. This FIFA's stations will be, two stations will be even connecting two malls together because all of them are lying in creek of Ras Al Khaimah   these five stations. Will be linked with a traditional abra service. This is, will be our first phase of marine service. Next phase, we'll be linking this creek of Ras Al Khaimah to another 15 KM, almost 50 kilometer, which we called Mina Al Arab and Marjan Island with a ferry services.

So ferry services we'll be linking to destinations almost 15 kilometers. In Marjan Island, we have a wonderful five-star hotels lying on the beaches. So the tourists can go with a ferry from Marjan Island to a creek area and even have a tool. And the taxi services there in the creek of Ras Al Khaimah.

The third phase, we'll be linking Ras Al Khaimah these two areas to another Emirates, which is Ajmal and Dubai and Sharjah, hopefully in the future with ferry services. So this marine service and this master plan will be shall implemented starting from this year. And this marine services will be aligned with other transportation services, which has taxi and public buses in Ras Al Khaimah   also. Great to say that we having other mobility solutions like e-scooters  and e-bicycles in Ras Al Khaimah . We just started e-scooters and e-bicycles as an entertainment, to be honest, just to raise the culture of e-scooters and using e-bicycles in Ras Al Khaimah.

So we have now, e-bicycles live in five places in Ras Al Khaimah and Cornish area and Marjan Island at Hamrock area. Later after we finished the first phase of the public bus project we'll have, as I said, five ministations. And 55 buses stops. We want to try to integrate the e-bicycles with these bus stops to be as solutions for fares and last my, for the people here in Ras Al Khaimah, not only that, honestly, we are trying here to have one platform for transportation. This is one of our ultimate. Uh, goal and in 2025, we try to have that one transport platform in Ras Al Khaimah. This platform will make life of the residents life of the tourist in Ras Al Khaimah, easy. They can download that plant that platform and make their journey easily in Ras Al Khaimah.

If they want to use the public bus, if they want use a mobility solutions like Careem. If they want to use a taxi or marine service or other mobility solutions like e-scooter and bicycles. So we are trying to put transportation here in Ras Al Khaimah we sit reliable, smart, sustainable linking, and making that, making that connectivity for the people and smoothly movement here in Ras Al Khaimah. One of our also ultimate goals is for the,

uh, for the rental sectors. One of our main projects here is to have a platform for the Rent-A-Car companies. Okay. I'd like to transport authority is responsible to regulate it, to regulate the sector. Uh, we have this idea is to allow people to have a platform, one single platform, which whole, which hosting all of our Intel companies to be on that platform, make the life easy for the tourist, when they come to Ras Al Khaimah, they can rent the car easily from the airport using that applications, even if they are even in the staying at their hotels.

So. Uh, we have many projects here in the future just to make transportation easy for the people.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. I think the improving the customer experience is actually one of the big trends right now throughout right. Uh, public transportation industry as, as ridership has declined in many major cities around the world because of COVID and the lockdowns that governments have imposed, and a lot of allow people to work in their offices...

This week is a special Comfort's Corner with a focus on access and equality in the transit system.

After this week's transit news, we hear from Julie Timm of the Greater Richmond Transit Company on how she is looking at how the fare system, might not be fair to the people who need and depend on it most. Julie's segment was taken from her Virtual ThinkTransit talk she gave on April 28th, 2021. In part three of Comfort's Corner, Paul talks about his new vision on the future of transit. Beyond technology to get people where they are going quickly and efficiently, Paul believes transit systems need to be fair and equitable to the people who need the system the most.

We also hear from Elea Carey in her Messaging Minute wrapping up her three-part series on email newsletters. Finally Mike's Minute we hear about a random act of kindness that had an unexpected outcome.

Next week, Paul welcomes Esmaeel Hasan Al Bloohsi from RAK Transport Authority.

Until then, have a great week and ride happy.

"...it was really that project that showed me how much transportation can add to the economic development of a region, can hurt, or help, neighborhoods. can really impact people at their business levels ... in the communities they choose to raise their families..."

This week Paul is joined by Leslie Richards General Manager of SEPTA (Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority). In this Transit Unplugged episode, you not only learn about Leslie's career path but how she is tackling challenges today and looking towards the future.

And even how she bucked the trend and move into the city of Philadelphia and how that reminds her how important transit is to the people who live and work in the City of Brotherly Love.

In the third of our special Transit Unplugged episodes from Virtual ThinkTransit, we have the final keynote from Day Three. Our final keynote of the conference had Geoff Gray step into Paul Comfort's shoes to moderate this amazing panel of Phil Verster, President and CEO, Metrolinx; Erinn Pinkerton, President and CEO, BC Transit; and Alex Wiggins, CEO, New Orleans Transit.

Phil started off highlighting projects underway that will keep going to meet the needs of one of Canada's fastest-growing cities. But it's not just infrastructure, it's a focus on safety and getting people to feel comfortable taking transit again.

Alex, as other speakers will note later, the pandemic highlighted the often historical disparities between the people who need transit and those who run it. Alex's own parents couldn't fully use the transit system he now runs. And the ferry system that's part of his network was once used as an embarkation place for African slaves.

In New Orleans, as in many other cities across North America, people of color were disproportionately affected by both the pandemic health-wise, but economically as well. As Alex had to reduce service at the height of the pandemic, was he inadvertently hurting the very people he most needed to serve.

Alex's goal, spurred by the pandemic, is looking at his entire transit system and remove barriers. He wants to get headways below 15 minutes and make transit riders equal to car drivers in access to jobs and services.

Erinn, started her talk acknowledging that her office sites on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen, Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSÁNEĆ peoples. This, for people in British Columbia, is an important part of addressing the past disparities and injustices we benefit from now.

BC Transit, as Geoff mentioned, serves the transit needs of an area bigger than the state of Texas. Erinn sees her job not as getting things back to normal but also to get things to something better. For example, morning and evening rush hour service is some of the most expensive services in the system, what if that becomes less important than better mid-day and weekend service? Mid-day and weekends have been in the past when people use transit less, but now that's changing.

And Erinn is innovating with programs like Transit to Trail to get people to popular hiking spots and reduce pressure on communities and parking in already sensitive areas.

After Erinn's talk, the panel took questions from the audience on the points raised above, like fares (The whole Province of B.C. is going fare-free for kids under 13 starting in September) and how each agency is helping people feel safe and ready to ride again. They are looking forward to the time when people have a place to take transit to again.

"We have to be there for people. Mobility is freedom. Transit plays a role in helping the community recover, and I know that right now, transit riders feel that this is their one chance for a social connection." -- Erinn Pinkerton

This is the second of three special Transit Unplugged episodes from Virtual ThinkTransit. Our Day Two keynote was by Lauren Skiver, CEO of SunLine Transit Agency. challenged us to find our power and purpose to innovate.

Lauren hit head-on the challenge of innovating in a regulated business like transit. We have a great responsibility to our staff, riders, and everyone else sharing the road, but we also have a responsibility to make sure transit evolves with the times and does more.

Innovations in transit are essential to the continued health, growth, and resiliency in the industry. While Inspiration is a noun, Lauren sees it as something to spur action. Something to help us take the next step:

"Inspiration creates action in my mind"--Lauren Skiver

Lauren looks as each thing she has to do as an opportunity to see how it can improve herself or others. She sees even the most mundane tasks as opportunities for innovation.

Like Robbie, Lauren sees working in transit as a higher calling, not a j-o-b job:

"Public transit is a calling, not just a job. It's something we do because we create something for the community, feel good about how we connect people to jobs, we feel good about how we create mobility for a community, and we feel good about the people we work with in this business."

For Lauren, innovation and inspiration come down to harnessing your power and purpose for good. Sometimes it's scary. Sometimes we've used our power in the wrong ways, but the pandemic has shown us all we need to tap into our own personal power and purpose to push ahead.

At SunLine Lauren is striving to have an entirely renewable energy-powered fleet by 2035. Already leaders in CNG, full electric, and hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, Lauren is pushing the agency farther and fast than they dreamed.

The drop in ridership in the pandemic gave her the unique opportunity to innovate faster towards building their own microgrid, generating their own hydrogen for buses, and more.

Lauren showed how harnessing your passion and purpose--like breaking our dependence on fossil fuels--is something within all our grasp. We just have to seize it.