Ben Whitaker’s guest on this month’s Transit Voices is Katherine Conrad, Executive Director at NEOride, works to break down artificial boundaries, streamline operations and make it easier for riders to use public transit to travel across Ohio and beyond.

In the conversation Katherine tells Masabi’s co-founder why transit operators need to concentrate on what they’re good at, and not get distracted by things they would be better off buying in: “To me, the purpose of public transit is to provide transportation and that is our realm,” she explains. “Do public transit really want to get into journey planning complex apps, or fare payment or all of these other things in the name of being able to control it, where you could be partnering with other companies whose whole business is doing this?”

Also, she tells us about her international travel, how she's found traveling in London, the benefits of Open Payments, and how she doesn't want to go toe to toe and compete with Google Maps or Transit app, when trying to make public transit available. “Keeping up with that technology is expensive and time-consuming,” she says. “And so for any transit agency, to try and take that on, to me is ridiculous, because we'll never have the funding to be able to go toe to toe with Google Maps.”

Katherine explains why she thinks cities should focus on providing easy, contactless payment options instead of investing in complex, customized fare systems and simplifying fares to make transit more accessible. You’ll also hear her and Ben’s thoughts on how to ensure transit agencies don't compete with each other and utilise solutions such as central call centers to ensure they operate as efficiently as possible. You’ll also hear why her boondoggle is the revenue versus capital expenditure funding conundrum.

Join us for the episode of the Transit Voices podcast, featuring Guillermo Campoamor, co-founder of the Mobility as a Service company Meep. Host Ben Whitaker and Guillermo delve into how technology is poised to improve public transportation. They explore improving discoverability, integrating public and private systems, and simplifying fare collection.

Meep, a digital solution that connects various transportation services, is the brainchild of Guillermo Campoamor. His unexpected journey into transport technology was ignited by his frequent travels in the wine industry and the challenges he faced with inconsistent transportation systems. His passion for transforming the sector is palpable as he shares his story.

“In some cities, I managed to cover all my appointments and meetings, basically cover the agenda, as I previously planned for every trip, and in some other cities was the total opposite experience,” he explains. “I had to reschedule tastings, I had to meet with clients on different days, and even extend my trips. So I was wondering, why on earth is this happening? And mostly it was due to a lack of public transport or inefficient transport patterns. And that's why I decided to start my own journey in transportation.”

He and Ben delve into the pressing need for a cultural shift towards more efficient and sustainable transportation modes. They underline the importance of accurate real-time information, accessibility, and connecting different data sources. The discussion also brings to light the urgent need for sustainable mobility solutions in cities, particularly for big corporations with many workers who commute.

Take a trip around the world as the transit offerings in Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong along with Mexico, Malta, Moscow and Madrid are all analyzed, and the ability to turn data into information is vital:

“One of the things we realized in the early days that the big transport operators, the ones that are doing even more than a million trips per day, they have information scattered, all over the place,” Guillermo adds. “They are getting some information from the end users, but they're also getting information from the validation machines, they're getting information from the cameras, so they have like maybe like five, four or six different channels that they need to also make sense together and put into context.”

Tune in to discover how Guillermo and his team at Meep are making transportation more efficient and sustainable, and enjoy the lively debate between guest and host on Guillermo’s choice of Boondoggle.

On this episode of Transit Voices, Ben Whitaker welcomes one of the industry's most inspirational leaders, India Birdsong Terry, the General Manager and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

India, who took the helm of GCRTA just before Covid, delves into her decision to maintain fare collection during the pandemic. “I did not want folks to devalue the $2.50 that was paid in order to get on board our vehicle,” she says. “We understand that we help when it's needed - we’re a social service - but I didn't want to give the impression that’s free – someone pays for it”.

India Birdsong Terry sheds light on the innovative strides of GCRTA in revolutionizing the payment system. The organization is leveraging the latest technology to offer fare capping through an app: “So we're almost dangling the fair capping idea as a means to have folks get rid of the old technology in their mind that they've been promised for years, but hadn't been fully realized,” she explains, “To say, hey, you really don't need that, let's zoom ahead and get with the program on a global perspective, and be able to fair cap in another year or so.”

The conversation then turns to the use of public transit to drive down the use of the car, especially in city centers, something Ben is very passionate about. “Having two shops either side of a boulevard that you can't get to safely because there's no sidewalk, no bridges… six lanes to cross and it's just not a space made for people and it's killing our cities,” he comments. “Downtown dies when you've got huge numbers of vehicle lanes stopping you wanting to be there. And it’s the complete opposite of making a nice place for people and it resulted in in shopping malls. The shopping mall is an artificial city center where there are no cars allowed, and that's why people like hanging out in the shopping mall because they can wander around and cross from one shop to the other without cars everywhere.”

In a very busy conversation, the episode also covers GCRTA’s efforts to enhance transit accessibility and encourage public transit usage, from extending routes to partnering with major employers. India describes their strategic approach: “We created an RFP, a request for proposal… and we handle all of the marketing, the scheduling, all of the kind of soft services that go into transportation,” she says. “And if an Amazon, for example, has a new plant somewhere that we don't serve, they are responsible for finding a third party operator to be able to partner with them, and they partner with us to be able to provide the shift times and they actually drive that service from our last bus stop or train stop to their front door.”

Additionally, the dialogue touches on the importance of employee benefits, including childcare, elder care, and healthcare, which India argues are essential for retaining enthusiastic staff.

Set aside 45 minutes for one of the best discussions on transit you’ll encounter this month!