Mass Transit - 16

Mobility Redefined
is going to require experimentation, but it's also going to require
sharing best practices at lightning
speed," said Zipper.

Alliances for a
Stronger Recovery

One group looking to learn from
its members is the newly formed
North American Transit Alliance
(NATA), which is comprised of
North America's six major private
transit operators - Transdev, Keolis North America, MV Transportation, National Express Transit,
First Transit Inc. and RATP Dev.
Dick Alexander, CEO of Transdev U.S. and chairman of the new
alliance, says NATA was formed
to support the development of
new business models, shaping
the transit industry and ensuring its resiliency for the future.
He describes the pandemic as an
incredible reorientation of how
service is performed and notes the
NATA partners operate 20 percent of U.S. transit services and
bring the benefits of best practices
acquired from their global operations where the reopening process
began ahead of North America.
"We're seeing interesting
travel patterns where the 'haveto' trips are coming back, but the
discretionary trips are slower to
return," said Alexander.
Keolis North America Executive Vice President of Market Development and Innovation Rahul
Kumar, who leads Keolis' efforts
for NATA, explains the recovery
efforts will be focused on employees, riders and the clients NATA
companies serve.
"I have no idea how long [recovery] will take, but it's going to come
back, and this is our chance to determine and be deliberate on what
the future looks like," said Kumar.
Both men agree technology will
sway the recovery efforts, whether
it is a lessening of demand from
extended teleworking to the greater impact of autonomous vehicles
to an opportunity for greater integration of mobility services.

16 |

"What we're going to see is the
evolution of transit organizations
into mobility organizations,"
said Alexander.
"This is the true birth of Mobility as a Service, which isn't a user
defined option. It is mobility management that actually regulates
the modes and delivers the most
optimal solution," added Kumar.
The key to this is integration.
"We need to integrate, not supplant and not build private wealth
on public infrastructure, but find
a way to integrate [ride haling
models] into the public transit
model so that it is the right mode
for the right reason delivered the
right way," said Kumar.
"Service, whether it's publicly
operated or privately operated, is
going to have to cover the whole
gambit," added Alexander. "Integration and coordination will be
needed to ensure that there is equitable distribution of services and
that people have access to jobs."

The Role of Data
in Recovery

Uncertainty can dampen any
form of recovery and providing
concrete information to smooth
and improve those recovery efforts begins with data, according
to Ascendal Group, a consulting
firm and transit operator.
The firm has partnered with
GoMetro to utilize agent-based
modeling to run simulations of
how individuals move in and
around a city using various mobility modes. Justin Coetzee, founder and CEO of GoMetro, says the
modeling platform also incorpo-

"Integration

and coordination will be
needed to ensure that there
is equitable distribution of
services and that people
have access to jobs."
-DICK ALEXANDER

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JUNE 2020

rates an epidemiology module. Cape Town, South Africa,
is currently using the model
is a
to understand the impact of
time when we
public health lockdown sceneed the best
narios on transit ridership
ideas to scale
and the spread of COVID-19.
and that is
As agencies enter a period of
going to require
recovery and services return,
experimentation,
the simulations can provide
but it's also going
support for making informed
to require sharing
and quick decisions.
best practices at
"We need to relearn molightning speed."
bility patterns [in light of
- DAVID ZIPPER
COVID-19]. How are people
getting around? How do we
plan for three months out? All
this depends on data," explained
Clayton Lane, international business development specialist with
Ascendal Group. "Timely data has
become incredibly valuable, even
more than the past, and yet, our
options for collecting the data may
be a bit narrower."
Traditional ways of collecting
data through person-to-person
intercept surveys may be viewed
as risky in a post-pandemic world,
says Coetzee and Lane, but they
still deliver rich information. Coetzee points to Capital Metro in
Austin, Texas, which performed
nearly 60 percent of an intercept
survey batch before the pandemic hit. Rather than throw out the
information, the agency decided
to collect the remaining surveys
following the pandemic. The information from the surveys will
shed light on perceptions and
movement patterns immediately
after the pandemic, which can be
compared to the information collected immediately before.
When traditional surveys
may not be possible, Coetzee
and Lane say data can be collected using passive techniques
such as web surveys and mobile
probing and measurement. This
information is then fed into a
simulation to help provide scenarios to drive decisions.
"There is an awareness and
a realization that you're only as
good as your data," said Coetzee.

"This


http://www.MassTransitmag.com

Mass Transit

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Mass Transit

Ad Index
Editor's Notebook: Welcome Back to a Different World
People & Places
NRC Chairmans Column: COVID-19 Tests Railway Contractors and Suppliers and They Deserve a Passing Grade
Mobility Redefined: Industry Opportunities for Recovery
Mobility Product & Services Guide
Products: Rail & Components
All in This Together: Companies Step Up to Fill PPE Shortages
Special Report: The State of U.S. Passenger Rail 2020
Paving the Way to Automated Driving Technologies
Best Practices: Asset Management
In Memoriam: Paul Jablonski
Mass Transit - 1
Mass Transit - 2
Mass Transit - 3
Mass Transit - 4
Mass Transit - 5
Mass Transit - Ad Index
Mass Transit - 7
Mass Transit - Editor's Notebook: Welcome Back to a Different World
Mass Transit - 9
Mass Transit - People & Places
Mass Transit - 11
Mass Transit - NRC Chairmans Column: COVID-19 Tests Railway Contractors and Suppliers and They Deserve a Passing Grade
Mass Transit - 13
Mass Transit - Mobility Redefined: Industry Opportunities for Recovery
Mass Transit - 15
Mass Transit - 16
Mass Transit - 17
Mass Transit - Mobility Product & Services Guide
Mass Transit - 19
Mass Transit - 20
Mass Transit - 21
Mass Transit - 22
Mass Transit - 23
Mass Transit - 24
Mass Transit - 25
Mass Transit - Products: Rail & Components
Mass Transit - 27
Mass Transit - All in This Together: Companies Step Up to Fill PPE Shortages
Mass Transit - 29
Mass Transit - 30
Mass Transit - 31
Mass Transit - Special Report: The State of U.S. Passenger Rail 2020
Mass Transit - 33
Mass Transit - 34
Mass Transit - 35
Mass Transit - Paving the Way to Automated Driving Technologies
Mass Transit - 37
Mass Transit - 38
Mass Transit - 39
Mass Transit - Best Practices: Asset Management
Mass Transit - 41
Mass Transit - In Memoriam: Paul Jablonski
Mass Transit - 43
Mass Transit - 44
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