Prologue: Yesterday, we launched the first of two special episodes of The Movement Podcast showcasing challenges that people with disabilities face to access mobility and what can be done to improve it. You can catch that episode here.
Editorial: Can the American Rescue Plan Save Transit from Itself?
Transit professionals around the country joined in a collective sigh of relief with the passing of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), and its $30 billion in funding for transportation. After more than a year of facing budgets deep in the red, transit can breathe again. Agencies will use most of the ARP funding to pay back debt, restart paused … Read More
Editorial: Fixing Transit Requires Grappling with Racism
The U.S. and Europe have vastly different public transit systems. The accessibility and affordability of Europe’s robust public transit system is in contrast to the U.S., which, at best, is convenient and expensive in major cities and non-existent in many rural and suburban communities (hence microtransit‘s recent surge in popularity). Why do these differences exist? Transit is complex. Understanding why … Read More
My Fantastical Journey as a Woman in Engineering
Well, I wish I could regale you with a grand, fantasy-filled story of being a little girl on a farm in rural Eastern North Carolina who wanted nothing more than to realize her dream of becoming an engineer whose days were filled with writing automation code. However, that is not at all the case—I really wanted to be a veterinarian, … Read More
Inequitable Public Transit: A Detriment to Community Health
Health is everything. If that wasn’t clear before, then the COVID-19 pandemic made it crystal. The absence of a healthy body and mind robs people of life’s greatest joys.
The Convenience of Asynchronicity Has Us Out of Sync
Prior to my kids learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had never heard of asynchronous learning: a term used to define learning that happens at different times for different students, enabling them to design a learning schedule that best meets their educational needs.
Destination Vaccination: Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
What a year. We’ve been so busy simply surviving and getting through the day-to-day of a socially-distanced quarantine life, it’s hard to believe COVID-19 has been a part of our lives for a year. Between the loss and trauma, we have been through a dark night of the soul. We are longing for human interaction outside of our carefully-vetted pods. … Read More
2021 Transit Predictions
What does 2021 have in store for transportation? We don’t have a crystal ball, but our solutions engineers have a strong pulse on the industry and have made their predictions for the upcoming year:
Race and Place: Who Do We Plan For?
Most planners have an aspiration toward placemaking: we dream of quaint public squares where residents can walk to local businesses as streetcars hum past tree-lined sidewalks. We dream of the “15 Minute City”, of cheerful connected places where community and opportunity thrive in abundance.
Your Mayor Should Be Riding The Bus
After losing his wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972, newly-elected US Senator Joe Biden famously took Amtrak home from Washington DC to Wilmington, Delaware almost every day so that he could be home for his two sons as they grew up. So now that we have our first modern public transit-riding president en route with Joe Biden, … Read More
Tools for Accessible Transit
At TransLoc, a big piece of our mission has and will continue to be providing users with an equitable transit experience. This commitment has driven our investment in building product features that provide transit opportunities to all users, with accessibility needs and beyond. While the work is never done, we’re excited to share five TransLoc App features we’ve launched this … Read More
When Roads Are Racist
The LA Times published an opinion piece arguing that the freeways of Los Angeles are California’s largest monuments to racism. The author outlines how freeways were intentionally built through Black and Latino communities and even used as fortress-like barriers to maintain racial segregation. It is important to recognize the history of freeway racism, because this legacy is still very much … Read More
Brave New World: A CoMotion LA Recap
CoMotion Los Angeles was billed as “The Global Laboratory of Future Mobility.” This lofty, aspirational idea turned out to be more than just a toothless marketing tagline, as the organizers of CoMotion and the city of Los Angeles are both putting their resources to work making the new world of mobility a reality. Minutes into the introductory keynote speech of … Read More
Let’s Talk TRANSform: Recapping Our Time at APTA’s Annual Meeting
Another great APTA Annual meeting has come and gone, but not without leaving us with a wealth of knowledge to mull over. This year’s meeting was hosted in the city that never sleeps at the New York Marriott Marquis. The big city lights paled in comparison to the powerful discussions happening inside, and we’re here to recap some of the … Read More
A Versatile Mobility Solution
“Existing urban transit modes can continue to operate, but today citizens demand more than simply expanding old systems. They have access to smartphone apps and flexible ride options that have become popular by focusing on ease of use and a great rider experience.” Transit leaders are struggling to overcome the obstacles presented by an increasingly outdated public transit system. As … Read More
Mobility Row: Ann Arbor Talks Technology and Innovation
Ann Arbor is a bustling, vibrant town, sporting an exciting blend of campus, commercial, and community life. With the University of Michigan practically growing directly out from the city center, there is a real sense of a thoughtful progressivism and ideas-first culture that pervades and informs citizens’ opinions on a variety of topics, from politics to technology.
How TransLoc is Forging a Company Culture that Promotes Personal Growth
“Company culture” is a phrase thrown around the internet quite often these days. Organizations are competing for the best employees in a fairly tight talent market, and “culture” is a term used to attract that talent.
It’s All About Partnerships: Findings from NCPTA
Transportation is doing a deep dive on finding ways to implement industry innovation while keeping the rider at the center of the conversation. This month, TransLoc’s business development team attended the North Carolina Public Transportation Association’s (NCPTA) 2019 Annual Conference and Expo in Wilmington, NC. Bringing together over 400 industry leaders from across the state, the conference covered the future … Read More
The Road Ahead: Lessons from CalACT 2019
At the end of April, the TransLoc team attended the 35th Annual CalACT conference in Coronado, California. We met with innovative transit agencies looking to improve their systems and create a better tomorrow. While we can’t deliver to you the beautiful birds and beaches of the Pacific, we can bear the gift of knowledge. Here’s what we learned at CalACT … Read More
Ohio Needs Transit: Transforming Mobility & Redesigning Our Future
Transforming Mobility and Redesigning Our Future was the theme of this year’s Ohio Needs Transit conference. The annual conference is run by the Ohio Public Transit Association (OPTA), and focused on the rapidly developing technology that is directly impacting transportation systems in Ohio and beyond.
What’s Easy vs. What’s Right
At the recent National Shared Mobility Summit, Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter introduced the keynote speaker, former US Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, now Chief Policy Officer at Lyft. In his remarks, Carter asked the audience rhetorically “What kind of city do we want?” as a heuristic to guide the decisions that elected and appointed officials and the … Read More
Word On the Street: What We Heard at SUMC 2019
Earlier this month our team traveled to Chicago, IL for the 2019 National Shared Mobility Summit. Every year the Summit brings together mobility leaders who are exploring options to create a multi-modal transportation solution to enhance their communities. This year, 700 mobility experts from 40 States and 14 countries gathered to ask the tough questions and make moves towards real … Read More
Microtransit Provides an Opportunity to Thrive
Hear from Lauren Marks, Executive Director of The Exceptional Foundation of Atlanta, about how a microtransit service in Gwinnett County, GA is providing service for an exceptional group. I am the Executive Director for a newly established nonprofit called The Exceptional Foundation of Atlanta. Our nonprofit is a private day program for adults with intellectual disabilities. Basically, we are the … Read More
Celebrating an Icon
Today marks 106 years since Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. She has been recognized by the United States Congress as the “First Lady of Civil Rights” and the “Mother of the Freedom Movement.” As a symbol of hope and equality, today we celebrate Park’s courageous spirit and ceaseless perseverance.