What’s shakin’ in transportation

Can you imagine a room full of leaders and innovators in transportation and mobility industries from around the world? If you can then you’ve probably been to Transportation Camp that’s been hosted by our friends at Mobility Lab since 2014, and you get an inside peek into some of our team’s favorite highlights from this year’s event in DC.

Lorraine Pettit

“Biggest takeaway for me was learning about the importance of creating internal systems of communication to try and follow people’s work flows. We need to stay open to all ideas in order to build productive and supportive communities. Solving transportation challenges is going to take the efforts of many so it is important to keep those conversations as inclusive and open as possible.”

Garrett Lee 

“Hearing the discussion that Uber led on TNCs gave me a better understanding on the ridership numbers and how congestion in large markets can be combated with increased users of rideshare (especially pool options). How can these ridership numbers be impactful for smaller markets to combat congestion but also create accessibility where it is needed?

For example, Memphis doesn’t have pool options and has poor bus systems, but large portions of the population are moving across the city everyday. What can an Uber do to influence busing or even shared ride options in these markets?”

Will Cullen 

“Being part of the discussion on Quantified Data was very interesting to learn about how we collect and use data from peoples commutes to work. I had very little knowledge of how any of this was aggregated beforehand and didn’t realize how much commuter data is taken form survey format which doesn’t give you the complete picture. It boiled down to needing more collaboration from public and private entities to be able to deliver a much more whole picture of the mobility landscape for commuters.”

Peter Zaroulis

“Cuba was such an interesting mobility case study that I learned about at camp. They’re a very multi-modal country by necessity. They take the tops off buses at night and use them at the harbor as container trucks and then put them back together the next morning. Cuba is actually a huge modern mobility opportunity given how low car ownership it is — 34 cars per 1,000 residents!”

Justice Jones

Affordable Housing: Creating opportunities to help tenants in Affordable Housing cut down on extra cost (like owning a car etc). i.e Transit Benefits (free bus passes for residents, discounted bike rentals). When Affordable Housing is built out in places like the suburbs, it’s great because the cost of living is low, but it also becomes a disadvantage because a lot of its occupants are needing to travel to places like the city for work.

Quinn Kasal

“Chariot shutting down shows us the limitations of private sector “micro-transit” even if it’s higher capacity than an UberX or UberPool. There were many hearty debate about how to tackle this issue and other like scooter regulations. It was extremely insightful being able to hear leaders from all kinds of transportation backgrounds talk about current problems from around the globe.”