Comotion Podcast

Episode 50. Greg Lindsay chats with Roni Floman, the VP of Marketing at Optibus, an Israel-based startup that is using A.I. to build optimized scheduling software for creating the most efficient paths for fixed-route bus services. Greg and Roni dive into how Optibus is working to revolutionize public transit by using advanced computer technology to create better bus schedules to help cities, commuters, and bus drivers to better do their jobs, and get where they're going. Optibus hopes to use optimization algorithms and A.I. to create new solutions for current scheduling inefficiencies.

Episode 48. Greg Lindsay chats with Andrei Greenawalt, Head of Public Policy at Via, about how shared, on-demand micro-transit can get people out of the private vehicle. Andrei explains how Via is working with nearly 100 cities and transit agencies to provide optimized and equitable first/last mile mobility solutions. Greg and Andrei discuss Via's numerous deployments, from its recently launched shared autonomous on-demand service in Irvine, CA to its partnership with New York City's yellow school bus fleet.

Episode 49. Greg Lindsay chats with Richard Bruce, Director of Energy, Technology and Innovation at the UK's Department for Transport, about how all the simultaneous changes happening in the mobility ecosystem can be leveraged to deliver basic environmental improvements. Richard Bruce outlines the UK’s key strategies for the future of urban mobility and highlights the necessity of modernizing the regulatory framework in order to better embrace new modes of transportation.

Episode 47. Greg Lindsay chats with Vanderbilt University's Executive Director for Mobility, Erin Hafkenschiel and NRDC Transportation Technical Advisor Zak Accuardi, about the Athens of the South's "Let's Move Nashville" mass transit plan failure. Erin, Greg and Zak look into the political issues that led voters to reject the local referendum and draw valuable lessons for public officials wishing to overcome anti-transit forces.

Episode 46. Greg Lindsay chats with Natalia Quintero, Transit Tech Lab's Program Director, about bringing in the most innovative and cutting-edge technology startups to remake New York's public transit. The Transit Tech Lab is a public-private initiative between the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Partnership for New York City. Natalia Quintero believes in finding innovative software solutions from all over the world, that can be responsive to the public transit needs of all New Yorkers.

Episode 45. Greg Lindsay chats with Yuan Shi, Global Solution Leader for New Mobility at Arcadis, about working with cities to bring about equitable micromobility first/last mile solutions. From Minneapolis to Paris, Yuan Shi believes local governments should learn from past successes and failures to implement micromobility regulations.

Episode 44. Greg Lindsay chats with Tony Pino, Bestmile's head of sales for North America, about ways to optimize fleet management. Tony Pino explains why Bestmile's modular-based fleet orchestration platform can adapt to any driving mode or vehicle brand. Greg and Tony chat about the future of autonomy and how city regulation will come into play.

Episode 41. John Rossant chats with David Hartmann, Senior Vice President of Growth Ventures at Covestro, about how plastic is powering mobility innovation. Covestro is developing a whole portfolio of materials, including thermoplastic composites, that are stronger and lighter than metal, to help new and existing players in the transportation industry manufacture the best possible products. John and David chat about revolutionizing battery pack design, fueling the micromobility revolution, sustainability and plastic recycling.

Episode 40. Greg Lindsay chats with Benjamin de la Peña, Chief of Strategy and Innovation at Seattle's Department of Transportation, about how the agency is developing safe and equitable ways to oversee mobility innovation in Seattle. Benjie and his SDOT team are convinced information is the new infrastructure and are finalizing the Transportation Information Infrastructure Plan, an ambitious project to manage the city's transportation network data. Benjie explains how Seattle was able to improve its bus service and better manage mobility data flow to grow public transit ridership.

Episode 39. Greg Lindsay and Tortoise co-founder and president Dmitry Shevelenko, discuss the hows and whys of micro autonomy. Dmitry is convinced that allowing a scooter to park itself is an efficient way to satisfy the consumer preference for convenience and instant access to transportation on short distance trips. Tortoise's remote teleoperations and low-speed autonomy model doesn't require big, polluting vans to pick up the scooters for charging and uses the same tech components you can find in a $100 smartphone; its unique model makes it cheap and energy-efficient. Tortoise's position with regards to cities has been to ask for permission, rather than forgiveness, and have them decide where the service should be operated.

Episode 38. Greg Lindsay chats with Sam Baker, co-founder and COO of Wunder Mobility, about managing shared mobility through B2B software technology. Sam Baker believes it is essential to create the right incentive structures for different markets across the world to use innovative transportation services. Greg and Sam talk about the importance of having multiple technology actors come together to deploy an end service that actually works and can efficiently improve the quality of urban life.

Episode 38. Greg Lindsay chats with Optimus Ride Co-Founders Ryan Chin, CEO and Jenny Larios Berlin, COO. Optimus Ride delivers autonomous shuttle rides in geo-fenced environments and recently launched a new service in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Ryan and Jenny want Optimus Ride to be a "neighbourhood autonomous mobility system", which provides a smooth, almost boring driving experience that is convenient for the community the service operates in.

Episode 37. Greg Lindsay chats with Josh Cohen, National Director of Policy at TransLoc, about co-creating ways to fill the gaps where fixed route transit is not available. TransLoc works directly with transit agencies and cities to solve mobility challenges in suburban, rural and smaller urban communities. Josh hosts a mobility podcast of his own, The Movement, where he seeks to understand how to engage with communities to bring about a green, equitable and accessible mobility future.

Episode 36. Recorded live from the Motor City. Greg Lindsay and Jessica Robinson, cofounder of the Detroit Mobility Lab and Executive Director at the Michigan Mobility Institute, chat about how electrification and automation will impact the mobility workforce. Jessica and her business partner Chris Thomas's research focuses on the people that will fuel the mobility revolution and seeks to understand how to attract and leverage new talents, software developers especially, through new forms of education.

Episode 35. Greg Lindsay chats with New York State Senator Jessica Ramos about the transportation challenges faced by her District 13 constituents. Greg and Senator Ramos chat about transportation equity, ways to increase micromobility use, living up to Vision Zero and MTA governance. Senator Ramos believes funds should be used to fix the city's ageing subway system rather than to build casinos and wants to put the MTA’s budget in open data form to better understand how the agency is spending its money.

Episode 34. Greg Lindsay sat down with Kent Larson, Director of City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, at the Moscow Urban Forum 2019. Kent and his City Science team are working on developing lightweight autonomous micro-vehicle working prototypes that combine the best attributes of dockless bikes and autonomous ridesharing, without any of the negatives. Kent and his team use interactive tools to build consensus in communities and find bottom-up solutions to urban problems. Kent and Greg chat about the intersection between housing and transportation. Kent's upcoming masterclass, "A World Without Slums", will look into how informal transportation, micro-vehicles and drones can provide transit and delivery to slums.

Episode 33. This conversation between Greg Lindsay and Assaf Biderman, founder and CEO of Superpedestrian and Associate Director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab, was recorded on location at the Moscow Urban Forum 2019. Assaf taught at the Strelka Institute and feels the city of Moscow has become a much more walkable than it was 8 years ago. Assaf and Greg chat about ride sharing in the context of multimodality, how the e-scooter business model can become sustainable and the importance of data infrastructure and for cities to provide their imput.

Episode 32. Greg Lindsay chats with Bits and Atoms Principal Consultant Anthony Townsend about his upcoming book, "The Ghost Road," where he deconstructs the myths surrounding autonomous vehicles and analyzes their long-term effects. Anthony Townsend believes it is essential to regulate the business side of automation and that congestion pricing is the "beginning of a slippery slope towards financializing all movement." Greg and Anthony discuss how multiple forms of automation will impact our culture and the built environment.