This month over 500 transit technology professionals took a break from watching the summer Olympics to travel to Philadelphia for APTAtech, one of several events throughout the year hosted by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), an enormous international association, focused on improving mobility.

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Cash is here to stay

“Who here thinks cash is going to be entirely phased out of transit payments in their lifetime?”

Cash is a big topic in transit payments. In a room full of technology vendors, it’s expected that some would be excited to talk about a cashless future–faster boarding times, lower administrative costs, better data on rider behavior. However, many people depend on cash, and forward-thinking transit partners are increasingly advocating for “financial inclusion” to create more pathways for people to get access to traditional banking services. One session got quite passionate when frontline transit staff explained several of the reasons why their riders prefer to avoid banks, including:

• People qualified for some federal benefits cannot have more than $2000 in assets, or they lose their eligibility.
• Some banks apply withdrawals before deposits, making it more likely that accountholders will have to pay overdraft fees, even if both transactions occur in the same day.
• Riders can have valid reasons to not want their individual trips tracked, for example people experiencing or escaping domestic violence, or people seeking controversial medical care.

Even in this room full of rider-focused, intelligent, generally empathetic people, these reminders still left a palpable shock. The financial system is, at times, cruel by design. This isn’t a problem that the transit industry created, but we need to plan within and around it. It’s important for the people that make technology and technology policy decisions, who almost exclusively have bank accounts and travel the world with the ease that financial security enables, take time to refresh their understanding that our experiences are not universal.

Turning heads with four-day work weeks

I wrote in my recap of Transport Ticketing about how employers, TMAs, and agencies are exploring incentives to encourage ridership. At both Transport Ticketing and this event, Velocia presented about their offerings, which largely focus on additional free transit rides such as “buy X get 1 free”. These are gaining traction, but concerns remain if they’ll make an impact to riders that are less price-conscious.

During a lively conversation in the hotel lobby (while the mens’ gymnastics finals played on large screens nearby), one participant brought up a compelling alternative: four-day work weeks. Offer a four-day work week in exchange for returning to the office. This could be four, 10-hour days or a true reduction in work hours. Such a policy wouldn’t work for every employer or every employee. It would permanently accept 20% of the decrease we’ve seen in downtown foot traffic and transit ridership, but it would win back the other 80%, and actually boost employee productivity.

In any case, it’s a big enough move to grab and hold employee attention. Raffles and gift cards haven’t been doing it. Paying for your employees’ commutes is a good start. Remote work has been the norm for so long now, it’s only fair to offer employees something meaningful for their cooperation. 

The public sector is getting organized

Jawnt has long been a fan of the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP). We’re a co-signer of the Mobility Data Interoperability Principles, and I had the pleasure of working on their GTFS team years ago. Generally, we love to see the public sector laying out specific requirements, and inviting the public sector to meet those terms. There are thousands of transit agencies in the United States, and only a handful of vendors, so when agencies team up, they can collectively achieve better outcomes than when they stand apart. Without this kind of collective bargaining, it’s easier for vendors to keep pushing out-dated, proprietary technologies that lock out new, more modern competition.

The world of “state-level advocates for integrated transit payments technology” is getting bigger. I attended a session on open payments jointly hosted by staff from the Connecticut Integrated Transit Mobility Project (CT-ITMP). CT-ITMP won and is implementing a federal SMART grant, with the goal of making transit travel entirely seamless across all 12 Connecticut transit agencies through contactless bank cards and fare capping. They’re in the middle of implementing a pilot for stage 1 of their grant, and are hopeful to build upon this success with future unified statewide mobility projects. This sort of effortless regional travel is already the norm in European countries like the Netherlands, but would be a first-of-its kind experience in the US.

State governments aren’t the only game in town. I also attended a panel jointly hosted by NEORide, which actually formed in 2014, and is picking up momentum. NEORide is an Ohio-based council of governments with member agencies in seven states representing millions of riders. Their members work together to seek information and proposals with agreed-upon minimum requirements. This sort of collective advocacy and action ensures their riders get access to better technology and that their agencies pay less for it.

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