Taylor Swift and the rebirth of transit in 2023

We also have a first time guest from apta, and that's Ms. Petra Mullet, who is the Vice President of Strategy and International Programs there, and both of them share some of the challenges, successes and learnings from 2023 for the public transit industry, both here in America and internationally. I know you're going to love this discussion.

In our program, Transit Unplugged, we've had an amazing year of 2023. Our television show, Transit Unplugged TV, has grown dramatically in its cinematic and content quality. If you go back and look at some of the first episodes and look at them now, you'll see the difference what I'm talking about.

A lot of that is due to our video director and editor, Jaime Cuadra, who just does tremendous award winning work and we basically, we visit a new city every month around the world and we delve into their public transportation system. We go behind the scenes with their leaders. We ride the service with them and they talk to us about their challenges and they show them to us.

The construction projects, their operations control centers, you know, inside the vehicles, the hydrogen, the battery electric, how the charging works, all the fun stuff. And, speaking of fun, we take our viewers the food and culture scene of those cities. And those are the things that public mobility enables residents and visitors to enjoy. And I think it's working because our viewership has grown exponentially over the last year.

Over a 500 percent increase in viewership now in our second year on our YouTube channel, Transit Unplugged TV. Plus, we're now distributed through a brand new television network, the Transportation Channel, and we've entered into social media in a big way. We now are distributing interesting clips from the program via YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. I encourage you to follow us on both platforms to see these and let us know what you think. And our audio podcast is growing too.

Now in this new year of 2024, we're focusing on not just CEOs discussing topics affecting our industry, but also a look at their career journeys a little bit more than we've done in the past. How they made and make decisions. All this is so that those in the public transportation industry who want to learn from them as they move up the ladder of success can do so.

Plus, the companies that support the industry will learn from these discussions about where the public transit agencies are going, their plans for the future. All this as we are now in our seventh year of Modaxo's thought leadership vehicle, Transit Unplugged. We have our podcast, our TV show, live events, our weekly newsletter, and now in a big way on social media. Thank you for being a partner with us as we continue to grow.

Now let's join our discussion with Paul Skoutelas and Petra Mollett of APTA, taking a look at the hot trends from 2023 and what we see coming in 2024. Great to have Paul Skoutelas and Petra Mollett with us today. They work for the American Public Transportation Association or APTA, which is America's large national association. And this is our year end review show.

And so, uh, I thought who better to talk about the year end review than the head of our national association here in America and Petra will give us the international view. Uh, Paul, thank you for being on the show once again. You're a multi time guest now.

We represent over 1, 600 member organizations, and they're comprised of some 450, 000 employees directly working in public transit, and support several million private sector jobs. So it's about an 85 billion dollar industry. Very significant, very significant in terms of its impact, not only on mobility, but our economy.

You know, we have a strong, uh, membership base with, with keen interest to make our industry move forward, and so we, I think, do an excellent job of bringing the voices together, both public and private, to make sure that when we go to the Hill, uh, they can count on good, solid information that they can base their decision making on, and to make the case, and to make the case is twofold, at least, and that is, the public perspective of bringing resources to communities

to invest in public transit, and then the private sector, which is really the job creator, creating the opportunities to innovate, uh, to provide services that I think take us to another level. And I think that's very powerful on the Hill to hear both the public and the private sector messages.

And that's why you're on the show today, because you're going to share some of the best practices and things and solutions that we've seen.

Those of us who've had the privilege of kind of growing up in the industry, developing our careers. There are a lot of rewards there of just knowing you're doing meaningful work and you're doing it with a group of individuals and professionals who are striving for some of the same goals that you're working on. So it's a great reward.

If you compare where our ridership is nationally, uh, to a year ago, we're up about 20%. So we're now hovering around around 75 to 80% at a national level, uh, as compared to 2019. That's not where we ultimately want to be. But our agencies are demonstrating resilience. Uh, they're, they're really innovating with their services, their approaches, uh, the fare policies that they're implementing, luring riders back, but I would see, I say also new riders, uh, that haven't experienced the system.

What we've seen in the last number of months is The power of other sources of entertainment, of leisure activities. You mentioned you were just in Vegas. You know, what we saw is what, uh, the Taylor Swift factor bringing thousands upon thousands of riders to transit. Many of whom have never experienced public transportation.

And what I'm very pleased about is that the agencies have rolled up their sleeves. Both public and private members that are supporting the industry, looking for ways to be more creative. And I think that's really important. We've got to adapt to a different environment than what we've had. So that's a very strong positive. We continue, the agencies continue to advance climate initiatives, zeroing, the transition to zero emission bus fleets.

That does not come without some of its pains, as you well know, and talking to our members, uh, still issues of the technology that are being refined and improved upon. Uh, we've had some challenges in the last number of months with two of our, uh, bus OEMs, uh, that have, uh, really expressed and have now demonstrated some difficulties. First, NovaBus exiting the U. S. production of transit buses. Uh, that is a hit.

Uh, secondly, Proterra, the only 100 percent maker of buses by electric vehicle battery propulsion. So we have issues like that that we've got to work through and we are addressing those, but I think those are all positive signs of progress that don't come again without some sacrifice, without some pain, but the progress is there.

I am most encouraged as we look at the environment that we've been operating in, which in itself has been challenging, high inflation, supply chain issues, workforce issues that we all know about that affect both public and private sector, agencies continue to advance their capital programs nearly every day, a new story about a transit line, a rail extension, a new operating facility.

I was just in Akron, Ohio. 10 days ago to dedicate the groundbreaking of a new maintenance and operations base at Akron Metro. Uh, they're very excited about that because they know that will translate into improved practices, improved services ultimately to their public. And we're seeing this all over the country. And then of course we have an administration. That continues to be advocates and and announce new grant awards virtually every week.

We've had just two major announcements that have come forward with new high speed rail monies, both for the system that will connect. Los Angeles, the Los Angeles area to, uh, Las Vegas, high speed rail.

I think that will continue in 2024. Again, we've got to be, um, practical about this, not without challenges. That that's the nature of it. That's why we, all of us do what we do to help address some of these issues and work through them, uh, for, for the betterment for all. So that will continue.

So the transit isn't seen as an also ran but is seen as an essential service. Kind of like, you know, schools and parks and other things that governments subsidize regularly without any question.

That's just not the way transit has been budgeted and financed over the years. This fiscal cliff is an interesting term. It really has just entered our lexicon in the last couple of years. And certainly it's very descriptive of the situation. But it's not different than what we've, we've, we've met those challenges in years past. And yes, you've hit upon some of those. New York has a solution now in terms of providing some funding.

California at the state level has created some additional runway for additional funding, which is going to give the agencies more time to adapt. Chicago at the state level is working through some proposals that will raise more monies and also make some changes perhaps in their structure. And so I would expect that will continue. WMATA, of course, we're here in our own home here in Washington, D. C. has a huge budget deficit that they're dealing with, and they've got a complex governance.

They're looking for the jurisdictions there, the three states, so to speak, to come to the table and address that, you know, I believe those will be worked out because at the end, people recognize how important public transportation is, what it means to people's lives. We don't want to leave people behind.

Public transit, as we all agree, creates mobility and opportunity for people to live their lives, and I think that we will find ways at the local level, uh, whether it's here in Washington, whether it's Chicago, elsewhere, uh, to get to a good place. Again, doesn't come easy, doesn't come out with a lot of anxiety, uh, but I'm confident that that will happen. And our agencies will continue to make the investments.

The capital side continues to, to roar, uh, with these new investments that are being made. Agencies are having to adapt there as well. You know, those dollars perhaps don't go quite as far because of inflation, some of the other things, but they're resequencing their, their investment levels. Figuring out how best to do these projects. And again, the innovation and the resilience of our industry is really noteworthy and that will certainly continue.

We spent time in Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona in June and then. We were able to do another study mission this year, very fortunate to be able to do that with 35 members, both public and private sector to Australia and New Zealand. We spent time in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. And all of those trips are really focused on how do you build a world class transit system? What is needed? And really to see what is possible. And, you know, there's so much that.

We could talk about in terms of what we learned and I'm sure Paul, Paul would have a lot to has a lot to say here as well, of course, but really, I just wanted to mention 3, 3 elements. Perhaps 1 is governance structures. I think that we really saw. some government structures, governance structures that really allowed us, allows for that seamless connectivity between modes and brings together land use planning and transportation.

So, in Madrid, for example, they have the regional consortium for public transportation, and that brings together all of their operators and really focuses on fare modal technological and administrative, integration. So, so they, they really do have that seamless connectivity and deliver on that. Um, and then, for example, uh, Victoria, the state of Victoria in Australia, where Melbourne is located, where they've created the Department of Transport and Planning.

So again, bringing together all the modes from a policy perspective, as well as a planning function, but also tying that with the land use management and planning. And I think the 2nd element is, is just what happens when you see both political commitment as well as a public understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the vibrancy of cities and their economic competitiveness and a robust public transportation system.

And I think wherever we went, whatever, whatever city we were in, we saw, a culture and a lifestyle choice, uh, with public transportation at heart and, and, and cities that were 24 hours had have, um, have all the services at hand in urban areas, retail jobs, cultural services, et cetera. And, uh, and public transportation being used all day and all night. And, and really, a, a delivery system focused on ensuring that there is that constant access to where people need to go.

And that understanding that, people come to cities and live in cities because there is a very good public transportation system. And I think the 3rd, uh, 1, which we are still very much unpacking, and which is so important to us now, is we are focused on this topic is efficient and effective project delivery and we really saw some excellent models around the world this year.

Where they really are focused on, on being outcome oriented, um, and putting in place standardized procedures, the right, uh, organizational culture, to ensure projects are built well and effectively. You know, in, in Madrid, for example, where they built 50 miles of, of Metro and 80 stations in four years. I mean, that, that's incredible.

and, uh, you know, we were just in Sydney where, uh, they're building, you know, they're building light rail six years from start to finish, uh, 11 miles of track, but, but that includes all the project review. That's from the start of the project, project review and approval processes to operations. And, uh, just, really understanding what it, how they have really done a deep dive on what it takes to, to deliver those projects and, and, and deliver them in the right way.

So Paul, let's take a quick look into 2024. As I look into this new year, I've got a new book coming out called The New Future of Public Transportation with contributions from 30 of the world's leading transit experts. Thank you for contributing to my last book, The First Future of Public Transportation. But what I see, and I'm interested in your take on this and anything else, is the emergence of hydrogen powered buses as a new technology that's up and coming.

Secondly, would be new funding mechanisms such as road charging. As we get more and more electric vehicles on the road, there's less and less gas tax available for these transportation trust funds. And so states like Maryland, where I'm at, and other states are looking at that as also, I understand a federal study will soon be. And then the third big trend I see is the continuation of the importance of public transportation and cleaning the environment.

And I see that as being a driver of what we do, kind of getting the political willpower behind us. As a result of that, what are your thoughts on those and anything else that you see coming in 2024?

We are now into our third year of the Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Act and that reauthorization. our first priority for the coming year is to protect that investment to make sure that the appropriations match. Uh, the authorized levels, and that will not be an easy feat at all, but, but that's at the top of our list, and it's not too early. We'll begin thinking early in the year of 2024 about reauthorization. You know, what comes next? And, and you just hit on it.

We know that the gas tax revenues now are on decline. Uh, there's no way that they're going to be able to be of sufficient magnitude to fund transportation. roads and public transit. So we need some new thinking there, new experimentation, new identification of revenue sources and streams that will serve that need. It is happening at the state levels.

Uh, there's a lot of experimentation that's going to go forward in terms of, uh, distance based, uh, you know, mileage, uh, based, uh, uh, tolls and, and, and the like. So, yeah. So there's some new areas there that have to be explored if we're really going to identify new funding for the future and we'll be engaged in that in this coming year. The other is to address the issue that we touched on a few moments ago, and that is some of the stress that our bus OEMs are facing.

And so we have established a bus manufacturing task force. It is chaired by Dorval Carter. from Chicago, Chicago CTA, and Rich Davey, who is the president of New York City Transit, so they've lent both their expertise and quite frankly their gravitas to this issue, to give it the importance that it deserves, and we expect we'll be coming out very shortly and into 2024 with recommendations about really changing the procurement model that the industry has followed for many, many years.

It needs to be, uh, recognizing These impacts, financial impacts on the private sector. And we need more of a partnership there so that we can keep this industry healthy. You know, we all have our individual efforts, both initiatives and priorities, public and private. But at the end, you know, we need a healthy industry and that healthy industry has to account for both sectors of our industry.

And so I think there's a willingness and a desire to make sure that we We're doing the right kinds of things to, to make that happen. I expect our trends in terms of, um, our association to continue. We've had, uh, we're closing out on this one of the strongest attendance years that we've had, uh, ever at APTA, uh, record attendance levels at virtually every conference. I think that will continue in 24. In some measure, that reflects the health of the industry. The vitalness of the industry.

So we'll continue to nurture that and to work with it. But, you know, the day to day stuff is still going to be there. How we get bus service and rail service out there timely, operating well. We're going to need to come to answers as how best we can deal with the issues of public safety. Which, again, we cannot ignore. Every organization and agency is facing those.

We've got to work, I think, more collaboratively with our local leaders, mayors, city councils, local social groups to address these issues, because they go far beyond transit's ability to solve. And so we need to be able to do that. But those are the things, I think, that are key in the agenda that I see us expending more energy and time and effort on.

Now, almost 2000 buses already electric. We saw the same in Australia, New Zealand, a major commitment to a transition to electric and hydrogen. Uh, as well, and some interesting examples as well, which I think we'll see more of in Barcelona, for example, where they're looking at using their, uh, their energy, the recovered energy from their metro system and using that to supply electricity to their buses. So, I think that's one area where we'll continue to see a lot of progress.

And the second is just, I think this will also be the year where we stop. Uh, internationally, at least comparing ourselves in terms of ridership, uh, pre to pre pandemic levels and really focus, uh, more on, uh, having a true understanding, um, uh, from a data perspective on, on new mobility trends and meeting those new mobility trends, but also perhaps really focusing less on ridership levels and more on how we build inclusive, equitable, and accessible transit systems and deliver on that.

So we're going to see more of that continuing. Uh, and I think the jury's still out in terms of what that mix might be for the future. What does the future bus fleet look like? How much of it is electric battery base versus hydrogen? I think we picked up some interesting tidbits along the way from our international visits in terms of where they are, but you know, we got to make sure that it fits for the U S market. Uh, so that'll be an interesting, I think, uh, focus for the next year coming up.

Well, thank you both for sharing your time with us today. Paul, I consider you a five star general in our army as we, uh, as we advance and Transit Unplugged is happy to be part of the Air Force.

So keep up the energy and stamina to do all that my friend. Doing great.

We've got a special episode. By our friends at the overhead wire and talking headways podcast. Jeff Wood is talking with Dr. Karel Martens about building more sustainable and accessible cities. It's really interesting episode about how we approach building our cities. Listen for that episode to come out December the 29th. Are you subscribed to the transit unplugged newsletter? Well head on over to transitunplugged.com and sign up.

Every week we give you the info on the latest episode, let you catch up on past ones and keep you in the loop with everything that's going on at Transit Unplugged the podcast and the TV show. If you have a question comment, or like to be a guest on the show, feel free to email [email protected]. Transit unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo. At Modaxo we're passionate about moving the world's people. And at Transit Unplugged. We're passionate about telling those stories.

So until next week and next year. Ride safe and ride happy.