New and improved technologies are cropping up all over the world, including in the transportation industry. The speed of innovation has been felt by city engineers, planners, and policymakers as they work hard to meet the demands of their residents.   How can tech's need to move fast work with the government's responsibility to protect without breaking things? Tune in to our conversation about innovative procurement processes with Kirk Talbott, CIO of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and Jeremy Devray-Benichou, VP of Customer Success at UrbanLeap, a platform helps cities test and evaluate innovative solutions.   On another note, happy Thanksgiving and stay safe!   LINKS: Kirk Talbott, CIO of MARTA Jeremy Devray-Benichou, VP of Customer Success at UrbanLeap MARTA UrbanLeap 

POLICYSMART

57: Thankful for New Innovative Procurement Processes! with Kirk Talbott, CIO of MARTA

As more and more people move back into dense urban areas, demand for autonomous vehicles is inevitable. Whether you've thought about it or not, AV does affect logistics and consumer goods delivery. City planners must think quickly about how to manage this emergent technology to ensure utopian convenience doesn’t create a dystopian nightmare.  On this episode, Allan Rutter, head of the Freight Mobility and Infrastructure Investment Analysis Division at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, stops by to share his insights on the future of consumer goods delivery. LINKS: Allan Rutter Texas A&M Transportation Institute NACTO's Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism: Second Edition National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) 

56: Planning for Consumer Goods Delivery in an Autonomous City with Allan Rutter, Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Policy actions from Capitol Hill touch local jurisdictions throughout the country, especially when it comes too funding. What kind of impact does DC have on your ability to innovate and your bottomline? On this final INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART, John Roberti, VP of Government Relations and Strategy at Cubic Corporation, speaks with us about his job as a lobbyist and what's happening with transportation and mobility issues in Congress. LINKS: John Roberti Cubic Corporation INTERSECT19 

55: Boo! It's Congress! Capitol Hill's Impact on Your Ability to Innovate – An INTERSECT19 Special with John Roberti, VP of Gov't Relations & Strategy of Cubic Corporation

Once upon a time, transportation was about building roads and filling potholes. Like everything else in this world, however, it's now influenced by technology. On this fourth INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART, we speak with Greg Winfree, Director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) about connected vehicles in Texas. Texas doesn't do anything small...and that includes transportation and mobility. Tune in to hear what all the state's been up to! LINKS: Greg Winfree Texas A&M Transportation Institute INTERSECT19 conference 

54: Texas-Sized Connected Mobility – An INTERSECT19 Special with Greg Winfree, Director of Texas A&M Transportation Institute

We're wrapping up Day 3 of INTERSECT19 with Crissy Ditmore, Director of Strategy for Cubic Transportation Systems, and some policy talk on mobility as a service (MaaS)! What exactly is MaaS? What does it involve and who does it serve? It's not a product...and it involves many different parties. Still don't know? Don't worry—tune into this episode and Crissy will explain everything from traffic management systems to on-demand services. This is the third special episode covering INTERSECT19! We're so excited to have you join us this week and we hope you have a lot of helpful takeaways! LINKS: Crissy Ditmore Cubic Transportation Systems INTERSECT19 conference 

53: MaaS 101 - An INTERSECT19 Special with Crissy Ditmore, Cubic Transportation Systems

The transportation industry does a great job of talking to each other. However, it doesn't do such a great job of talking to people outside of the industry. Why does it need to be good at both? Krishna Desai, the Global Marketing Manager for Cubic Transportation Systems, shares with POLICYSMART why it's so critical for the transportation and ITS industries to become better at speaking to others. Some of the reasons include the need to recruit great Millennial talent, to share with private companies what our real transportation needs are, and to explain clearly why important projects need funding. We bring you another special episode on this second day of INTERSECT19! Tune in to find out more reasons why ITS needs a message makeover and how the industry can go about doing it. LINKS: Krishna Desai Cubic Transportation Systems INTERSECT19 conference 

52: ITS Needs a Message Makeover - An INTERSECT19 Special with Krishna Desai, Cubic Transportation Systems

Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), is the newest GRIDSMART Hall of Fame-er and we’re very excited to have him with us on our first special INTERSECT19 edition of POLICYSMART!   Everyone knows that Bay Area traffic is heavy—it’s a popular place to live, after all. The good thing is that the Bay Area also happens to be one of America’s most innovative places, if not THE most innovative. That being said, what is CCTA doing to innovate in transportation?   CCTA was recently awarded a $7.5 million grant from USDOT. They’re using it to work on three cool demos as a part of a four-year Automated Driving System (ADS) pilot program. Randy talks about these demos with us. Tune in to find out more about these AV, CAV, SAV (and more!) initiatives.   LINKS: Randy Iwasaki Contra Costa Transportation Authority News release: Contra Costa Transportation Authority Wins $7.5 Million USDOT Grant for Automated Driving Systems Pilot Program INTERSECT19 conference 

51: AV for Seniors, County Hospital Patients - An INTERSECT19 Special with Randy Iwasaki, CCTA

What happens when the curb becomes too appealing? What can we do about it? The curb is loved by more than just cars and trucks nowadays. Bikes, scooters, rideshare, and even food trucks want a piece of it—and they're willing to fight each other for it. Jim Barbaresso, HNTB's Senior VP and National Practice Leader for Intelligent Transportation Systems, shares with us this week what's happening to the curb now, what will happen to the curb in the future, and how we can shape curb policy to ensure the most efficient and fair use of it. LINKS: Jim Barbaresso Jim's email: jbarbaresso@hntb.com Jim Barbaresso's column on Axios HNTB 

50: Talking Curb Appeal with Jim Barbaresso, HNTB

Pedestrian fatalities have been rising every year for the last 10 years. Why? Do smartphones have anything to do with it? What about legalized marijuana? Maybe it's the type of car you're driving. In the spirit of Pedestrian Safety Month, we speak with Wes Guckert, Founder and CEO of The Traffic Group, about what is causing all these pedestrian fatalities, who is getting hit, and what cities have been doing and can start doing to reduce the number of deaths. LINKS: Wes Guckert, Founder and CEO of The Traffic Group "Pedestrian Fatalities: What is Going On?" by Wes Guckert, Freak Speak Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Report: Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State 

49: A Pedestrian is Hit Every Two Hours. Wes Guckert of Traffic Group Shares Why & What To Do

It's back-to-school week for students across the country! Most of us would consider this bad news, but the Boston Public School District gives us something to smile and marvel about. The school district went from spending $2,000 a year per student—just on school buses—to trimming a total of $5 million. All done by an algorithm. That's not all: buses are driving 1 million fewer miles a year and cutting 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per day. Want to hear about the results and how Boston achieved them? Tune in to this episode of POLICYSMART as we speak with Emma Coleman, Route Fifty's Assistant Editor! LINKS: Emma Coleman How One City Saved $5 Million by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm 

48: Back to School! An Algorithm Saves Boston $5 Million on Its School Buses with Emma Coleman, Route 50

Autonomous vehicles have to navigate more than just the roads. They have to make their way through Congress, too. There's been some twists and turns...and maybe a dead end on the horizon. We recently spoke with Tanya Snyder, a transportation reporter for Politico, about the ups and downs of AV policy on Capitol Hill. What is Congress doing now? Anything? Who are AV companies turning to now? LINKS: Tanya Snyder "AV industry turns away from Congress" Politico Politico Morning Transportation newsletter 

47: Is AV Hitting a Dead End in Congress? with Tanya Snyder, Politico

We often talk about how autonomous vehicles can move people who otherwise wouldn't be able to commute as independently. Sasha Lekach, a tech reporter for transportation at Mashable, shares how it happened recently in real life at the National Federation of the Blind's annual conference in Las Vegas.   At the conference, Lyft teamed up with self-driving car pioneer Aptiv to give people with impaired vision more than three hours worth of rides. Hear from Sasha about how intelligent transportation companies like Lyft and Aptiv are liberating people who have to rely on others to move around in their communities.   LINKS: Sasha Lekach, Tech Reporter for Transportation, Mashable "Lyft self-driving cars offer tactile maps, diagrams for blind riders" by Sasha Lekach 

46: An AV Fleet for the Visually-Impaired with Sasha Lekach, Mashable

Is your city interested in testing autonomous vehicles? Has it been asked to test them in the future? Jason JonMichael, the City of Austin's Assistant Director for Smart Mobility, shares with you the considerations to think through. Is your city built to support the test? Can it meet enough of the needs of the AV company to enter into this type of public-private partnership? What about the taxpayer? Tune in to this episode to hear Jason's experience. He left a private sector career to work on these big projects in Austin. LINKS: Jason JonMichael Austin's Smart Mobility Road Map Google's Waymo in Austin Ford AV expanding to Austin

45: Want to Test AV in Your City? Austin's Jason JonMichael Shares What to Consider

We're launching early this week because we should all celebrate Independence Day tomorrow! Today, we're talking about bikes and why bike safety means safety for all (something we should keep in mind for the Fourth of July, too).   More and more people are using bikes as their preferred mode of transportation. How do we make city streets safe for the growing number of bikes? CityLab reporter Laura Bliss is here to chat with us about results from a study of crash data and street design from 12 cities.   LINKS: STUDY: Why cities with high bicycling rates are safer for all road users by Wesley Marshall (University of Colorado Denver) and Nicholas Ferenchak (University of New Mexico) Protected Bike Lanes Are Safer for Drivers, Too by Laura Bliss, The Atlantic's CityLab 

44: Protected Bike Lanes Make Streets Safer For Everyone with Laura Bliss, CityLab

Handling both technology and telecom as CTO of New York City DOT, Cordell Schachter has seen it all. In an effort to make travel safer for all NYC travelers, no matter their chosen mode of transportation, Cordell has helped initiate and manage efforts across the transportation board and talks with us about congestion pricing, 5G deployment, connected vehicle pilot projects and other ideas to help move the biggest city in the US.

43: How to Move the Biggest City in America with Cordell Schachter, CTO of NYC DOT

POLICYSMART facilitates a direct, honest, and thought-provoking look at the ideas, policy, products, and people behind the next generation of transportation. Presented by GRIDSMART