A group of tech startups is working with the MTA and Partnership for New York City, to fix the Big Apple’s transit troubles. The first-ever Transit Tech Lab is taking on subway and bus challenges to make commuting less chaotic. Maddie Orton reports.
Conference Will Solicit Cutting Edge Ideas for Re-Signaling New York City Subways; Build on Successful Public-Private Initiative with Transit Innovation Partnership
MTA Also Announces University Partnership for Adaptive Technologies and Mass Transit Innovation
The MTA and the Transit Innovation Partnership today announced a new collaborative effort exploring signal modernization that will include co-hosting a bidding conference to solicit technological innovations and proposals for reimagining the MTA’s signal systems. The announcement builds on the MTA’s ongoing association with the Transit Innovation Partnership — a public-private initiative between the MTA and the Partnership for New York City with the mission of making New York the global leader in public transit technologies — and comes just days after the release of the 2020-2024 MTA Capital Plan. The MTA Capital Plan calls for more than $50 billion in critical infrastructure and modernization investments, including $7 billion that would go directly towards using the latest technology to re-signal six lines in the New York City subway system.
Read moreFour Companies Chosen for MTA Pilot Projects through the Transit Tech Lab
Press Conference Streamed Live at youtube.com/MTAinfo
NEW YORK, July 30, 2019 – At a press conference today, leadership from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Partnership for New York City jointly announced the successful completion of the Transit Tech Lab, an accelerator program that enables tech companies to test and introduce new products designed to improve transit services. Starting today, four of the six companies graduating from the accelerator will begin pilots with the MTA to implement products that address key subway and bus challenges.
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We launched the Transit Tech Lab to help the MTA evaluate innovative solutions to critical public transportation challenges. After receiving nearly 100 applications, judges chose six companies to take part in an 8-week intensive accelerator with the MTA that wrapped up at the end of April.
Selected companies responded to either a subway or a bus challenge. Here’s an inside look at the results from the collaboration.
Read moreWill Automated Bus Lane Enforcement pilot cameras make a difference?
By Annie McDonough, City & State New York
Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a pilot program to improve bus lane enforcement by installing high-tech, forward-facing cameras on city buses for real-time capture of license plate and other information—and automatic ticketing—of cars that drive into dedicated bus lanes. The Automated Bus Lane Enforcement pilot cameras will be installed on 123 new buses on routes in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
By Graham Rapier, Business Insider
The New York Subway has been in a state of emergency for more than a year.
Almost every rush hour, train service is snarled by finicky, 100-year old signals, causing dangerously crowded platforms and angering commuters. Above ground, things aren't much better: you could easily out-walk the average speed of a bus in Gotham.
Some of that might soon change, if the six companies chosen by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a first-of-its-kind tech accelerator the agency has dubbed the "transit tech lab," are successful at the two challenges set out for them — but it won't be easy.
Over the next eight weeks, the startups will work alongside the MTA to find solutions to overcrowded platforms and ineffective bus lanes. The program's executive director, Rachel Haot, spoke exclusively to Business Insider about the accelerator, and how it could help the agency make up for some of its past technology struggles.
MTA Taking National Lead in Transit Innovation
NEW YORK, February 25, 2019–The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Partnership for New York City today are jointly announcing finalists accepted to the Transit Tech Lab, an accelerator program that will allow tech companies to introduce New York’s transportation agencies to new products designed to improve transit services.
“Through the MTA’s work with the Partnership, we are dedicated to testing and implementing new technologies that will modernize and improve subway and bus service across New York City,” said Pat Foye, MTA President. “The Transit Tech Lab is one example of how the MTA is changing to embrace technology and build a culture of innovation by working with companies that are pioneers in mobility.”
Este sistema de cámaras es capaz de reconocer, de inmediato, la edad y el género de las personas. El aparato también detecta el rostro y la identidad.
By Natalia Quintero, Director, Transit Tech Lab
I’m thrilled to share that I have joined the Transit Tech Lab as founding director!
For years I have followed work at the intersection of technology and government. When I learned about the lab I knew it was a special opportunity to take on a big challenge and take a shot at transforming transit in New York City.
© 2020 Partnership for New York City and Metropolitan Transportation Authority