Challenge calls for technologies to make public transit safer, cleaner and more adaptive as New York gets back to work

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Transit Innovation Partnership today launched a new “COVID-19 Response Challenge” to engage the private tech industry and rapidly evaluate and deploy innovative technologies that make public transit safer, healthier and more responsive to customer and workforce needs in light of the global pandemic.

"To truly modernize every element of how we run our transit system, you have to look far and wide for new ideas," said Interim New York City Transit President Sarah Feinberg. "That means tapping into the city's robust entrepreneurial and technology scenes and thinking in new ways about how a vital institution like New York City Transit can embrace innovation in everything it does."

New App Pilot Set to Help 11,000 Essential Workers Plan Alternative Travel During MTA Essential Plan Night Service, With Bus Ridership Increasing Up to 76%

App Supplements MTA’s ‘Essential Connector’ website (mta.info/overnight) and Call Center for Essential Workers to Plan Their Travel 

Download the App at the Apple App Store or Google Play 

View Photos of the New App Here  

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today launched the ‘Essential Connector’ app to help essential workers plan their alternative travel to or from work during the overnight subway closure from 1 to 5 a.m. Essential workers can use the new app to navigate and take advantage of the MTA’s dramatically enhanced bus service schedule – a 76% increase in overnight trips and 150% boost in the operational fleet – or book an eligible for-hire-vehicle where bus service is not workable at no cost.  

The new app supplements the impressive work done by MTA’s internal team to launch the Essential Connector program on May 6, 2020, just days after the overnight closure of the subway was announced. Tapping a station on the new app’s map allows the user to see live bus and train departures, including the last train arrivals of the night and available buses nearby. The app will provide info on current service disruptions and upcoming service changes. Over time the map will become “personalized,” highlighting the stops the user visits most often, making trip planning faster and easier than ever before. Following feedback, the MTA is already working on a second version of the app. The Essential Connector app is now available for download at the Apple App Store or on Google Play.  

17 Companies Virtually Demonstrate Cutting-Edge Technology to Re-Signal New York City’s Century-Old Subway System

The MTA and Transit Innovation Partnership hosted the Signaling Challenge Virtual Demo Day on April 2, a digital event in which 17 leading technology companies presented proposals to MTA officials for modernizing New York City’s century-old subway signaling system, via more than 150 video conference presentations and Q&A sessions. 

The Virtual Demo Day was part of the MTA and Transit Innovation Partnership’s Signaling Challenge, which is enlisting the world’s top transportation technology innovators to identify ways to make existing subway cars compatible with new signaling technology as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The progress of this initiative reflects the MTA’s commitment to execute on long-term modernization plans while simultaneously addressing a major public health and service delivery emergency.

Start-Ups to Pilot New Technologies to Make Transportation More Accessible, Reduce Curb Congestion and Provide More Amenities to Transit Customers

The Partnership for New York City’s Transit Tech Lab, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and four other transportation agencies announced today that nine start-up companies have been selected to pilot cutting-edge technologies that could improve accessibility, revenue generation, and traffic congestion for millions of daily travelers in the New York metropolitan area. The agencies joining the MTA in this initiative are the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City Department of Transportation, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak.

The Transit Tech Lab is part of the public-private Transit Innovation Partnership and enables the MTA and other public transportation agencies to leverage innovative technology solutions to improve metropolitan area transit, with the aim to make New York the global leader in public transportation.

Selected Innovators Invited to Demonstrate Cutting-Edge Technology at Demo Day March 13

As Part of Historic Capital Plan, MTA to Begin Soliciting Bids in Second Half of 2020 for $7.1 Billion Signaling Modernization Program Unprecedented in Size and Scope

Approximately 100 Companies from Four Continents Attend Symposium and Compete to Accelerate Modernization of New York City Transit’s Signaling System

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Transit Innovation Partnership and Empire State Development today hosted a Signaling Innovation Summit to bring together the best and brightest innovators to accelerate the modernization of New York City’s subway signaling system – a $7.1 billion program unprecedented in size and scope – and improve performance, service reliability and safety for 5.7 million daily customers.

The MTA and the Transit Innovation Partnership also announced a new signaling challenge to identify ways to make existing subway cars compatible with new signaling technology faster and at a lower cost. Selected companies will have the opportunity to present at the MTA and Transit Innovation Partnership’s Demo Day on March 13, 2020.

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Apply by December 4, 2019 for a chance to pilot technologies with the MTA, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak

Learn more at transitinnovation.org

The Transit Tech Lab – an innovation and technology accelerator project designed to use private sector expertise to help modernize the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now other transit agencies as well – is reminding potential applicants that tomorrow is the deadline for its latest initiative.

Applicants to this year’s Transit Tech Lab, which takes selected startups from pitch to pilot in less than six months, get the opportunity to partner with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak in addition to the MTA, the Lab’s founding agency.  Last year’s Transit Tech Lab focused on the MTA only.  This year’s expanded partnership supports a more unified approach to introducing transit innovation.