Eighteen Companies Complete Tests with MTA, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT, and the NYC DOT 

Today, the Transit Tech Lab—a public-private initiative created by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Partnership Fund for New York City to accelerate innovation in public transportation—published a report detailing results from its 2024 program, which was the Lab’s largest and most successful effort to date. Over the course of eight weeks, beginning in May 2024, 18 innovative startups worked closely with New York-area transit agencies to test their new technology solutions for building a more adaptive transit system, improving customer experience, and maximizing the utility of curb areas on New York City streets. 

The partner agencies, which included the MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT, and the NYC Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), rated the Transit Tech Lab with a Net Promoter Score of 9.0, citing the expanded access to tech expertise and creative solutions as a major benefit. Participating companies, pleased with the in-depth engagement of the Lab and agency partners, rated the Lab with a Net Promoter Score of 9.2. See the full results here.

The Resilience, Customer Experience, and Curb Activity challenges were announced in January and generated 150 applications from around the world. In May, eighteen companies deployed their technologies over an eight-week proof of concept period in partnership with one or more of the participating agencies. This was the first year in which the Lab ran three concurrent challenges. The Curb Activity challenge, run in partnership with the NYC DOT, specifically aimed to source, test, and evaluate solutions to the problems outlined in the Curb Management Action Plan. 

Results highlight how these new technologies can help New York’s regional transit agencies be more efficient, responsive, and adaptive to 21st century challenges:

Resilience Challenge – How can we build a more resilient and adaptive transit system?

Finalists include Advanced Rail and Transit Solutions, Inc, AlphaRoute, Cascara Energy, CloudMonitoring/REMS Plus LLC, FLX Solutions, Intelligent Security Systems (ISS), Irmos Technologies, QEA, and Voltpost. The companies worked with agency partners to:

• Conduct a pre-feasibility study to demonstrate how an innovative cooling solution could repurpose $171,000 of excess heat annually at the Brooklyn Third Avenue Subway Station.

• Install sixteen environmental sensors in twelve MTA facilities to protect workers and critical infrastructure via alerts about extreme heating and flooding. 

• Proactively inform maintenance needs by installing vibration sensors on three bridges and conducting drone-based thermal energy audits on two administrative buildings. 

• Identify ten MTA and NJT locations where lampposts could be retrofitted with EV charging capabilities in a cost-efficient way. 

Customer Experience Challenge – How can we improve customer experience by better communicating service changes, reducing delays, and augment safety and cleanliness initiatives?

Finalists include BusPas, Convo Communications, GoodMaps, Urban Solar Inc., and Velocia. The companies worked with agency partners to:

• Demonstrate how real time passenger information can improve customer experience and lessen perceived wait times at three NJ TRANSIT and NYC DOT bus stops.

• Launch an American Sign Language (ASL)-translation service for Deaf customers at four MTA and Port Authority facilities to improve accessibility of subway and bus stations.

• Test a rewards platform with the MTA and the Port Authority to incentivize engagement and to encourage positive behavior changes with hard-to-reach customer segments.

• Prepare an augmented reality (AR)-enhanced indoor navigation experience to help customers navigate transfers at the Port Authority and NJ TRANSIT’s Hoboken Terminal.

NYC DOT’s Curb Activity Challenge – How can we maximize the city’s curb space to serve the multiple and varied needs of New Yorkers?

Finalists include AIWaysion, Appyway, Populus, and Seyond. The companies worked with the NYC DOT to:

• Evaluate LiDAR and Edge AI sensors as potential solutions to help automate the collection of curb data.

• Perform an assessment of existing data management systems to identify how a curb management software solution could augment and digitize existing curb data inventories.

Maria Gotsch, President & CEO, Partnership Fund for New York City, said, “We established the Transit Tech Lab, as well as our other Lab programs, to ensure that government has access to transformative technologies. We believe the 18 technologies demonstrated during this year’s proof-of-concept period provided valuable insights for our transit partner on how technology can enhance their operations and in doing so hold immense potential to improve our city.”

Stacey Matlen, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Partnership for New York City, said, “These impressive results coupled with the high net promoter score from both agency and company participants showcase how the Transit Tech Lab’s model effectively enables government to quickly solve 21st century challenges with new technologies. We are proud of the benefits the Lab has yielded to date and look forward to seeing how these technologies can continue to improve climate resilience, customer experience, and curb utilization priorities with North America’s largest transit agencies.” 

Jessica Mathew, Senior Advisor for Special Projects, MTA, said, “The MTA continues to tackle significant challenges while remaining focused on enhancing the customer experience and improving resiliency efforts. We’re excited to review the results of this year’s Transit Tech Lab challenges and explore new technology and the opportunities they could provide.”

Rob Galvin, Chief Technology Officer, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said: “The Transit Tech Lab has been a valuable partner for the Port Authority as we increasingly focus on harnessing technology to manage and operate our vast network of infrastructure encompassing planes, trains, automobiles and ships. Working with the startups allows the agency to participate in research development such as exploring scalability of the projects across our myriad facilities. The opportunity to access the creativity and innovation at these startups has been incredibly helpful as we work to incorporate best practices into our daily operations.”

Brendan Kaplan, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, NJ TRANSIT, said, “Innovation is vital to New Jersey's economy and NJ TRANSIT's commitment to delivering safe services to the largest statewide unified transportation system in the nation. Transit Tech Lab continues to play a key role in helping the agency source new technologies and trying these new technologies.”

Ydanis Rodriguez, Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation, said, “NYC DOT is always looking to take advantage of new technologies to make our streets safer and more efficient. Through the Transit Tech Lab, we’ve been able to identify promising solutions that could help NYC DOT better manage our curb space and provide reliable, real-time bus arrival information at bus stops. We look forward to exploring the use of these technologies further and thank the Transit Tech Lab for helping lay the foundation for a more resilient, adaptive, and accessible city.”

This is the sixth annual program of the Transit Tech Lab, which has helped the regional transportation network improve subway signaling, curb management, transit accessibility, and mitigate extreme weather conditions. Since 2018, the Lab has fielded over 900 applicants, tested 69 new technology solutions, piloted 33 integrated solutions, and deployed 12 at scale. 

The Transit Tech Lab is part of the Partnership Fund for New York City’s “Tech in the Public Interest” strategy, which aims to invest in companies and programs that advance the application of new technologies to address urban challenges, including helping government agencies deliver services more effectively.

About the Transit Tech Lab  

The Transit Tech Lab launched in 2018 in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to apply new technology solutions to address critical transit challenges. In 2019, the program expanded to include NJ Transit, the NYC Department of Transportation, and the Port Authority of NY and NJ. Graduates of the Lab program include Remix, a collaborative digital platform used to redesign the bus routes; Axon Vibe, designers of the Essential Connector smartphone app to help essential workers plan journeys during overnight subway disinfection closures; and Navilens, whose apps enable visually impaired and limited English proficiency New Yorkers to better navigate the subway and bus systems.

About the Partnership Fund for New York City

The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $130 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, dedicated to mobilizing private sector resources and expertise to advance New York City’s standing as a global center of economic opportunity, upward mobility, and innovation. The Fund invests in entrepreneurs and innovators in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors who contribute to building a more vibrant and inclusive New York City economy. As an “evergreen” fund, realized gains are continuously reinvested. A key focus of the Fund is the application of new technology that serves the public interest.  

The Partnership Fund Board is led by co-chairs Tarek Sherif and Neil Blumenthal. Maria Gotsch is the Fund’s President and CEO. More information about the Fund can be found at partnershipfundnyc.org.