- One word to describe yourself: Curious
- Alma Mater: University of Iowa
- Favorite book: "Dune" by Frank Herbert
- Favorite TV show: "Stranger Things"
- Favorite station or stop that you have ever visited or frequent (and why): "I love 30th Street Station in Philadelphia."
Since joining Ecolane in 2008, Daniel Andrlik has shown a relentless commitment and dedication to establishing and promoting the best results for all stakeholders. This is evidenced by the satisfaction of the end users and in agencies regarding Ecolane as their choice partner. Andrlik has held various roles at Ecolane, pushing for positive changes and exceeding expectations in each area of the business.
He has been instrumental in helping agencies across the country implement the Ecolane solution and in developing a best practices guide for demand-response transportation. Additionally, he implemented tools to accurately measure support efficiency and capture customer feedback in an effort to help agencies eliminate waste or redundancies, and thus creating a cost savings while improving services for their customers.
Andrlik has already many notable accomplishments, as he is continually searching for opportunities to improve the lives of stakeholders. He was intimately involved in the design and launch of two additional products: Ecolane’s passenger-facing mobile app and its Alexa integration. He has also restructured the release process at Ecolane to streamline R&D, thus ensuring consistent releases in both schedule and quality. Andrlik even implemented industry tools for evaluating product changes to match the needs of the ever-expanding, increasingly more complex transportation industry at large.
For more than 13 years, Andrlik has worked in the transportation industry beginning in a safety and daily operations capacity for two prominent transit agencies, Cambus in Iowa City and Madison Metro Transit in Madison, Wisconsin. While at Cambus, he co-developed the in-house software solution for managing personal records. Andrlik has been a proud member of the Mobility for All Americans Knowledge and Technology Transfer (MSAA KTT), sat on the advisory panel for the TCRP G-16 on transactional data specifications, has been a speaker at Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) and several other state and regional conferences nationwide, and he currently sits on the board of directors for the TransNet Suburban Transportation Network of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
"When I was in college, I took what I expected to be a part-time job as a bus driver for the campus fixed-route system. It was a fun job, and introduced me to the logistical complexity of transit, of which I had been completely unaware. Later, I began driving for the campus paratransit fleet and that’s when the I was truly bitten by the transit bug. Seeing the impact of reliable transit on people’s lives is an eye-opening experience, and quickly became the focus of my career. From there I moved onto training drivers, and managing safety programs before switching to the private side of the industry with Ecolane."
"Every day has a new challenge and you never get bored. As VP of Product I get an opportunity to define and design solutions to enable agencies to meet the changing transportation needs of our country. It’s so satisfying to see the difference it makes for both transit agencies and their riders. The hardest part of my job is making sure that we’re always solving the right problem when we improve our solution. Users are great at identifying when there is something missing, but because every agency does things a little differently, often they will propose radically different solutions. Working with all of our customers to find the common need that’s shared across agencies and programs can be tricky, but its an enjoyable challenge. My roots are in operations, and I enjoy getting the opportunity to talk transit with managers, dispatchers, and drivers."
"Right now I’d have to say it's our demand-response mobile app for passengers [is the accomplishment I'm most proud of]. I’m passionate about rider experience, and being able to connect riders more intimately to their transit agency, while also giving them greater autonomy, is a thrill that I’ve been riding for the last year."
"Talk with your peers to discover best practices and lessons learned by other agencies, and collaborate with each other as much as possible, even if you aren’t located near each other. There is a wealth of knowledge across the the industry, so reach out and don’t wait for the next conference to make that connection. If you hear about something interesting another agency is doing, wherever they are, reach out and find out more. Very few of us planned to have a career in transit, but there’s a reason why we all stay. That passion, that interest, can be the fuel that builds the transportation networks of the future, but it can’t happen in isolation. For that matter, also reach out to people outside the industry, and network extensively. Sometimes it’s incredibly helpful to see your work through fresh eyes, and while not everything will be immediately applicable to your situation, you may encounter just the right thing that will lead your agency to the next great innovation in transit."
"Transportation is an essential part of our infrastructure and so many people depend on it every day. It can also be an invisible one for some citizens. Advocating for essential services helps us address fundamental issues for everyone, but especially the truly needy. It’s also an incredibly exciting time to be in the industry. The whole landscape is undergoing a lot of rapid change, and while that can cause anxiety for some, there’s also joy in that growth as well. There are certainly challenges in the years ahead, but I think as an industry, we can work together to steer ourselves safely around them. The future of public transit is an exciting one, and Iplace to work in right now."
