Durham, NC
Rahul Kumar
VP of Growth
TransLoc
Partnership best practices: Understand who you’re working for and with
When it comes to deploying technology to enable smart, shared mobility, there are two best practices that come to mind. First, is to understand what problems you’re trying to solve. The second is deploying a technology that puts transit at the center. During the smart mobility panel TransLoc hosted last October, we asked our panelists — Peter Hirshberg, Gabe Klein, Doug Kaufman — how to achieve both of these goals. Here’s what they said, plus our own advice after a decade working in transit and technology.
When you understand the problems you’re trying to solve, you know if your core values are aligned with your riders. Taking the time to define that challenge well is not only important when you’re partnering with another organization, but also when you add technology into the mix. We partner throughout our simulation process so the solutions we’re creating with our technology are tailored to meet the needs of agencies and their riders. This is particularly important because we place transit at the center of our solutions (as opposed to our own technology).
We believe that the city of tomorrow has transit at the center. Like Gabe Klein said, “Transit that’s able to leverage public-private-partnerships and technology that allows it to adapt and be flexible will increase its relevancy.” When it comes to technology, we believe transit is better when data operates in a virtuous cycle and is accessible by everyone. We support open data initiatives and encourage others to make vital data free and accessible. As such, it’s important that our partners feel the same way. There’s something to be said for being equally invested in the venture, project, partnership, or value. When you’re in the same boat rowing with the same amount of effort, the attitude changes and strength of the partnership increases.
By focusing on solving the problems of riders while ensuring transit is at the center of any technological solution enables transit to continue to be the lifeblood of mobility in cities, today and tomorrow.
