Over here at For Millionaires, our time is often spent finding and reporting on the next new new thing in mobility, from autonomous drones and electric air taxis to self-driving trucks and even batteries made of paper. A to B, much of it is just that — theory while this tech, in theory, may someday help people and goods move from point. Hope. Promise. Showy demonstrations to wow VC investors.
That’s the reason we dug in to the technology that is helping cities move now. A few of it really is unsexy, but transport is, most of the time, a software application.
We’ll simply take a look that is close the tech helping move two U.S. cities — Miami and New York City — and run through a few other standout innovations in 2023.
How Miami uses transit( that is on-demand Credits: Joe Raedle/Getty pictures
Miami was working together with transportation technology business through to carry in on-demand transportation since 2020. The solution, previously known as GO Connect, established during the pandemic that is COVID-19 a first- and last-mile solution, filling in the gaps between where people live and major transit hubs. Three years later, Miami-Dade rebranded the service to MetroConnect, adopted it into its broader public transit network and added four service that is new.
Within A of rebranding and expanding, MetroConnect completed 69% more rides and saw a 70% increase in ridership, according to Via month. The company also said MetroConnect has, since its inception, increased access to 57% more jobs within a commute that is 45-minute linking riders to transportation hubs, two-thirds of who report they don’t have accessibility a vehicle.
Carlos Cruz-Casas, main development officer at Miami’s division of transport and community works, informed For Millionaires MetroConnect features helped improve community transportation ridership, which saw a drop through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s No substitute for well-run fixed-route service,” said Cruz-Casas. “We actually realized that the marketing tool that is best for getting people back on transit is frequency.”
While the city expanded MetroConnect’s on-demand microtransit, it also worked with one of Via’s planning products to optimize its bus network. The city used Remix, the transit planning tech that was acquired by Via in 2021, to build its Better Bus Network plan. The plan, which went live in involved realigning 99 bus routes to create a network of high-frequency corridors.
“We november moved from five corridors that have been regular to a lot more than 20 — for all of us this means working every seven . 5 moments, ten minutes, fifteen minutes. All everyday,” said Cruz-Casas. “Miami-Dade county is bigger than some states, though day. That frequency can’t be provided by us every-where. That’s where in fact the transit that is on-demand in.”
Eventually, Via will add vehicles from May Mobility, a technology that is driverless, to its MetroConnect fleet in Miami. Might Mobility and Via recently revealed a partnership to deliver a rider-only microtransit that is on-demand in the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona. May’s style has so far been to move carefully, so we don’t expect to see a Miami that is widespread launch time.SwiftlyCruz-Casas additionally noted that Miami is working together with through on a intermodal that is full planning solution between fixed-route and on-demand services. Miami’s transportation department has been partnering with a company called
to provide big data analytics and more accurate real-time information for its GO app.because you feel empowered to make decisions and it’s a lot more comfortable to use public transit when you have accurate real-time information,” said Cruz-Casas.
Bringing NYC’s subway system to the 21st century
Image Credits:
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
New York City’s iconic subway system is more than 100 years old
“ I am a big fan of the technologies that allow for real-time feedback. Almost all of the financial investment in to the subway these days is concentrated on modernization to aid the system that is century-old the needs and expectations of customers living in an era of high technology.
Part of that has been reducing the friction to ride. Anyone who’s ridden the NYC subway will know that frustrating, and bizarrely nostalgic, feeling of rushing to make your train, swiping your MetroCard and barreling forward through the turnstiles in one motion, only to be bodily met with an metal that is unmoving since you didn’t swipe properly or, worse, have INSUFFICIENT FARE.
The Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) is phasing out of the MetroCard in support of the OMNY system, a contactless, open-loop repayment system. Cyclists can touch their particular credit and debit cards or their particular mobile phones (whether they have a wallet that is digital to quickly and easily pay the subway fare and move through the turnstiles. The MTA is introducing an OMNY card, which can be accessed via vending machines throughout the city.Boldyn“We’re up to over 50% of subway riders and a significant percentage of bus riders using tap-and-go one way or another,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA construction and development, told For Millionaires for those who are unbanked and need to pay with cash. “And it is really better yet. 70 % of this bikers that are presently entitled to make use of OMNY are utilising it*)During that is The pandemic that is COVID-19 the MTA’s ridership dropped to about 5%. These Days, the solution has reached around 80percent of pre-COVID ridership, in accordance with Torres-Springer.
“Very interestingly, as we’ve restored ridership on the year that is last so, that entire recovery has been using OMNY, and MetroCard users have been flat,” he said. “Which means that through the convenience, we are attracting people back or attracting riders that are new the device.”
The complete phase-out associated with the MetroCard won’t happen until all MTA people can access the OMNY easily payment platform.
Another quintessential NYC subway experience is riding to work when suddenly the train stops in a tunnel. And it doesn’t move. The conductor’s voice crackles over the loudspeaker and you are thought by you notice some thing about an indication breakdown. You look at your phone and now have no reception. You will have no texting your employer to allow them understand you’ll be later. All you could can perform is pray for action.
The MTA is taking care of making experiences that way less frequent, and we’ll get to that particular in a few minutes, but probably a Band-Aid that is nearer-term for an occasion is the agency’s plan to bring cell service to all subway stations and tunnels. The city
with , formerly Transit Wireless, to build out cell signal in all subway tunnels. Today, it’s in stations citywide, which can carry you through to many of the tunnels as long as they’re not of a length that is significant
Having Service in the tunnels will be helpful for trip planning, and the populous city is working to ensure better real-time information through communication-based train control (CBTC). CBTC uses telecommunications between the track and train gear to handle traffic. “Now you always know precisely where in fact the trains tend to be, and you will operate all of them closer collectively and quicker,” stated Torres-Springer, noting that the 7 range saw performance that is on-time from 68% to 91%, and speeds increase from 8% to 14%, after implementation of the technology.
CBTC isn’t technology that is exactly new. It absolutely was initially used near to three decades ago, nevertheless the MTA is ramping up installments. The company is trading $6.7 billion away from a complete $55 billion program that is five-year CBTC improvements, and currently has five lines under construction, with plans to do another two “substantial, long lines.” The MTA works with telecommunications providers Siemens, Thales and Hitachi to make the signals work.
The city’s operating agencies are also working to implement maintenance that is predictive NYC’s subways, but Torres-Springer says that’s challenging because there are many than 6 million split possessions inside the system.
“We’ve existed for a century. Most of the given information about the assets is tucked into somebody’s notebook in a shop somewhere,” he said. “First we got to get the inventory. Once we do that, we can really work with predictive maintenance analytics tools.”
Honorable mentionsglimbleImage Credits:
Waymo
A number of other companies, some of them working on frontier tech, also helped people and packages move from point A to point B in 2023. Here are some of the ones worth highlighting.Route ReportsAlphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company Waymo has made headway that is considerable 12 months, particularly in Phoenix. Waymo doubled its Waymo One solution location in might, linking downtown Phoenix with East Valley and including Scottsdale. Waymo’s solution location all over Phoenix location has become a lot more than 225 square kilometers. And after initially introducing airport that is autonomous for members of the public in December 2022, Waymo this month launched curbside pickup at the airport. In October, Waymo also teamed up with Uber to launch its Waymo Driver in the app that is ride-hailing Phoenix.
Zooming from the U.S., Israeli traffic management startup NoTraffic worked with Nvidia and Rogers Communications setting up a 5G-connected AI-enabled traffic administration option in the University of British Columbia in 2023. NoTraffic, which increased $50 million early in the day this offers hardware and software that turns intersections into smart intersections that can conduct traffic flows based on real-time data.
