Mobility Innovators

 

Jaspal Singh [00:10]:

Hello, everyone. I’m so happy to welcome all listeners from around the world to the Mobility Innovators Podcast. I am your host, Jaspal Singh. Mobility Innovators Podcast invites key innovators in the transportation and logistics sector to share their thoughts about the key changes in the sector about their work and what is their forecast for the future.

Today, I will be speaking with an amazing corporate innovator. She is currently the Senior Director of Innovation and Technology services with First Transit. First Transit is one of the leading transit bus operators in North America. The company operates in more than 300 locations, carrying more than 300 billion passengers annually throughout the United States in 39 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. So one thing I can clearly say is that she is too busy. Prior to this role, she was working with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit DART as an Assistant Vice President of Innovation.

I am so happy to welcome Tina Morch-Pierre, Senior Director of Innovation and Technology Services, First Transit.

 

Hello Tina. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. I’m really looking forward to our conversation today.

Tina Morch-Pierre [01:15]:

Well, thank you. It is an honor to actually be here with you and, to talk about the many topics that we have in line for today.

Jaspal Singh [01:23]:

Yeah. I look forward to that. Today I’ll be spending time getting to know about you about your professional journey and your thoughts on the innovation and mobility sector. And to begin with, I would like you to share a little more about yourself with our listeners. Also, is there an interesting fact about your career that are not on LinkedIn?

Tina Morch-Pierre [01:44]:

Okay. Well, first and foremost, which is most important to me, I am a wife, a mother, and a caregiver to my friends and my family. I am a stickler for ensuring that everyone is educated on what they don’t know, and I’m very passionate and eager to find opportunities to drive, change that will impact our communities. And in, especially in this industry now, you know, I have worked in healthcare and transportation industries for over 25 years, which dates me a little bit, but however, the experience and the lessons I’ve learned along the way are the driving force behind what you see today.

Now you asked for something that most people don’t know about me is that I worked for a few years in Baden region. I was an assistant manager for a German-owned insurance company in my early twenties. They needed an individual that spoke English and I needed to be paid in Deutsche mark.

Tina Morch-Pierre [02:40]:

Since the conversion rate at that time was to my advantage when converting to dollars. Now that experience began the path for me and to finding opportunities to navigate and to stray from strange and difficult situations. But it allowed me to be more aware of my surroundings and the people that cross my path every day now from my experiences. I rode the Bahnhof and I rode it to and from work each and every day. And I also had an opportunity to drive very fast on the autobahn, but those experiences of working in another country and living my life through its culture were an important opportunity that helped to inform my thinking in my early days and enhance my problem, solving skills.

Jaspal Singh [03:30]:

That’s great. It’s always helped to be in a different country and somewhere where you don’t speak the local language. So, you are kind of a new workplace and then there is an opportunity to learn. And I think that traveling is the best way to learn about any culture in any place. So, you did a great thing, and you hide it from other people and didn’t put on LinkedIn. So now we know that.

You mentioned you started your professional journey in healthcare sector, and after that you joined as a Tracy supervisor with Dallas Area Rapid Transit DART. During your tenure at DART, you implemented some amazing projects. I’m so surprised to see kind of work you did. You did a complex, fair modeling tool to evaluate the impact of changes in the fare structure and product, which helped to increase the revenue of the agency.

Jaspal Singh [04:17]:

Generally, it worked other way around, but you bring more revenue by changing the fare structure. You also implemented the taxi subsidy solution to expand the service. So I would say it’s an early model of on-demand transit. So you did that way back when nobody was talking about it and later, spearheaded the FDA sandbox on the mobility-on-demand project, and another interesting project you did about the go-pass app on, as in mobility integrator, providing first and last-mile option.

I would like to learn more about the backstory of these projects and how do you think transit agencies can build an innovation culture? Because it’s, it’s kind of very difficult to convince internally to implement such innovating projects.

Tina Morch-Pierre [05:01]:

Well, most of the projects you mentioned were born out of wanting to create change in the area that the agency served. You know, the riders were feeling as though they weren’t getting the full bang for the buck, with riding with public transportation. The fare was not considered fair. Cash was not convenient as we were looking for exact change and it was required. And it was a guessing game determining when, and if their buses or train would arrive on time. Plus riders were looking for first and last-mile opportunities as businesses and housing started to really move into the suburban areas. And the funny thing is the term Mobility as a Service MaaS was not even used in the US doing the come of these projects as we were planning and deploying.

Now in 2010, DART had just hired a new CFO whose primary responsibility was to not only stabilize the financial affairs of the organization but also undertake the heavy burden to find solutions, to move the agency from his 1990s way of thinking about transit to a more innovative and customer-focused direction.

Tina Morch-Pierre [06:14]:

And as fate would have it, guess what I had the direct oversight in the areas that required a massive upgrade. My team was allowed to think creatively in finding technology and process solutions. Because remember innovation is just more than technology. It was also processes that would meet the future demands of the riders. Now hint, the term future demands as is important to begin building solutions that is flexible and dynamic enough to keep up with future opportunities. Now we did our research, we visited other transit agencies. We spoke with various third-party providers regarding their solutions and how it would benefit the DART area. And really, we studied what was happening all over the world to uncover options and ways of providing better services to our customer. This is where DART really began to put the customer first to answer your question. I believe you asked about, how can transit agencies build innovation culture?

Tina Morch-Pierre [07:23]:

To me, there are four key areas as it’s not all inclusive, but these are some means to start with. And it’s really defining collaborate research and really take action. So agency should define what innovation means to their organization and train their people to know how to innovate, but also to build a culture that is not settling for the status quo. We see that too many times and that’s not going to elevate an organization into the next change that is going to occur. Next, I like to talk about the generating new ideas. It it’s only one part of innovation, but it’s certainly not done in a vacuum. The agency needs a diversified team, and it doesn’t necessarily have to include all upper management either, because it’s not just their responsibility. I see agencies needing to empower their staff because innovation should involve all corners of their organization, especially first line staff.

Tina Morch-Pierre [08:28]:

The third piece to talk about is really in the research cause they’re looking at other agencies and even different industries on what they are doing. Sometimes we can get ideas that are, are not specifically transit oriented, to be able to work in what we do on a day-to-day basis.

And, and then lastly, and you’ve heard this before, but I’m going to say it over and over again. Don’t be afraid to take action. I see a lot of times that happens with agencies. You know, they need to be agile enough to take risk, but calculated risk and ensure that they have taken the time to gather the data, to support the idea to make an informed decision and basically it’s time to eliminate the feel of failure, you know, that prohibits and cripples innovation every time that it’s done.

Jaspal Singh [09:20]:

Yeah. That’s so powerful. I mean, I really love what you said. The fare is not fair many times and people don’t understand that because as a transit agency, your focus is not serving the customer, but just to run the operation and collect the revenue. But actually, it’s always a customer-first approach which will work. So you should always put customer first and don’t afraid to take a risk. And I love that because, a lot of agencies don’t take action because they feel if something goes wrong, people will come back to them. And I feel the best way is to tell upfront people that, we are experimenting, right? So be with us, we are not telling that this is the final. So, if we have any suggestion, come back to us and bringing that diversity of ideas, don’t only have management sitting in the room and telling what to do, but in bringing ground level staff also in the room and ask them what can be done.

Jaspal Singh [10:12]:

So powerful. Thank you so much for sharing. And I can imagine like why you managed to pull out so many amazing projects in such a short time during your work at that time.

You joined First Transit in January 2001. So firstly, congratulations for kind of completing more than a year now in a new job. And you were doing great work at DART, so I am very surprised why this move and what is the backstory of that? And what does your typical day look like at First Transit? Or I would say, what does it feel like to be in corporate innovator?

Tina Morch-Pierre [10:45]:

Well, my time at DART was phenomenal and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity that I was allowed to lead and bring in house. But you know, after 16 years I knew it was time for me to expand my reach beyond just one transit agency. I just wanted to touch the world at this point. So, what First Transit did was allow me to take my creative energies. And if you can’t tell, I have a lot of it and combine it with my counterpart, Derek Fretheim to bring in new ways of doing business new technologies and processes into the organization. So I have also been able to consult, troubleshoot, create various frameworks and roadmaps and build partnerships with and for our clients and other providers.

Now I think you asked me a trick question. You asked me what is a typical day that looks like at First Transit. You let me know, because I haven’t had a typical day as of yet. I can tell you feels like for as a corporate innovator really there’s no difference it. It’s no different than leading collaborative teams to solve problems, to find solutions. So for me, being able to be in a very collaborative situation where we can bring in the various ideas and put a path forward to be able for them to be actionable is for me. It is the most rewarding experience of being a corporate innovator.

Jaspal Singh [12:19]:

I agree with your point, there is no typical day. Every day is so unique and so different. You plan something and end of the day, you are doing some other activity, which you never even thought about at the starting of the day. So, there is no typical day in the corporate with life, right? I agree with that. And, that’s life like you are entrepreneur with the corporate boundaries. So, you have to think like an entrepreneur, but you also need to take care of the corporate rules and values and all which is good at the same time. But It’s added up your burden.

Now following up to my previous question. You mentioned about a lot of projects you did at DART. And, you implemented first, the earlier model of on-demand mobility. So, what are your views about on-demand mobility?

Jaspal Singh [13:07]:

So many transit agencies are looking to replace fixed transit line buses with on demand network. And also, they are implemented a solution in suburban and nighttime area. You were on both side of technology. You were as a consumer from the DART side, and now you are a provider from a First Transit side. What are the pros and cons of on-demand mobility and why it is not as easy as it looked like? A lot of people think it’s just bringing few buses, launching an app and you’re done, but I can imagine it’s more.

Tina Morch-Pierre [13:42]:

Yeah, it is. Let’s start out with the positives. And some of these positives are really obvious, you know. It can create convenience for the riders. We talked about the customer experience being primary, but it is a convenient factor for them, but it also creates many efficiencies with dispatching and dynamic routing of vehicles and, helps with one time performance. On-demand mobility allows agencies to eliminate poor perform and fix routes, which can in some cases be a cost statement. So, I have seen that at a few agencies in different areas. It can also solve problems of transit deserts and areas with low density. So, we see a lot of rural communities that are actually deploying the on-demand model to help in their area. It also provides it allows full transparency to the riders as they can see their vehicles in real time and get the notifications that they need.

Tina Morch-Pierre [14:44]:

And there is no more guessing game for there. Another aspect is there is a wealth of data available to study riders’ behavior, to provide better quality of service in the community and how it’s perceived to be a driver that will help return ridership the transit. Yeah, I think that is still out with the jury right now. It’s going to take time to determine what may happen.

You asked me about the cons and some of these are what agencies have not considered. There is a myth that on-demand mobility is exactly like a TNC approach. It is not, it really isn’t and, agencies need to be very careful on how they implement. Whether they do curb-to-curb virtual stops. But the one that I would stress to look at very closely and, to maybe avoid as much as possible is door-to-door service, because that can be very expensive.

Tina Morch-Pierre [15:49]:

And again, it depends on the region in the community because no transit agency in area are going to be the same. Also, agencies will need to find a solution for those riders who do not have a smartphone or really choose not to use a smartphone. They want to pick up a phone and call a reservationist and they want to book up a trip and they want to pay. And so that is where agencies are going to need to find out how to do that for the type of riders that are in their area. Also, there is a lot of effort that’s needed in helping in-house staff from an operational perspective to adopt new technology. It is a change it’s a major change. And so you have to make sure that operational staff are going to be prepared and ready for this real technology change.

Tina Morch-Pierre [16:44]:

And I I’ve got two other points here. One is supplementing services with taxi and local non-dedicated providers is not that easy because they typically don’t have the technology to support trip acceptance, and they’re still using paper manifest in certain areas. So, there are a lot of inefficiencies that are still out there those agencies have to consider. As they’re looking at this and then agencies also have to understand that not all technology platforms claiming to offer on-demand mobility are equal. I am just got to be honest here. You know, those algorithms used to optimize trips can be tricky and agencies need to thoroughly understand how simple changes to configuration can impact their riders. And so with that, implementing on-demand is not easy. It does require a strong program manager, a cross-functional team, a good marketing plan because you’ve got to tell your customers and explain to them how this system works. And also, the willingness to test every single zone from end to end to make sure that it’s working appropriately and that your operation team or your providers like First Transit are there to continue to monitor solution. There’s one thing from implementing, right? Yeah. But you have to continue to monitor because you’re going to need to make modifications as you go. It can be done. It can be done successfully but having a good implementation plan and a partner like First Transit with the experience of deploying micro transit is very critical.

Jaspal Singh [18:30]:

Well, that’s a great point. I really love the term you mentioned about transit deserts. So, there are a lot of these transit desert and, on-demand can help to connect those transit deserts, but it cannot be TNC. It cannot be door to doors. So, you have to draw your boundaries. You have to make a full plan, how to implement it. And it’s a tier process. So it’s not that once you implement on-demand mobility, you are done with it. So it’s more agile approach. It will keep changing based on the data based on the demand. And there is a challenge to cover everybody, people who don’t have smartphone. So, you need to have some kind of a mechanism not to exclude them. So, there is this term, which is emerging as strongly is digital inequality. So don’t treat the people differently who cannot afford smartphone or who don’t use smartphone, or don’t like to use smartphone. You have to provide service to them. These are great points. Thank you so much Tina for sharing these. And I totally agree with you. It’s a long process. It’s not just a bringing a player and replace it. It’s a complete major overhaul of their operation.

Tina Morch-Pierre [19:37]:

Absolutely.

Jaspal Singh [19:40]:

Now I want to discuss another important point, which you mentioned earlier. You started working on Mobility as a Service MaaS project when even that term was not popular at all and nobody talk about that term. And it’s a hot trend now. We are seeing Mobility as a Service MaaS being used everywhere, and a lot of players are promoting it. Many North American cities have adopted new payment mechanism like payment app contact, like ticketing, open loop payment. I mean, we see a lot of innovation in that sense, but I still see, they are trailing behind European and Asian peers on many technological front, including MaaS. Like I didn’t see much development on MaaS in the North America continent. You were leading that initiative at DART.

Why do you think the cities are not adopting MaaS platform quickly? And what are the challenges you faced earlier, while implementing the MaaS and how one can expedite the scene?

Tina Morch-Pierre [20:40]:

Well, besides grappling with a pandemic for the past two years, you know, cities are still trying to define what Mobility as a Service MaaS will mean for their areas. Yeah, these cities are still trying to organize their framework for integrating multiple mobility options. And they’re really just trying to figure out how to develop a governance model and a regulatory framework that will work for all. And coupled with seeking ways to improve the city’s infrastructure, because that’s going to be key and important on how you’re going to drive transportation to create these opportunities for better connections is really a heavy load for them. It is important for public transportation providers and operators to help cities understand how to build this framework. The biggest opportunity right now is the education of what MaaS is. We started it two years ago, we stopped. We’re saying it at beginning.

Tina Morch-Pierre [21:38]:

Everyone is coming to the table and, they’re all having their different definitions or what they think it may be. Why appropriate. We can help look at it from a larger lens, you know, including the community, the ridership. The most important element is the data by harnessing the data. It can be our launching point to build that framework. And look, it’s not a one size fit all solution. I mentioned that before, there are a lot of questions and invest an investigation that still needs to occur. What we can do is help agencies in the cities define a solution that will meet their surroundings and will work in their communities by providing, you know, consultation on how to communicate the plan to the city leadership, especially showing how the plan is a positive influence for the people that they serve.

Jaspal Singh [22:33]:

That’s a good point. You mentioned is the challenge with the governance model. And there is a lot of education required around it because the definition can be very varied. A lot of people define MaaS as just a private operators and private player and some people talk about providing vehicle as a service to, as a MaaS. So it has to be defined properly and there is education piece is required. And I think that education piece will help actually help to expedite the implementation of the, the project. Otherwise, we will see new terms coming out and people not able to understand. And, it’s not a real MaaS until unless you put the customer at the center of it rather than player. Yeah, no, that’s a great point.

Now one important topic, which is close to my heart is startups.

Jaspal Singh [23:26]:

So startup are playing an important role in all sector, including technology. And, there is a further acceleration in technology innovation during COVID period. You rightly mentioned, last two year were game changer in time of low ridership, but at the same time, high uptake for technology. Do you think that transit agency should explore more engagement with startups and innovator,  and the founders. And do you have any special program to engage with startup at First Transit? So, I would be very curious to know more about your experience, both from the public transit agencies and private player side. How do you see that engagement should be accelerated and what is advantage? Both sides can get.

Tina Morch-Pierre [24:07]:

So I’m going to put my transit hat on here and, and say to the other transit agencies, they should explore all options. No stone should be left unturned when you’re actually looking at changes, that are happening in the industry. The challenge is knowing if the startup will prove to be a viable solution. And, and so for me. I would tell agency that’s why pilots are important. Yeah, it’s a good way to manage the risk of the innovation while still giving the startup a true trial in the marketplace. Look, if it works and it’s successful and, and I’ll give you the example. Just one example is at DART with the sandbox project, we simply did a little on-demand pilot in a small region, just to see what kind of take up we would get. As a part of the pilot, after about six weeks, we knew that this was a game changer for the organization that it could really impact the, the typical on call services.

Tina Morch-Pierre [25:14]:

That was 24 hours in advance, at least you had to call to order your trip. This could be done through an app and, and today it is quite successful. Now that’s what I would encourage is continuation of pilots and working with the startups. But knowing that you must have a means to mitigate your risk, meaning how do you back out of the program if it’s not successful. So those are key in the planning pieces.

Now let me put my First Transit hat on. What we do is we bring clients and our perspective clients, a 360 view of all startups or any innovative idea. In most cases, we have already conducted a product review. You know, we have studied the market, the suppliers, the technology maps. We have looked at their partnerships, their integrations, their business models, their operations. We have really done our due diligence to assess the startup or any organization for that matter that we believe that can deliver what they say they have, and look at how they can scale. And if it can match up with the future needs of our clients. And then at the end of the day, we start putting together a master services agreement with them because we think that’s beneficial for our clients. Not only to know what is expected from these startups or any other supplier of service. But also making sure that we have the commitments on Service Level Agreement SLA and pricing, and data privacy and security, you name it all. That would be important for our clients.

Jaspal Singh [27:03]:

That’s a great point. You mentioned about conducting pilot with transit agencies. And I think until, unless you experiment and pilot, you don’t know which technology will work and which technology will not. And having a mitigation plan like said, when you do a pilot, be open with public and people and say it’s a pilot. Don’t give them a false impression that, it’s a real project because then you will get negative feedback if it didn’t work. And if you, if it didn’t work and you tell people it’s a pilot, you’re experimenting, people will appreciate. I really agree what you’re doing at First Transit. It is like creating that kind of ecosystem for startups and bringing them on board with tens and hundreds of transit agencies at the same time. Like if you experiment with one agency, it works, then you can take that idea and work with other agencies and all.

Jaspal Singh [27:52]:

So that’s a great work. And I feel that’s a way to go. You can’t innovate everything in house. So, you have to look outside for new ideas and, find new people who can do that.

One important point you mentioned in your previous answer is the cyber security and I think it’s one of the crucial topics in today’s world. It’s emerging as one of the biggest challenges, and there were many cyber-attacks happened on transit agencies around the world, especially in North America. I saw in Canada, a lot of transit agencies were under attack, including Toronto Transit Commission TTC. You are a member of the secure technology Alliance that digital security industry. Data privacy and solicitate protection is one of the key challenge. What do you think the future cyber attack look like? Uh, and what is your assessment of how strong and weak transit agencies are in this area? Because when the attack happen, we get the news, but we don’t know what happened in the background, how much data breach happen and all, and, and what are your recommendation, uh, for transit agencies and other player who are working in, uh, in this area?

Tina Morch-Pierre [28:59]:

Well, I’d like to start first on this recent survey that was conducted by organization called Statista. They do manage IT Cybersecurity. And they mentioned that 45.5% of their survey respondents claim that their organization faced between one to five successful attacks. During the past year, we’re talking 2021. Now we’re looking at 2022 and they are actually increased. So really no one is fully immune for cyberattacks, but we can put tools and protections in place to help circumvent as much as possible. And as you mentioned, there have been several transit agencies, both what we’ve seen in public and not that really have been victims of the cyberattacks already. And, you know, really, no one wants to tell their business, that I’ve been under attack because everyone’s going to start questioning well, what happened. And really frankly, every industry, every business, every city of your government entity is facing this every single day.

Tina Morch-Pierre [30:09]:

They’re fighting the various attacks sometimes not just daily basis, but every hour. And they’re trying to figure ways on how to combat is now from a transit agency perspective. They need to be proactive and plan against cyber-attacks. Yeah, they may require the need to hire third-party expert to manage and monitor their systems and really conduct those security scans. Consistently, if they don’t have in-house staff that has the skill sets, they really need to drive and put resources there to be able to combat what we are seeing as these cyber-attacks. They’re not going to away; they’re going to continue. And really, they’re going to enhance, you’re already seeing it already with your own phone. I mean, how many scams are we getting on our phones that are, are asking us to click on the link and how many of our elderly are clicking on those links and really getting attacked in the process. So, we are seeing it every day. It’s not going to change. It’s going to escalate, and it is really time to hire the experts to come in and help to mitigate and monitor what’s happening.

Jaspal Singh [31:29]:

That’s a great point. You mentioned that it will increase. There is no way it will reduce, and agencies has to be proactive. And there are many attacks which are in private space. Like a lot of agencies did not disclose until unless it come out with some sources. In fact, I was doing some research about Google trend and when TTC cyber-attack happened, a lot of people were curious to learn about that. So that was like one of the key trends in the Google search – TTC cyberattack because everybody was curious to learn what happened, what kind of data was breached and, and how it impacted donation and all. And, and I think the way now vehicle and the systems are connected, it will become more and more lethal too. Like tomorrow your autonomous shuttle can be controlled by somebody sitting somewhere and then it, it can do a lot of kind of crazy stuff.

Jaspal Singh [32:21]:

So it it’s important for agencies to be now expert in this area, but the challenge is, should they become a cybersecurity expert or should they become a transit player. So, they need to have a help of third player.

Now I want to talk about one of your favorite topics, which I see you are quite a good advocate. I don’t know how you enter this area, but blockchain. In fact, we are also exploring that area very seriously. We did a podcast on that. There was a yesterday a report published by UITP on blockchain in mobility. You have been educating for the transit agencies who start focusing on this type of payment accepted for unbanked and underbanked since 2019 long back when nobody was even thinking about this topic.

And I really like your quote, which is innovation is not always like, but it is necessary. You put some examples, that’s how innovation evolve first they resist, but then it became important part of our life. I’m curious to know your thought on the blockchain. And what do you think about it? Potential use cases. The other important question again, putting your transit hat on is what agency do you think maybe the first adopt or blockchain in north America or outside?

Tina Morch-Pierre [33:37]:

Well, you know, this is my favorite topic, right? Um, well, I believe blockchain is really going to be the next game changer. Like the invention of the internet. You know, the internet took time for it to be standardized, trusted. I’m going to underline that. And they commercially available from a global perspective. Now we can’t live without it. We have it in our hands and we go around with it every single day. So this will be the same for blockchain, but that speed to which it will ramp up and gain more popularity will be a lot faster than the internet. And I believe it will happen through cryptocurrency, which blockchains the technology that enables its existence. Now, I’m not sure when the masses will adapt to this form of digital currency, but according to the NASDAQ article, there was an article this past January, there were 27 million Americans that owned some form of cryptocurrency and 44.5% of them were owning Bitcoin.

Tina Morch-Pierre [34:42]:

And now the amazing part about this is that crypto is not just owned by investment firms or leaders like Cathy Wood, but everyone, including the unbanked have the opportunity to own these digital currencies without having a bank account platforms like cash app. I know you’ve seen it and studied on it, but it allows the unbanked to exchange load and store cash digitally. They can also purchase Bitcoin through the app. Look, I’ve tried it myself, you know, to make sure that I could validate that, but yeah, you can purchase Bitcoin. You can actually do it a partial purchase and it’s not the full Bitcoin itself. And the platform also allows the unbanked to not only invest in stocks, but they can direct deposit their checks into an ATM machine that converts into a wallet that they can use as a contactless form of payment acceptance like everybody else.

Tina Morch-Pierre [35:45]:

And again, blockchain can be used in other means for mobile service, it can use to trend ridership from both the public and private operators, and now allowing its used to create marketing opportunities like loyalty programs. Oh yeah. And provide the ability for service planning changes. There is really the most recent, department of transportation. They made an announcement that they’re looking for research on using blockchain based apps to incentivize more efficient use of transportation. It is included as a part of their 2022 small business innovative research program. Look it up, you’ll find this more interest then. Oh, that’s good. But so, you know, it’s there, it it’s going to be adopted, but you’ve asked which us transit agency will probably be an earlier adapter of blockchain. That’s kind of tricky, but you know, for me it will be one that is getting the support from its city and the private sector and the universe. I think that’s one that we can’t miss. And you know, it’s hard at the moment, but I’d say pay very close attention to Miami. Miami seems to be in the US one of the hot spots that could be adopting it. And by the way, they have a cryptocurrency convention happening right now this week.

Jaspal Singh [37:17]:

I know the mayor of Miami is becoming like a powerhouse and attracting a lot of investment in crypto and blockchain. In fact, the new mayor of New York city is also a big advocate of crypto, he’s getting his salary in crypto. So maybe MTA in New York and Miami could be the first one.

Tina Morch-Pierre [37:41]:

Absolutely. They could be the first I’m sitting back watching. And so that way I can ride the system and use my crypto to see how it works and operate. But you know, is really what kind of crypto that they’re going to allow? Is it going to be Bitcoin? Is it going to be them? Stay tuned, we’ll find out.

Jaspal Singh [38:01]:

Or maybe MTA token or maybe Miami, the transit can issue their own token.

Tina Morch-Pierre [38:07]:

Their own token.

Jaspal Singh [38:07]:

Absolutely. You never know. You never know. Absolutely.

Jaspal Singh [38:10]:

No, that’s, it’s quite exciting. And, we are seeing how it’s evolving and there are some interesting changes coming. We don’t know what, but they are coming.

So this is my last question, but a very important one. Because I see your journey as an inspiration for many other people. You are a big supporter and champion of diversity and inclusion and also women in mobility. We do see diversity at the bottom, at the medium level in the company. However, number became less and less at the top of the hierarchy. So in fact, globally women constitute the majority of public transport users. Even according to APTA in their 2017 report, 50% of travelers in public transport system in the US are women.

How do you think we can encourage more women in leadership role and how this will help the transit sector overall because they are our customers, but the people who are making decision don’t understand their perspective? So how you think we should have more and more women in the leadership role in transit world?

Tina Morch-Pierre [39:17]:

Well, when women know that they can drive in an organization and will receive equal opportunity as their male counterparts, they will be more open to accepting leadership roles. That really means promote them the same way as you do their male counterparts, pay them the same, give them the same stretch project to allow them to develop and grow. Yeah. I think that’s very key and important,  but most important support their ideas. You know, when women have an idea and, they’ve brought it to the forefront is very important to be their advocate, to kind of share it and see how it grows and deploy. And when these opportunities are given, you’ll see more women that’s going to soar into these leadership roles. Now the transit sector can help encourage, and get in women to get into more leadership roles by creating more mentoring programs.

Tina Morch-Pierre [40:17]:

There are some out there now, WTS is one women transit. They have a leadership, but we need to see more of those. And, and we need to see folks sponsoring women to be in their all idea, positions. Because a lot of times we women, we get the work done, we sit back and, and we enjoy the fruits of our labor, but we’re not promoting ourselves. And that’s where we need to really have a sponsor that will bring us to the positions that. We could envision to be in. And then the other thing is, I think is important is to embrace the uniqueness of a woman’s perspective. As you mentioned, women make up a lot of what we see as the ridership. So their port of views are very impactful on how we not only engage, but we change the services and bring the technology in. And there’s just this one, actual quote that I’d like to provide it’s from Brad Cousins. He is from Ingage Human Capital Strategy and that it really hits home. The way he talks about it, he says:

Diversity is about embracing different temperaments, talents and convictions. Embrace women for who they are and the unique perspectives and gifts they offer.

I thought that was great. I had to use that for today.

Jaspal Singh [41:49]:

Yeah, that’s a great quote, I would say. And it’s actually covering everything, which is important, bringing that perspective, bringing that knowledge, bringing those ideas and, also giving more participation like you rightly mentioned when you support their idea. When you create a platform for them, when you give them challenging project, then only we will see more women come in the leadership position and all. I can see you are taking that role and you are also giving mentoring to others. So, I really appreciate what you are doing in the sector and see you going higher in the level, in the hierarchy and all, and leading some organization in the future.

Tina Morch-Pierre [42:29]:

Well, and I like mentoring others. And I do have a few that I do mentor and I see their growth and it’s exciting to me to see them push forward.

Jaspal Singh [42:42]:

That’s great. I can imagine that when you see your mentee growing, it’s given you real satisfaction. I do some mentorship as well. So when they come back to you and share their success story, right, you feel that it’s yours. You feel it’s part of your journey. So, you feel so personal with that, right? Absolutely. That’s a no work. That’s a noble work.

So we discuss about transit. We discuss about technology. We discuss about mobility, latest trend, and all, but now it’s time to discuss about you. And, we have this Rapid Fire question round and idea is that I’ll ask you five questions. You need to answer them quickly. And we want to learn who Tina is and what you think about it. If you’re ready, I’ll start.

Tina Morch-Pierre [43:22]:

Okay. Fire away.

Jaspal Singh [43:24]:

So my first question, if you are not in the transit sector or healthcare sector, I would say, what are the profession you would’ve selected?

Tina Morch-Pierre [43:33]:

I would’ve been a mental health or a life counselor.

Jaspal Singh [43:37]:

Ah, that’s a great profession to be in, or I would say a great role to play in the society, which are already doing it in a transit, also helping other people to have a safe, comfortable journey.

So my second question, you travel so much around world, which is your favorite city in the world.

Tina Morch-Pierre [43:57]:

I have two, Vienna is one and St. John Virgin islands, I will say will always be my favorite place. That’s where my family is from.

Jaspal Singh [44:07]:

Vienna. What is the secret behind Vienna?

Tina Morch-Pierre [44:09]:

Oh, the architecture. I mean, you just, it is so beautiful. The ruins, the churches, the cobblestone roads, you know, the environment, the atmosphere, the people gathering in the centers and, you know, just enjoying life itself. The transportation is one. Oh yeah. But really, it’s one of my favorite cities.

Jaspal Singh [44:36]:

No, the city has amazing transportation network, and being there number of times. So I love that choice too, because, you can take train. You can take tram, you can take bus and you can reach point A to B in the same time. Absolutely. Now, the tricky question is which city has the best transit network in the world?

Tina Morch-Pierre [44:55]:

Tokyo

Jaspal Singh [44:59]:

I think Tokyo is everybody’s favorite. I spoke to many people, and they love that city for their network, and the way people move around. Great to know that you are also one of the fan. Now, Next question is because you work with a lot of startup and all, which is your favorite startup in the mobility sector?

Tina Morch-Pierre [45:17]:

That’s another tricky question you’ve given to me, I’m going to say any that prove to be successful now.

Jaspal Singh [45:24]:

Any, which is proved to be successful. So there are plenty of them. Now, I would say

Tina Morch-Pierre [45:29]:

Right. There are plenty of

Jaspal Singh [45:31]:

I mean, that’s best answer I got is. It’s not single one, but every company, which is trying to make people life easier and become successful. That’s a good one.

My last question, and I don’t know if it’s tricky one for you or not, but if you can change one thing in life, what would it be?

Tina Morch-Pierre [45:52]:

Yeah, it wouldn’t change one single thing. You know, all of my experience have made me who am I today? So I wouldn’t change a thing.

Jaspal Singh [46:00]:

That’s great. And that’s show that why you are so happy and so lively in your life because, everything is an experience and everything. Add up to what you are today.

Thank you so much, Tina, for your great insight. I really love this conversation and your perspective, both from our transit operator side, as well as now, the corporate side with First Transit, and really learned a lot from your experience.

Thank you so much for your time today.

Tina Morch-Pierre [46:28]:

And thank you for having me. I enjoyed it as well. I’ve always liked the idea of, you know, talking business and, getting people to understand and know me just a little bit, and I appreciate it. And I’m honored to, to be here speaking with you today. Thank you so much.

Jaspal Singh [46:44]:

My pleasure. It’s my pleasure.

Thank you for listening to this podcast, we will be inviting some other inspiring guest in the coming week. You can subscribe to this podcast online to get the notification for the next episode. If you like this podcast, please don’t forget to give us a five-star rating as it’ll help us to spread our message. If you have any feedback or suggestion for this podcast, please do right to us at info rate mobility, innovators com. I look forward to seeing you next time.