Transit systems nationwide are exploring technological advancements as they continue to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What’s been most exciting is building partnerships within and beyond the big agencies,” said Natalia Quintero, the new senior vice president of innovation at the Partnership for New York City. She is responsible for leading the
Under the TIP’s three-year-old Transit Tech Lab accelerator program, of which Quintero was founding director, companies have the opportunity to pilot their technologies with the MTA.
“We’re making technology a collaborative force,” Quintero said in an interview. “Through the Transit Tech Lab, we’re able to explore how tech companies work with agencies.”
Quintero, a former analyst at Citi who studied at Barnard College and Columbia University, succeeds Rachael Haot, a former chief digital officer for both New York City and New York State. Haot, who is moving to California with her family, will continue to advise on innovation opportunities.
“We are excited that Natalia will build on this groundwork as we look to help public agencies tap into the resources of business and research institutions in order to continue the improvement of public services,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City.
The Partnership for New York City is also recruiting to fill the role of director of innovation programs.
Since its launch in 2018, TIP has helped integrate new technologies within the New York metro region transit network. The Transit Tech Lab has deployed 22 technology pilots and proofs-of-concept focused on accessibility, subway signaling, bus network optimization, predictive maintenance and curb management.
Its COVID-19 Response Challenge, which included several regional agencies, fielded nearly 200 applications and tested technologies including ventilation, disinfection and micromobility. Essential Connector App, built by Transit Tech Lab graduate AxonVibe, has targeted journeys for essential workers.
Participating agencies were the MTA and its New York City Transit and Metro-North Railroad units; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; NJTransit; and New York City’s Department of Transportation and the Office of Pupil Transportation within the city’s Department of Education.
In addition, redesigns of New York City bus routes, facilitated by Transit Tech Lab graduate Remix, have reflected essential worker locations and reduced journey times and non-revenue miles. The MTA estimates Remix saved it millions in costs and 130 miles of non-revenue service per day, while cutting production timelines by 71%.
The state-run MTA is one of the largest municipal issuers with $49 billion in debt. It is in store for roughly $6.5 billion under the American Rescue Plan aid package that President Biden signed, but Chairman Patrick Foye said the authority still faces “severe financial stress.”
TIP and the MTA jointly launched the world’s first live digital subway map in October, built pro bono by Brooklyn design firm Work & Co. The collaboration is the subject of the documentary
The map offers an online, real-time view of planned and unplanned service changes in digital format, including the physical location of trains, exact timetables for departures from each station and accessibility information such as current elevator and escalator status.
The organization’s work has resonated well beyond New York, according to Quintero.
“We have open lines of communication with U.S. transit agencies and around the world,” she said. “We’ve communicated with Paris, London, Singapore and Los Angeles, seeing how they’re thinking of similar work.”
The MTA, meanwhile, said its New York City Transit made significant subway speed improvements during the pandemic. The authority cited the installation of 919 new digital timers on grade time signals, 270 civil speed increases across the system over the past two years, and a reduction in time trains spend holding at station platforms.
The speed work will result in shorter running times for customers as more New Yorkers return to the system, the authority said.
Separately, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has launched an
The website displays neighborhood median income, percentage of immigrant households and the top jobs for every neighborhood. According to DiNapoli, it demonstrates the pandemic’s disparate effect on the subway system across the city’s U.S. Census-defined neighborhoods.
Subway turnstile data from the MTA shows a correlation between median household income and subway ridership. Neighborhoods with lower median household incomes tended to have significantly higher ridership as a share of 2019 levels compared to wealthier neighborhoods.
“This trend was clear not only in April, when COVID-19 had its most dramatic impact on ridership, but has continued through the recovery to date,” DiNapoli said.
In high-income neighborhoods, residents are likely to work in sectors more adaptable to remote-work models, such as financial activities and business services. In neighborhoods where residents are more likely to continue using the subway during the pandemic, common areas of employment are the healthcare and social assistance sectors, and leisure and hospitality.
