Episode 36
Transit Unplugged INSIDER: Paul Comfort Answers 2025’s Biggest Industry Questions
What’s really going on behind the scenes of U.S. public transportation policy? In this special edition of Transit Unplugged Insider, Executive Producer Julie Gates turns the mic on our usual host, Paul Comfort, for a revealing look at the shifting political and funding landscape in Washington—and what every transit executive needs to know right now.
From what’s actually happening with FTA leadership to surprising details about the Trump administration’s transit funding priorities, Paul breaks down the top three issues impacting the future of public transportation. This is the intel your grant writer, government affairs lead, and CEO will want to hear.
Also in this episode: the latest on congestion pricing in NYC, what’s happening with reauthorization, and why safety is the defining metric of this political moment.
Podcast Credits:
Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo
- Creator, Host, + Producer: Paul Comfort
- Executive Producer: Julie Gates
- Producer + Newsletter Editor: Chris O’Keeffe
- Associate Producer: Cyndi Raskin
- Podcast Intern: Desmond Gates
Special thanks to:
Brand Design: Tina Olagundoye
Social Media: Tatyana Mechkarova
Got a question or comment? Email us at: info@transitunplugged.com
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Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Modaxo Inc., its affiliates or subsidiaries, or any entities they represent. This production belongs to Modaxo and may contain information subject to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights and restrictions. This production provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. Modaxo specifically disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and will not be liable for any losses, claims, or damages arising from the use of this presentation, from any material contained in it, or from any action or decision taken in response to it.
Transcript
You know, a lot of times when I'm at conferences, people come up to me and
Speaker:they, they ask me various questions.
Speaker:What's happening in the industry?
Speaker:Or what are you doing?
Speaker:Where are you going next?
Speaker:Where can I go to a book signing?
Speaker:Well, today we're trying something new on Transit Unplugged.
Speaker:I'm Paul Comfort with my co-host Julie Gates, and today we're gonna take you
Speaker:inside the world of Transit Unplugged and inside my world a little bit.
Speaker:So this is Transit Unplugged Insider, thanks for being with us today, and thanks
Speaker:to, uh, my special co-host Julie Gates.
Speaker:Hi Paul.
Speaker:Good to see you.
Speaker:Hey, Julie is, uh, the executive producer of our programs here at Transit Unplugged
Speaker:and the head of the Modaxo Media Group, which oversees what we're doing.
Speaker:Julie, tell us what we're gonna be doing today.
Speaker:Well, I mean, I think that the most important thing is we're gonna cover
Speaker:the top three issues every transit executive needs to know to thrive
Speaker:today 'cause it's been a moving target.
Speaker:We have a new administration in, so rules change, leaders change.
Speaker:So we're gonna get into that.
Speaker:That's.
Speaker:That to me is the highest priority.
Speaker:But we're also gonna get into where people can get to know you and get
Speaker:to be a part of the Transit Unplugged community and find out where we're
Speaker:gonna be and what we're doing and what projects are coming up.
Speaker:Yeah, let's get going.
Speaker:I think the, the, um, the premise behind this is we're talking about things that
Speaker:we normally don't get a chance to talk about on our regular interview shows, and
Speaker:we wanna try this on a more regular basis.
Speaker:So, uh, at the end we'll tell you how to email us and let us know what you think
Speaker:about it as you're listening to this.
Speaker:Think.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, I'd like to know more of that, less of this, whatever.
Speaker:Alright, well I think we need to get into the, the, the good stuff, the meat
Speaker:of today's episode, and that is the top three issues that every transit
Speaker:executive needs to know to succeed today.
Speaker:The first one is about the FTA leadership.
Speaker:What's the status with Marc Molinaro's nomination as the Federal Transit
Speaker:Administration Administrator?
Speaker:What's happening there?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Well, as you know, Julie, I'm connected with a lot of organizations.
Speaker:And, uh, work on, you know, on issues on Capitol Hill that are
Speaker:promoting public transportation.
Speaker:So I hear lots of whispers and things that are going on.
Speaker:It's something that has not really been announced publicly, but I've been told
Speaker:by multiple sources is that the FTA nominee Marc Molinaro, most folks know,
Speaker:he was up before the Senate Banking Committee and received a positive,
Speaker:um, you know, vote from the committee.
Speaker:So it's been referred to the full Senate now, but it hasn't come
Speaker:on the Senate's calendar yet.
Speaker:What I've been told is that he has been appointed as a special
Speaker:employee, uh, kind of like, um.
Speaker:Like Elon Musk, people heard of that title with Elon Musk
Speaker:when he was a special employee.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Has a limited timeframe.
Speaker:I think it's 120 days or something like that.
Speaker:Uh, more of an advisory role.
Speaker:He can't bind the organization.
Speaker:Uh, the deputy administrator, Tariq Bokhari has been sworn in.
Speaker:He was sworn in on April 22nd, and he is the official.
Speaker:You know, acting director of the agency right now.
Speaker:But Marc is there, is what I've been told.
Speaker:He's been there for a couple weeks now.
Speaker:Uh, and, uh, but he is getting in the mix of things and helping
Speaker:the organization overall.
Speaker:So that's, uh, something that you haven't heard really anywhere
Speaker:So he'll have a limited time, like 120 days or something in that role then if
Speaker:it's similar to the Elon Musk situation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He got a bipartisan vote out of the committee and, and, uh, there
Speaker:are unions that are supporting him.
Speaker:And so the thought is he won't have any trouble being confirmed
Speaker:once his name actually gets put on the calendar of the full Senate.
Speaker:So the thought is within that amount of time that this should take place.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Topic number two of the top three issues that every transit
Speaker:executive needs to know today.
Speaker:It is public transportation, federal funding.
Speaker:There was a lot of fear that the Trump administration would
Speaker:significantly cut public transit funds.
Speaker:What's going on?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:that's a great question.
Speaker:And uh, again, these are questions that we can't always get to when
Speaker:I'm talking to another executive.
Speaker:So we, that's one of the reasons why we wanna do this show is to
Speaker:kind of keep people up to date on what's really happening in
Speaker:Washington DC as we understand it.
Speaker:So after the July 4th recess, the House of Representatives is expected
Speaker:to mark up the transportation appropriations bill for next year.
Speaker:Uh, the Senate is working toward a bipartisan markup of its transportation
Speaker:bill, as most folks, uh, probably know.
Speaker:There was a continuing resolution or C.R., which would take us through
Speaker:the end of this federal fiscal year, which ends on September 30th.
Speaker:The new fiscal year starts on October 1st.
Speaker:Um, and so, people were concerned, as you mentioned, you know, oh, Trump's
Speaker:gonna tear apart transportation.
Speaker:You know, kinda people were concerned more that they were gonna follow the model of
Speaker:the Department of Education where Linda McMahon is there kind of downsizing and
Speaker:taking apart the Department of Education.
Speaker:They basically announced that, but that's not what's happening in transportation.
Speaker:And the proof was in the pudding, right?
Speaker:The president submitted his budget.
Speaker:And it was an actual increase of funding for transportation.
Speaker:Let's walk through some of the details because they haven't been widely
Speaker:covered, so the, the current funding resolution we're under for FTA funding,
Speaker:the Federal Transit Administration, provides them $20.5 billion
Speaker:apportion for public transportation.
Speaker:The requests from the White House increased that 3.4% to
Speaker:$21.2 billion, so an increase.
Speaker:Uh, and then when transit, the Formula Transit Formula grants were
Speaker:looked at, uh, the current FY 25 that we're operating on, the continuing
Speaker:resolution is around $14.3 billion.
Speaker:Again, President Trump has requested an increase in those
Speaker:funding, uh, a 2% increase.
Speaker:And then the big one that everyone was worried about, I'd heard
Speaker:this from many, many people.
Speaker:Oh, they're gonna kill CIG grants, the Capital Improvement Grants, um,
Speaker:the Capital Investment Grants, no, they didn't, they didn't kill it.
Speaker:The, the president's request, uh, had a slight decline of around 4%, uh,
Speaker:but still requested from 3.96 billion to $3.8 billion, and they've also
Speaker:included $783 million for emergency relief funding when transit is affected.
Speaker:So overall, the, the thought is that, um, there is, uh, basically continued
Speaker:support alongside the IIJA, formula funds saw a small boost, CIG grants dropped
Speaker:slightly signaling, uh, discretionary rail project funding, but is still substantial.
Speaker:And now we have some emergency relief, clearly funded, ensuring resources
Speaker:for unforeseen transit disruptions.
Speaker:So overall, not bad.
Speaker:Pretty good compared to what the expectations were, right?
Speaker:As they say BTE.
Speaker:. Yeah, so the other thing I wanted to mention was there's a
Speaker:big, it's a back burner, right?
Speaker:But it's very important for transit and that is our, what they
Speaker:call, um, reauthorization bill.
Speaker:Most folks know if you've read my book, the New Future Public Transportation,
Speaker:there's a great chapter, the last chapter in the book by Peter Varga, talking about
Speaker:federal funding and how the, in 1964, you know, we all, it, it got started, right?
Speaker:Uh, with the Urban Mass Transportation Act and how it's gone every five
Speaker:to six years, there's been a new reauthorization, which authorizes
Speaker:Congress to spend money over the next five years on public transportation.
Speaker:Well that expires at the end of 2026.
Speaker:So the House of Representatives, Transportation and Infrastructure
Speaker:Committee, you might hear the words House T&I Committee, they have a subcommittee
Speaker:on highways and transportation that is working on that reauthorization.
Speaker:I actually went to Capitol Hill.
Speaker:They did a listening session.
Speaker:They had a bunch of groups there.
Speaker:One of the groups I'm involved with, the North American Transit
Speaker:Alliance, testified on it as did CTAA and APTA and the Bus Coalition.
Speaker:They were all there.
Speaker:Uh, testify.
Speaker:I didn't personally testify, but was there to support and talk to
Speaker:the members staff that was there.
Speaker:Uh, and then they had a public hearing where they had people come
Speaker:and testify and now they're involved in writing that Reauthorization
Speaker:Act, they're still open to input.
Speaker:And what I've been told just this week is that they plan to, they hope
Speaker:to have that drafted complete, uh, by the end of summer, by the end
Speaker:of August, uh, and then go in after Labor Day come in and doing some other
Speaker:work and then have it on the floor.
Speaker:That's what they told me, their staff told me by the end of the year, uh,
Speaker:so that they can go through the vote and then it'll be sent to the Senate.
Speaker:Uh, for their consideration in 2026 at some point.
Speaker:So the good news is that process is ongoing.
Speaker:Things have not ground to a halt in Washington when it
Speaker:comes to public transportation.
Speaker:So matter of fact, quite the opposite.
Speaker:They're moving forward in a strong way.
Speaker:Oh, that's such a relief 'cause there's been so much concern.
Speaker:How about we move into topic number three, which is, is related and that's
Speaker:the Trump administration priorities.
Speaker:Biden administration was really leaning heavily into electric
Speaker:fleets, electric vehicles.
Speaker:What's important to the Trump administration when it comes
Speaker:to public transportation?
Speaker:This will be like, kind of like a, a cheat sheet for everyone who's in leadership
Speaker:to know what talking points to use when they're putting things forward.
Speaker:So they're speaking to the administration, who's deciding who's getting funding.
Speaker:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker:The previous administration was focused, as you mentioned, on
Speaker:battery, electric buses, low carbon,
Speaker:so the new administration, that's not a priority to them, although.
Speaker:You know when the Secretary of Transportation spoke at the APTA,
Speaker:at the APTA legislative conference, he's pretty clear that they're
Speaker:not opposed to battery electric.
Speaker:They're just opposed to federal mandates.
Speaker:They want the local folks to decide.
Speaker:You know what, what's best for you?
Speaker:For instance, there are parts of our country where there's a
Speaker:lot of compressed natural gas.
Speaker:That is a lower emission fuel.
Speaker:Places like Kansas City, Fort Worth, et cetera.
Speaker:There's big places up in Canada, uh, where I've been up there,
Speaker:uh, where there's a lot of CNG.
Speaker:So the idea that I'm understanding is the Trump administration wants you to make
Speaker:your local decision and they're not gonna prioritize your request based on the fact
Speaker:whether it's battery, electric or not.
Speaker:And the other focus that I've heard is obviously we've all heard it, is safety.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Safety is number one.
Speaker:It really is with this administration when it comes to transportation funding
Speaker:and public transportation in general.
Speaker:I mean, the Secretary of Transportation's ridden the New York City Metro system
Speaker:and talked to them about, you know, you've gotta do more on safety.
Speaker:Uh, when we interviewed Randy Clarke recently, the CEO of WMATA, he
Speaker:told me that, you know, they had a letter sent to them, uh, that
Speaker:required them to respond about what are you doing to improve safety.
Speaker:So we've seen really a shift, Julie, over the last couple years where we were moving
Speaker:away from police on transit and enforcing of fares, et cetera, to now swinging back
Speaker:the pendulum, swinging back the other way, uh, where it is more focused on safety.
Speaker:I think the other thing we're gonna hear coming out of Washington, the
Speaker:whispers I'm hearing is a more focus on the core principles of not only
Speaker:safety, but efficiency, reliability, and the customer experience, customer
Speaker:satisfaction, they really want people who, um, who use transit to be satisfied
Speaker:with the services they're getting.
Speaker:They want to be focused on improving families.
Speaker:They've even tied that into some of the funding requests for prioritization.
Speaker:So I think we're seeing a return to traditional, um, KPIs, key performance
Speaker:indicators for transit: safety, efficiency, reliability, customer service.
Speaker:Those are the factors that I'm hearing that new administration is focused on.
Speaker:You know, as our transit agencies across North America are figuring out messaging.
Speaker:I mean, they're, they've got marketing teams pushing out social
Speaker:media, they've got people writing grants, all of these things.
Speaker:It seems to me, one of the messages I'm seeing that appears
Speaker:to be really effective is pushing economic development, how transit is
Speaker:helping with economic development.
Speaker:And I know we've seen lots of examples of that in our, in our filming when we've
Speaker:been on location for Transit Unplugged TV.
Speaker:There's a lot of episodes.
Speaker:If people wanna sneak speak on how to do TOD, you wanna share
Speaker:a couple of those episodes?
Speaker:Like who does it?
Speaker:Well, I, I think, um, Kansas City, the KCATA has done TOD really well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker:Frank White's out there.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Just, I just saw him this week on LinkedIn talking about it again.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, he's a good friend of the show and doing a great job.
Speaker:And also, uh, Mikel Oglesby, uh, in, um, Tucson.
Speaker:Tucson, which is our number two watched ever show right behind Brisbane.
Speaker:Uh, we did a big segment there about the $4 billion of economic
Speaker:investment that their light rail line has brought in over the last decade.
Speaker:And so, uh, and we were just down with Coree Cuff Lonergan.
Speaker:Uh, in Broward County and, uh, their episode of the television
Speaker:show will be coming out in August.
Speaker:And, um, she's talking about the value of, for the county, they're a county
Speaker:agency, the value to the county or the economic development that the investment
Speaker:in public transportation will bring.
Speaker:So I think you're right.
Speaker:That is another big factor when it comes to how transit can improve a community.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, our shows are really meant to be kind of like helpful guides
Speaker:for everyone working in the industry.
Speaker:So if you wanna pop on and look at any of the Transit Unplugged TV episodes,
Speaker:they're on YouTube and we've got at least four really good shows talking
Speaker:about transit oriented development, we've got the KCATA, I think SacRT
Speaker:in Sacramento was mentioning it.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Memphis MATA has a good story too.
Speaker:So if you need like some tips on how to do it, check out what your colleagues
Speaker:are doing and we've covered their stories for you, so you can check them out.
Speaker:Alright, well, do you wanna do some, uh, industry hot topics?
Speaker:Do you wanna make a quick transition into that for a little bit?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:What about congestion pricing?
Speaker:This has been such a big on-again, off-again story going on in New York City.
Speaker:What, what are you hearing?
Speaker:What's the latest?
Speaker:Yeah, so we, it's, it's a great question, Julie.
Speaker:We've had a couple shows with people in New York, in the past, but that's the
Speaker:last update's been like six months ago.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I think most people know that in general, congestion charging, you
Speaker:know, they have it in Singapore, they have it in London, they have it a few
Speaker:other places where basically there's a tag reader that reads your tag as you
Speaker:come into a predefined area, uh, or an easy pass, and you'll get a charge
Speaker:in an area that is heavily congested.
Speaker:And the thought is it will reduce congestion in that area and
Speaker:reduce the smog, and mitigate the pollution that's in that area.
Speaker:So New York had talked about doing it for a long time, New York City, uh, and
Speaker:they finally did it and launched it, the Central Business District Tolling
Speaker:Program on January 5th of this year.
Speaker:And it applies to vehicles entering Manhattan, south of 60th street.
Speaker:It's called the Congestion Relief Zone.
Speaker:And during peak hours drivers are charged $9 per entry.
Speaker:The toll is about 75% lower overnight.
Speaker:Over time, the tolls are intended to increase to $12 by 2028 and $15 by 2031.
Speaker:What's the impact been?
Speaker:Well, it's still early in the program, right?
Speaker:We've only had about four or five months, about five months worth
Speaker:of data, but so far it looks like traffic in daily traffic in the
Speaker:congestion zone has dropped around 10%.
Speaker:Around 70 to 80,000 less vehicles decline over the previous year.
Speaker:Vehicles are now moving, we are told, five to 10% faster during the peak
Speaker:periods, so it has reduced traffic congestion some in New York City.
Speaker:How much money has it generated?
Speaker:Well, so far, for the first four months of 2025 through the end of April, it's
Speaker:generated about $216 million, and so it's tracking to collect around $500
Speaker:million a year from the congestion charging, and those funds are earmarked
Speaker:for the MTAs capital program, uh, including essential repairs and upgrades.
Speaker:And I'm happy to kind of get a preview today.
Speaker:We've just gotten the thumbs up that I'm gonna be able to interview the
Speaker:new president of MTA, New York City.
Speaker:That'll be an upcoming episode later this year.
Speaker:Uh, now what's happening on the legal side of things?
Speaker:Most folks know the Trump administration attempted to revoke federal approval and
Speaker:threatened to withhold funding in New York as related to that, but the MTA secured a
Speaker:temporary injunction and a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's
Speaker:attempt to cut funding keeping tolling in place, at least through this month,
Speaker:and they may give some extensions.
Speaker:So that's the current status of it.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:Um, I do a weekly Transit Unplugged News Minute for those of you who don't know,
Speaker:and I came across a report on this too.
Speaker:This report was saying that the toll is, uh, reducing traffic delays by 25%,
Speaker:this particular report and that they said that drivers are saving 17 minutes
Speaker:for every hour that they previously spent an hour in their car there.
Speaker:It's just so it's interesting to watch.
Speaker:Are you getting any vibes of other cities in the U.S. giving this a
Speaker:shot or they, is everybody kind of all eyes on New York right now?
Speaker:All eyes are on New York.
Speaker:I mean, there's always been talk about maybe in LA or in Chicago,
Speaker:there's been some discussion, but nothing serious as far as I've heard.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:One other hot topic and then we'll move into where you're gonna be so our
Speaker:audience can have a chance to build a, a bigger community and, and work together.
Speaker:I'm curious about something that you covered in a podcast episode
Speaker:recently, something I'd never heard of before called Green Hydrogen.
Speaker:What do you know?
Speaker:What is this?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, you know, most folks know that hydrogen is one of the fuels that
Speaker:we're using to power buses now, um, the, the four big fuels right
Speaker:now for buses are clean diesel, uh, which is still the majority of
Speaker:vehicles on the road in America.
Speaker:Two would be compressed natural gas, CNG.
Speaker:Um, three would be this hydrogen fuel and four would be battery electric.
Speaker:So battery electric has been the up and coming technology over the last decade.
Speaker:It's been really pushed by the Biden administration.
Speaker:As I mentioned, it won't be pushed by the Trump administration.
Speaker:They basically announced that they're not prioritizing that or
Speaker:giving you a priority based on that.
Speaker:Uh, but they're not gonna oppose it either.
Speaker:It's up to the locals, what the secretary said at the APTA conference.
Speaker:So hydrogen though.
Speaker:And in my book right here, I have two or three chapters
Speaker:focused on that, uh, on hydrogen.
Speaker:'cause I, I really believe it is an up and coming technology
Speaker:for those who are interested in, um, cleaner emissions from it.
Speaker:So green hydrogen, uh, is a, is a clean fuel produced by using renewable
Speaker:electricity, uh, like solar or wind.
Speaker:Um, a lot of regular hydrogen can produce, be being used.
Speaker:Um, natural gas, the idea is it's electrolysis.
Speaker:The process is to split the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen, right?
Speaker:H2O and you take out the hydrogen and that becomes a powered fuel.
Speaker:And the only only water vapor is the byproduct, right.
Speaker:Of that.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So it's a super clean.
Speaker:I've heard people even, you know, drinking, talk about all kinds of things,
Speaker:drinking and all that, which I would never recommend anybody do, but don't do it.
Speaker:I've never seen it.
Speaker:It's very clean.
Speaker:So, unlike traditional hydrogen made from natural gas, green hydrogen has
Speaker:zero carbon emissions because it's used.
Speaker:The, the power source used to create the electrolysis is a renewable source,
Speaker:you know, such as wind or solar.
Speaker:That's the idea.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Well thank you that that's something I hadn't heard about yet.
Speaker:I'd heard about the hydrogen, but not the green hydrogen.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Well I think we need to do an in case you missed it segment and that is what
Speaker:are some recent shows that our audience should not miss or they'll be left behind?
Speaker:'cause you've been talking a lot of really interesting newsmakers in our industry.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Michele Stiehler is our, uh, from Boston, the MBTA paratransit manager.
Speaker:That's our biggest listened to show probably of the last year or two.
Speaker:I t talks about what's happening in Boston when it comes to paratransit.
Speaker:For those of you who are headed to Boston, like I will be in
Speaker:September for the APTA conference.
Speaker:Uh, it's a good kind of, um.
Speaker:Uh, predicate to getting there, understanding about what's
Speaker:going on in the Boston area.
Speaker:As for our television show, uh, I would encourage people to
Speaker:tune into the Tucson episode.
Speaker:People always ask you, you know, what was your favorite show?
Speaker:And I don't really have a favorite show.
Speaker:Uh, they're all great, you know, it's like, ask, I have six children ask me,
Speaker:which one is your favorite children?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:I'm not gonna tell you that, at least.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But, but, um, keep that to yourself or my nine grandkids, right?
Speaker:So, um, but I, uh, but I can say the show for me last year that was the most
Speaker:fun to make was in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Speaker:It was such a great experience there.
Speaker:Uh, the team that was up in Fairbanks was very welcoming.
Speaker:They were just coming out of a long winter and, uh, so the spring was in everybody's
Speaker:step, and it was a fantastic area.
Speaker:For this year, this past year, so far, it's been Tucson.
Speaker:Tucson was such a blast.
Speaker:Uh, and there's so many fun, interesting things that I did not expect.
Speaker:You know, the amazing food scene we did there with a guy in the restaurant
Speaker:and, and the whole scene about, you know, gangsters being caught in
Speaker:the hotel that we were staying in and all that kind of great stuff.
Speaker:It was, um, fun, interesting stories and a great transit story with
Speaker:Mikel Oglesby and his team there about how transit has really become
Speaker:integral to the community of Tucson.
Speaker:So those are two shows on the TV side I'd recommend.
Speaker:I think I'll throw one in too from my point of view.
Speaker:Um, you did something a little bit different with one of our episodes,
Speaker:which I think would be really interesting for people to watch, and
Speaker:that was with Washington, with WMATA.
Speaker:You did a "How Do I Get There?" episode.
Speaker:And it's really a great way for, you know, other transit agencies may wanna
Speaker:model making videos or you know, maybe we can come and shoot for you, whatever.
Speaker:But this kind of idea of showing people how we can get places step by step.
Speaker:Do you wanna talk a little bit about that episode?
Speaker:Yeah, sure.
Speaker:So, you know, when we think about episodes of our Transit Unplugged TV show, we do
Speaker:12 a year by the way, it's a monthly show.
Speaker:This podcast is weekly interviewing a different executive.
Speaker:But, uh, for 2027, 2025, we thought it'd be fun to do a show.
Speaker:Jaime Cuadra, our, our video director actually had the idea for me initially
Speaker:and said it'd be great to do a show all about how do I get there.
Speaker:In every show we do one segment, how do I ride local transit
Speaker:to get to an iconic location.
Speaker:You know, maybe it's the, uh, uh, it's a castle or it's a downtown, or it's
Speaker:the convention center or whatever.
Speaker:So, um, and we show, okay, this is how you ride it.
Speaker:You get on this bus, you pay this amount, and you ride.
Speaker:It takes 20 minutes and you get there.
Speaker:So it is again, an on-ramp for people how to use public transportation.
Speaker:It familiarizes them with them and socializes the
Speaker:concept of riding with them.
Speaker:We did a show all about Washington DC, what a great show, right?
Speaker:I mean, what a great city.
Speaker:It's got, you know, the, the mall, the monuments, right?
Speaker:Uh, the music that's there.
Speaker:And so we did that.
Speaker:We rode the bus, we rode the metro.
Speaker:We rode bikes, we rode scooters.
Speaker:We rode a water taxi.
Speaker:We rode the streetcar, we rode the metro, we rode it all.
Speaker:We even rode a tourist bus, uh, and showed you how to get around
Speaker:the city and you don't need a car.
Speaker:And like Randy Clarke said, the CEO we interviewed, he's the only
Speaker:interview we did on that show.
Speaker:He's like, oh, renting a car.
Speaker:That'd be a big mistake, is the CEO parking is very expensive.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's, you know, heavily congested and all that.
Speaker:But I also wanna throw in a quick note.
Speaker:We don't have all of our episodes picked out yet for 2026.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So if your city is interested in being featured.
Speaker:It's all positive, all upbeat.
Speaker:You get hundreds of thousands of views around the world, let us know.
Speaker:Reach out and let me know if you're interested.
Speaker:We have about six or seven episodes that we're pretty locked in on, but
Speaker:I've got four or five openings left for later in the year that we could
Speaker:do, or even earlier in the year.
Speaker:Let us know if you're interested in being.
Speaker:There's no cost to a city, transit agency.
Speaker:The only cost is your time and energy of helping us produce it
Speaker:and put it together and identifying locations we can visit, et cetera.
Speaker:Yeah, just drop it in the notes of the show episode.
Speaker:We, we would love to hear from you.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Well, let's wrap things up with where Transit Unplugged is going to be.
Speaker:How can our community connect with us to build better public transportation?
Speaker:Where in the world is Paul Comfort going to be?
Speaker:What's coming up?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One of the great things about that I love about Transit Unplugged is we've
Speaker:built it into a whole community, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:We have thousands of people, 2,500 people are on our newsletter list,
Speaker:uh, and we have thousands of people that kind of follow the show and
Speaker:what we're doing, and they know about the TV show and the podcast.
Speaker:What they may not be fully aware of is that we also have a whole live
Speaker:program segment where we go and do live CEO roundtables around the world.
Speaker:We bring a bunch of CEOs together on one stage and we do a live program.
Speaker:People can watch, we sometimes record them and play 'em afterwards on
Speaker:Transit Unplugged, but not always.
Speaker:We've done 'em from places, from Barcelona, right to Kansas City and
Speaker:many cities in between, uh, where we bring three or four CEOs together
Speaker:and we ask them what are the trends that are affecting them right now,
Speaker:and what's it like to be a CEO.
Speaker:So you can come out and meet us
Speaker:and greet us and be part of the team.
Speaker:We'll get you on camera if you can, or, or we'll maybe even have you on the podcast.
Speaker:Chris, uh, you know, our producer of the podcast and I recently
Speaker:were at the CTAA Expo in San Diego, and he had a great idea.
Speaker:Why don't we just do an open mic and invite people to talk
Speaker:on, you know, on the show.
Speaker:And so we did.
Speaker:And so we're gonna try more of that.
Speaker:So anyway, here's where we're coming.
Speaker:We're gonna be filming in Connecticut, coming up in mid-July.
Speaker:With Ben Limmer and CT Transit, we're filming a full episode
Speaker:of Transit Unplugged TV.
Speaker:We're gonna show you the place where hamburgers were invented in America, and
Speaker:we're gonna eat one exactly how they're made there as a little hint, they don't
Speaker:let you put mustard on it, really.
Speaker:And um, and we're gonna go to Mark Twain's house, you know,
Speaker:and hopefully get a tour of that.
Speaker:And then we're gonna show you all the great things they've
Speaker:got going on in transit there.
Speaker:At the end of July, I'm happy to say we're gonna be going to the Southwest
Speaker:Transit Association SWATA conference, um, with our buddy Rich there.
Speaker:Uh, the whole team, Julie, you can mention this if you want.
Speaker:We're going to podcast movement.
Speaker:Talk about that.
Speaker:Oh, well, we just wanna make sure that we're always providing you the
Speaker:highest quality of programming so you know what's going on in your
Speaker:industry and you're connected.
Speaker:And so this is kind of us getting a workshop on how to do better
Speaker:at podcasting, and YouTube too.
Speaker:, It's really interesting in our industry, on the media side, to
Speaker:see how much YouTube has really taken over for video podcasting.
Speaker:It is huge.
Speaker:So we just wanna make sure we're providing you with the best quality
Speaker:content possible, so you're up to date on everything and we know
Speaker:what we're doing, so we're excited.
Speaker:Our entire team will be going to that one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if you're listening to this podcast on traditional platforms of
Speaker:Spotify or, or Apple or some other, uh, TransitUnplugged.com, you may
Speaker:not realize that this is our first video episode, uh, we've ever done.
Speaker:Uh, for, we've been doing a hybrid show on YouTube where when I interview
Speaker:people, it's audio, but we'll put up some pictures of when I was
Speaker:talking to them or interviewing them.
Speaker:This is the first one we've done full video with Julie and
Speaker:I, and so, uh, stop listening right now and go over to YouTube.
Speaker:No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker:Go over to YouTube and check it out.
Speaker:Just check us out at Transit Unplugged Podcast.
Speaker:Put that in on YouTube.
Speaker:Then I'm excited to be the keynote speaker in Kentucky at their Kentucky
Speaker:Transit Association on August 27th.
Speaker:Uh, I'll be speaking there largely on the topic of my new book on,
Speaker:um, uh, and some other topics.
Speaker:Five Traits of a Future Transit Leader there as well.
Speaker:And then shortly after that, the next week I think I'll be, at the Midwest Transit
Speaker:Association Conference, keynote speech.
Speaker:I think that's in Kansas City.
Speaker:that's on September 4th and I'll be moderating, uh, a CEO panel.
Speaker:We're filming an episode of Transit Unplugged TV.
Speaker:Our big international episode this year we're filming is in Italy, and
Speaker:so we'll be going there in September.
Speaker:We're gonna tour Milan.
Speaker:Florence and Rome.
Speaker:I just booked the rooms actually this morning, uh, for that trip.
Speaker:And so we're excited.
Speaker:Uh, we're gonna talk to the transit leaders in all three cities.
Speaker:It'll be great.
Speaker:And then of course we'll be at APTA Transform, later in September,
Speaker:mid-September, where I'll be moderating the CEO roundtable.
Speaker:We're already lining up the CEOs who are gonna be on it.
Speaker:That'll be at the Vontas booth on the trade show floor there.
Speaker:So a lot happening.
Speaker:A lot of, um, events where you can come and kind of see us
Speaker:in person if you'd like to.
Speaker:I can't wait.
Speaker:I, I knew we were shooting in Milan.
Speaker:I didn't realize you're gonna be in Rome.
Speaker:I would love to see a video of you trying to cross the street in Rome.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I've never been there, so maybe we'll try.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Well I can't wait to see what you guys learn and, and I can't wait
Speaker:to hear about their transit system.
Speaker:'cause that is a very, very, busy, busy street.
Speaker:Like it's crazy.
Speaker:It's good.
Speaker:It's fun.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Excellent.
Speaker:Well, this is great.
Speaker:So that's kind of the, the summary of what we've got going on.
Speaker:This is our first episode, kinda giving you an update on what you need to know,
Speaker:uh, a little more behind the scenes.
Speaker:Paul is so wired in, he's, he's in a lot of closed door meetings with a lot of
Speaker:influencers so he's always respectful about not, you know, putting anyone out
Speaker:in, in the limelight that doesn't need to be, but he can share information.
Speaker:So thank you for doing that, Paul.
Speaker:This has been fun.
Speaker:Should we get feedback on if we should do more of these kinds of episodes?
Speaker:That'd be great.
Speaker:Uh, you can drop a note as Julie mentioned in the comments of the
Speaker:podcast, where you hear it, or you can email us at info@transitunplugged.com.
Speaker:And for those of you who are interested in a little more behind the scenes
Speaker:information of what's happening in our larger Modaxo Media Group,
Speaker:hold on for two more minutes and Julie's gonna give you an update.
Speaker:Transit Unplugged is, was the, um, you know, kinda the foundation for
Speaker:a group that our boss Rod Jones put together called the Modaxo Media Group.
Speaker:And the thought was, we'd like to share what's happening in the industries
Speaker:that we serve as a software company.
Speaker:We never promote our software.
Speaker:but the idea is that we wanna promote our industries that we serve.
Speaker:And, um, so you heading up the group has been, have helped us produce
Speaker:and behind the scenes handle all the business and the finance side of
Speaker:everything for the last few years.
Speaker:But now we're actually entering into new products, uh, and new pro and
Speaker:new areas that we're focusing on.
Speaker:You wanna tell us
Speaker:about that a little bit?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm gonna start by saying we couldn't do this if we weren't able to add
Speaker:some really key people to our team.
Speaker:So in addition to Jaime Cuadra, who's our video director, who makes Transit
Speaker:Unplugged TV look great, and Tatyana, who's in London, who does an amazing.
Speaker:Social media program for us, we've now added two superstars that are allowing
Speaker:us to expand and provide you with more content that hopefully we you
Speaker:find useful in your day-to-day life.
Speaker:So I just wanna say welcome aboard to Cyndi Raskin.
Speaker:She brings deep transit experiences, worked in the Florida, up and down
Speaker:Florida transit industries, and she's helping us really make the TV and
Speaker:video part of our, our work just shine.
Speaker:And then we also brought in Chris O'Keeffe, who has developed and
Speaker:produced award-winning podcasts.
Speaker:Uh, he's worked on all kinds of, who's, who's from MIT
Speaker:and Amazon, Cirque de Soleil.
Speaker:He is helping us.
Speaker:scale our podcast programs, and that's where we're leaning in right now.
Speaker:So a lot of us in the transit space are also interested in
Speaker:other ways we move people.
Speaker:So if you want to know a little bit more about what's going on
Speaker:with parking and curb management, that impacts transit a lot.
Speaker:We are starting a new show called Parking Live.
Speaker:We have two really great voices, one based in the UK, one based in Chicago.
Speaker:We have Jade Neville and Matt Darst.
Speaker:They are big influencers in that space.
Speaker:They both have done a lot to make parking.
Speaker:I mean, who knew parking was a full industry, but it truly is.
Speaker:So we've just started Parking Live.
Speaker:You can find out more information about that if you check them out on LinkedIn.
Speaker:And then Chris is also helping us
Speaker:spearhead a new, uh, airport and aviation podcast called The Aviation Report.
Speaker:And we're in the beginning stages of that, but a lot of, we're trying to do
Speaker:the same deep dive in industry like we're doing for transit with Transit Unplugged.
Speaker:We're now doing this for aviation airports and parking and curb space.
Speaker:So stay tuned and we will share more info as it unfolds.
Speaker:Well, thanks again, Julie, for being, uh, joining me on this, this episode, the
Speaker:special episode of Transit Unplugged, the podcast, uh, Transit Unplugged Insider.
Speaker:I think we're gonna call it.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:And as we show you the inside, what's happening?
Speaker:Any final thoughts you have?
Speaker:No, just thanks to everyone that I, I've find the transit
Speaker:community so inspirational.
Speaker:Um, I've never worked in an industry where the leaders worked together so well.
Speaker:There's no rivalry.
Speaker:There's no competition.
Speaker:Maybe there's playful competition when we're all up against, you know, for awards
Speaker:or things, but for the most part, the spirit of the people here is incredible.
Speaker:So it's just an honor for us.
Speaker:to create programming to help keep people connected and informed.
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:And thank you for being with us.
Speaker:today on this episode of Transit Unplugged.
Speaker:Uh, be sure to tune in every week on your favorite platform.
Speaker:Check us out on YouTube if you wanna see as well as hear some
Speaker:of what we're talking about.
Speaker:We've got some great guests coming up right around the corner.
