Room: Mississauga AB
Sponsor(s)
 
Session Description
Quality Data, Better Journeys: Enhancing Transit Customer Experience
Stream: Operations Stream
Moderator: Nicole Lysaght, Senior Manager – Finance, Data Analytics and Program Support, Durham Region Transit
Transit agencies are under pressure to deliver reliable service and improve the rider experience, but incomplete and poor data quality quietly undermines both goals. In this session, we’ll break down transit data pitfalls and success stories across two critical parts of the passenger journey: trip planning and real-time tracking.
Specifically, this session will focus on opportunities to engage transit customers through innovative tactics when promoting special event services, ensuring that trip planning is available for more than just the standard schedule. In addition, this session will share a new industry methodology to benchmark “ETA Completeness,” giving agencies an objective lens through which to evaluate the quality of their real-time passenger information.
Attend to hear real-world examples from agencies tackling data quality issues head-on — from eliminating “ghost buses” to ensuring passenger information in trip-planning apps matches service on the streets.
Transforming the Passenger Experience with Quality Data
Speaker: Hazel Scher – Swiftly
How Data Excellence Leads to Customer Excellence: A Guelph Transit case study
Speaker:
Sara Khatib – Transit
Laura Catalano-Bragues – Guelph Transit
Speaker(s) / Presenter(s)
Hazel Scher – Strategic Account Executive, Swiftly
Bio:
Hazel spent the first decade of her career as a transit planner with NelsonNygaard Consulting Associates, helping agencies across North America with transit service planning, BRT corridor planning, and long-range transit visions. During that time she saw planning efforts provide a roadmap for transformative change in local transit systems, but often with a very long timeline. In her five years at Swiftly, Hazel has focused on bringing more immediate measurable impact to the day-to-day rider experience through helping transit agencies identify and resolve problems with real-time data accuracy and data completeness that negatively impact the customer journey. Hazel is currently leading a 9-month pilot project focused on passenger information with TransLink in Vancouver, BC.
Sara Khatib – Transit Data Analyst, Transit
Bio:
Sara believes that a great transit experience starts with great data. With a background in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning, she understands the complex needs of cities — from the people who build them to the people who move within them. At Transit, Sara now works deep in the world of GTFS , maintaining a constant dialogue with transit agencies across the globe about their data. Leveraging that unique perspective and three years talking Transit, she knows exactly how data producers can make their systems shine on the small screen to give riders the best experience possible.
Bio:
I am the Manager of Transit Network Design and Control Centre with Guelph Transit and have been working in the Transit industry for over 12 years. Over 10 years at Guelph Transit, I have seen our transition to a much more data-rich agency, and have been one of the leaders in applying this data to help build a culture around data excellence. Â
Moderator(s)
Nicole Lysaght – Senior Manager, Finance, Data Analystics and Program Support, Durham Region Transit