Local technology leaders met up with transportation visionaries at the recent “Transportation in the City” panel organized by Smart Growth America. One of the panelists was Mobility Lab’s own Tom Fairchild, who stressed that consumers nowadays just want to get from point A to point B, without caring about which form of transportation they take, be it bike sharing, car sharing, public transportation or taxis. Choice is important, and in order to convey the wide range of choices to riders, we need to ensure private businesses and public agencies alike share data and work together.
WAMU’s transportation reporter Martin Di Caro was also on the panel, talking about how he dropped his car ownership when moving to DC. He reflected on the different attitudes of D.C.’s entrenched taxicab community versus internet startups like Uber.
Panelist Donna Harris, whose company 1776 hosted the event, said D.C. is the ideal city for incubating innovative solutions, since so many young people flock to the city, willing to try new solutions for getting around.
The attendees got to start conversations about various topics, from getting the region to make better use of our waterways for transportation, to ensuring that all neighborhoods have access to a wide range of transportation choices.
Afterwards we got to mingle with fellow transit nerds and local businesses and organizations, including Capital Bikeshare, Car2Go, RideScout, Taxi Magic, Zipcar.
Here are the best tweets we compiled from the event: