Countdown to Transport Ticketing North America 2025 with Portfolio Director, Stuart Barker

00:00 Levi McCollum: Stop Requested. Welcome to Stop Requested, the podcast where we discuss everything Transit.

00:05 Levi McCollum: I’m your co host, Levi McCollum, director of operations at ETA Transit.

00:10 Christian Londono: And I’m your co host, Christian Londano, Senior Customer Success Manager at ETA Transit.

00:21 Levi McCollum: Welcome back to Stop Requested. Christian, how are you doing today?

00:25 Christian Londono: I’m doing excellent. I’m super excited.

00:28 Christian Londono: Today’s episode we’re going to have.

00:30 Christian Londono: I think this is going to be our first guest from overseas, Levi.

00:35 Levi McCollum: I think that’s right, yeah. We have Stuart Barker, who is the portfolio director at Clarion Events joining us.

00:41 Levi McCollum: Clarion Events is the third largest event organizer in the world.

00:45 Levi McCollum: So this is, this is a big deal and we’re going to be talking about Transport Ticketing North America and

00:50 Levi McCollum: Global today. Stuart, how are you doing?

00:53 Stuart Barker: I’m doing very good. I’m doing great.

00:55 Stuart Barker: Thank you very much for that introduction and really excited to be the first overseas guest.

01:01 Stuart Barker: So I hope, I hope I live up to expectations.

01:03 Stuart Barker: But thank you very much for having me and it’s great to be talking to you today.

01:08 Levi McCollum: Can you give us a brief overview of the transport ticketing events? I know that you have the Global and

01:14 Levi McCollum: that’s been running for some time now, over a decade, but you’ve somewhat recently started this North America event.

01:21 Levi McCollum: Can you give us a description of each and kind of what’s, what’s going on there? Why should we be

01:26 Levi McCollum: interested?

01:27 Stuart Barker: Yeah, so thanks. Yeah. So Transport Ticketing Global, which is the first one you mentioned, that takes place in London

01:34 Stuart Barker: in March and that’s been running for, I mean, hey, I’m going to show my age, but that’s been running

01:40 Stuart Barker: for something like 16 years and it’s my, my first day working with Clarion, all the way back 13 years

01:47 Stuart Barker: ago or something, was actually on site at that show and it, then it was a little show, I think

01:52 Stuart Barker: maybe 120, 130 people in the basement of a hotel.

01:57 Stuart Barker: But. And it’s really grown over the time.

01:59 Stuart Barker: So we just ran this year 1500 people and about 80 or so exhibitors in a hall in London with

02:08 Stuart Barker: four different tracks going on and visitors coming in from all around the world.

02:13 Stuart Barker: 65 different countries I think represented, which was a, was a record for us.

02:18 Stuart Barker: So it’s a, it’s a great event, it’s got great international support and it’s, it’s really become a meeting place

02:24 Stuart Barker: for the, we call it Transit Ticketing in London, but the kind of the fair collection community and a great

02:31 Stuart Barker: place for, for information exchange for people in the industry really to meet every year and find out what’s happening

02:37 Stuart Barker: for, for those agencies who are about to embark on new projects to really come and kind of get, get

02:42 Stuart Barker: that deep insight into, into what it takes to kind of deliver the, deliver the projects and kind of see

02:48 Stuart Barker: the latest technologies and also look at, look at those kind of new emerging things, right, those new emerging things

02:53 Stuart Barker: coming to the market. But I think one of the things we were always conscious of was that the North

03:00 Stuart Barker: American agencies were pretty kind of underrepresented.

03:03 Stuart Barker: So we’ve always been very lucky, very blessed to have support from, whether that be from New York or LA

03:11 Stuart Barker: or San Diego or Seattle and various other parts of the U.S.

03:16 Stuart Barker: but still, given the number of agencies, we kind of felt it was reasonably underrepresented.

03:22 Stuart Barker: And we have plans way before the pandemic really for launching a version in North America.

03:27 Stuart Barker: But it took us until last year to be able to get that away.

03:31 Stuart Barker: So we had a fantastic launch.

03:32 Stuart Barker: June last year we launched our very first Transport Ticketing North America in Chicago.

03:41 Stuart Barker: 270 people attended. Really good support from across the community and 50 different agencies throughout the US attending the show.

03:49 Stuart Barker: And it was so good we were coming back.

03:51 Stuart Barker: So we’re going to be back there again, 24th, 25th of June this year, once again in Chicago, really ready

03:58 Stuart Barker: to go again and look at some of those really specific things to do with kind of fair collection in

04:04 Stuart Barker: North America because it does have a slightly different flavor I think to a what we see elsewhere around the

04:09 Stuart Barker: world. But that’s, that’s what we do.

04:10 Stuart Barker: So it’s, it’s the global events been running for a long time.

04:14 Stuart Barker: North American event is our newest addition, but super exciting and we’re really excited to be coming back again this

04:21 Stuart Barker: year.

04:22 Christian Londono: Yeah, that sounds very exciting. In you know, Levi and I will be attending so we look forward to having

04:30 Christian Londono: that experience. I’ve attended as well as Levi several transit conferences in the US and you know, also we have

04:40 Christian Londono: the opportunity to speak with different transit systems.

04:43 Christian Londono: And I tell you that farebox technology or just, you know, ticketing technology for transit is something that a lot

04:52 Christian Londono: of agencies are taking a look at.

04:54 Christian Londono: Some of them have aging technology that is kind of like surpass the useful life and they’re trying to look

05:02 Christian Londono: at the next round. And then some agencies are still with the very basic just, you know, cash in a

05:09 Christian Londono: box and that’s it. And they’re looking to do their first round of actual technology.

05:15 Christian Londono: So definitely a good space for transit agencies in the US to go and learn about it.

05:21 Christian Londono: And you know get their projects off the ground.

05:25 Christian Londono: So you mentioned you’ve been part of the Clarion events and you know, putting together these conferences for several years.

05:35 Christian Londono: But you know, I’m interested to know how do you become involved with the transport ticketing conferences and you know,

05:42 Christian Londono: when did you start and how do you became part of this?

05:47 Stuart Barker: Yeah, so I’ve kind of been working in events around the space for some time and like, like I say,

05:56 Stuart Barker: 13 years ago now, so it’s probably longer than I care to remember that I was first on site.

06:01 Stuart Barker: This actually came out. So we were running a series of payments events and you know, we’ve always been, I’ve

06:06 Stuart Barker: always been around the kind of the payments industry and we used to run a prepaid card event and some

06:14 Stuart Barker: years ago, you know, we noticed that a lot of guys from Transport for London suddenly turned up one year

06:21 Stuart Barker: and we were, we were kind of little bit interested to know why they were there and what it was.

06:27 Stuart Barker: So we kind of had a conversation with them and, and it was out of that, it was really out

06:31 Stuart Barker: of running our other payments event that we, we kind of.

06:34 Stuart Barker: And speaking to tfl, we saw there’s this real focus on transit.

06:39 Stuart Barker: You know, it was very different.

06:41 Stuart Barker: It’s very, very different to going out and you know, paying, paying for something in a store.

06:45 Stuart Barker: It’s very different from buying something online.

06:47 Stuart Barker: Right. Trend transit really is a very different industry.

06:51 Stuart Barker: So what’s, you know, we talking about paying with cash or we’re talking about paying with card or we’re talking

06:55 Stuart Barker: about paying with, you know, smart cards or whatever it might be.

06:58 Stuart Barker: It’s just, it’s just different. And, and it was that, that kind of led us to, to launching this as

07:03 Stuart Barker: its own event. And like I said, it was, it was small, right? It’s a lot of small.

07:08 Stuart Barker: You know, my first time there, 120, 130 people, I think.

07:11 Stuart Barker: But it’s, it’s really grown and it’s been a great thing to see.

07:16 Stuart Barker: It’s been great to see lots of examples around the world.

07:20 Stuart Barker: It’s been great to see how this has spread.

07:22 Stuart Barker: We’ve, I guess, you know, London’s probably, probably a good example.

07:26 Stuart Barker: I depend, I suppose that depends where you’re on the world, but it’s probably a good example of a, of

07:30 Stuart Barker: a ticketing system. They’re very lucky with what they can do, but we, we’ve kind of worked very closely with

07:35 Stuart Barker: them and that’s, that’s really helped us grow the event and, and I’ve loved it.

07:38 Stuart Barker: Right. So I’ve I’ve been lucky enough to, to talk with agencies from around the world.

07:43 Stuart Barker: I’ve got to be lucky enough to talk with lots of the suppliers, you know, with the, with the card

07:47 Stuart Barker: schemes, with the payment service. I, I, I kind of sit with.

07:52 Stuart Barker: We have an awards ceremony at the London event that I’m, and I’m, I’m lucky enough to kind of be

07:57 Stuart Barker: able to chair the judging panel there.

08:00 Stuart Barker: So I get to see, I get to read the, all the entries every year from all around the world,

08:05 Stuart Barker: from all the different, you know, ticketing projects that are going on, all the technologies that are coming out.

08:09 Stuart Barker: And so I’ve, I’ve just kind of really been immersed in this and, and evolving it from, albeit from an

08:14 Stuart Barker: event organizer’s point of view. But I’ve kind of been able to see this for, for 13 years now.

08:19 Stuart Barker: And it’s been, it’s great. It’s, it’s, you know, it’s an industry I love and I’m, I’m kind of always

08:23 Stuart Barker: impressed by, by the scale of the projects and the kind of the innovation and what people are trying to

08:29 Stuart Barker: achieve. So that’s, that’s been my background really.

08:32 Stuart Barker: That’s how I’ve been involved with the show and the event.

08:35 Christian Londono: And do you think there’s a correlation with the innovation in all the new technologies that have been implemented for,

08:44 Christian Londono: you know, ticketing and the growth of the conference? Right.

08:47 Christian Londono: Like I would imagine, you know, over the years there’s more and more technology and, you know, new ways to

08:54 Christian Londono: pay per se, and that’s been kind of like correlated with the growth of the conference.

09:01 Stuart Barker: Yeah, I mean, definitely. We’ve, look, we kind of seen new entrants coming into the market.

09:08 Stuart Barker: I think the thing that’s really grown the conference the most, though, is just, it’s kind of been a global

09:13 Stuart Barker: spread. I, I think we started off as a, as a small, you know, probably mostly UK focused and it’s

09:21 Stuart Barker: on the European. It, it’s been, yes, it’s been some of that, that innovation in terms of technology coming in.

09:28 Stuart Barker: It’s been those new entrants into the market.

09:31 Stuart Barker: It’s been really interesting to see lots of, lots of, you know, payment service providers and things like that kind

09:39 Stuart Barker: of looking at the industry and realizing they have a, they have a part to play and a strong offering

09:44 Stuart Barker: for the market. But it’s also just been the global scale of this.

09:48 Stuart Barker: Right. This is not set to any particular region of the globe, all around the world.

09:53 Stuart Barker: What do we want to do? We want to provide simple Cost effective, easy access to transit.

10:00 Stuart Barker: And that’s what all of the agencies who come are trying to do.

10:02 Stuart Barker: And I think it’s those two things really.

10:04 Stuart Barker: So it’s that technological innovation, but it’s also just the global reach of this.

10:11 Stuart Barker: Right? Lots of people around the world wrestling with some very, very similar things.

10:15 Stuart Barker: And that’s what the event is there to support.

10:19 Levi McCollum: So when you started the Transport Ticketing North America Conference last year, did you more or less copy and paste

10:26 Levi McCollum: the global format or are there some unique characteristics of the North America conference that you wouldn’t see at the

10:33 Levi McCollum: global and maybe vice versa?

10:37 Stuart Barker: Yeah, so I think the content is different in that it’s really focused on the region and we don’t have

10:48 Stuart Barker: that at global. I guess at the global event we have several tracks now, so I guess we have a

10:54 Stuart Barker: little bit of luxury to kind of have different bits of content going on for different groups of people.

10:59 Stuart Barker: Whereas if anything, the event in Chicago, North American event, it’s really focused on this one market of North America.

11:09 Stuart Barker: And I guess it probably meant we had to be really focused, right? We had to really think really hard

11:14 Stuart Barker: and kind of look at what’s required.

11:18 Stuart Barker: And I think as you were saying, as Christian was saying at the top of this, right, There are, there

11:28 Stuart Barker: are agencies in North America at very, very different stages.

11:30 Stuart Barker: So, so there are some agencies who are still, you know, they’re purely collecting cash and then there are others

11:37 Stuart Barker: who, who have implemented, you know, open loop.

11:39 Stuart Barker: So we, so we have within that event in, In North America 270 people, just one track of content.

11:45 Stuart Barker: But we can have an agency who currently is only there collecting cash.

11:49 Stuart Barker: And in the same room we have say Apple and Google with their, with their wallets.

11:53 Stuart Barker: Right. And, and you have two to very, very different views of the market and do very, very different levels

12:00 Stuart Barker: of advancement. But for me that’s really exciting.

12:02 Stuart Barker: I think that’s actually what makes the North American event super exciting because it’s small enough, you can kind of

12:09 Stuart Barker: network and talk to pretty much everybody and the range of experiences that are on display is really great.

12:16 Stuart Barker: And I think that’s what makes the North American event of unique and stand apart from the event that we,

12:24 Stuart Barker: the global event that we run in London.

12:26 Levi McCollum: I see. So the North America event is on June 24th and 25th in Chicago.

12:33 Levi McCollum: What types of topics and themes are you seeing from, you know, this, this batch this year?

12:42 Stuart Barker: Yeah, so we, I mean obviously there’s, there’s open loop.

12:47 Stuart Barker: We can close loop, right. We kind of look at, we look at all of that.

12:50 Stuart Barker: So. And there are different approaches and kind of mobile ticketing.

12:54 Stuart Barker: I think account based ticketing is a perennial, but the focus there really is on what makes a successful implementation.

13:02 Levi McCollum: Right.

13:02 Stuart Barker: I guess account based ticketing isn’t new.

13:05 Stuart Barker: We’ve seen it the world over, but I think it’s been the success of it in different parts of the

13:10 Stuart Barker: world is kind of based on the project.

13:12 Stuart Barker: So we, we don’t, we really look at, you know, what makes that successful implementation.

13:17 Stuart Barker: I think we’ve, we’ve got some, you know, we’ve got some good examples.

13:20 Stuart Barker: Hey, I’m, I’m, I’m from the uk, right.

13:22 Stuart Barker: So always interested in soccer and we’ve got a, we’ve got a World cup coming up in North America next

13:28 Stuart Barker: year and there are some of the.

13:29 Levi McCollum: Exactly.

13:29 Stuart Barker: Some of the hosting cities are dealing with that.

13:31 Stuart Barker: Right. So how do we, how do we kind of create a, an integrated ticketing for major events? And we’ve

13:36 Stuart Barker: got some learnings for that that we’re bringing to the show.

13:38 Stuart Barker: For some of those cities that are going to be, you know, they’re right in the midst of it now,

13:42 Stuart Barker: right. They’re planning for all the crazy soccer fans like me who are going to be turning up.

13:46 Stuart Barker: So lots of things around that.

13:48 Stuart Barker: And then we’re also getting into, you know, we’ve got equality through, you know, financial inclusion that stands out for

13:56 Stuart Barker: us in North America more than it does in many other parts of the world.

13:58 Stuart Barker: I think that’s some of the characteristics about the North American transit market.

14:03 Stuart Barker: That’s a perennial topic that we’re looking at.

14:06 Stuart Barker: But I think also some of the things, you know, around, you know, journey related fraud and kind of revenue

14:14 Stuart Barker: protection and managing fare evasion, I think, you know, revenues are super important for all agencies around the world.

14:20 Stuart Barker: But I think that’s getting particularly the case in North America.

14:23 Stuart Barker: So we’re looking at some examples there.

14:25 Stuart Barker: I know we’ve got some, we’ve actually got some good technology on the floor.

14:28 Stuart Barker: So some of our exhibitors are bringing, you know, some of the things like new gates and some of the

14:31 Stuart Barker: solutions for that which is going to be really, really exciting to see.

14:35 Stuart Barker: And then some, some of those, some of those steps into the, into, in, into the future, Right.

14:39 Stuart Barker: You know, things like AI and future technology that are being used to kind of modernize transport and what their

14:46 Stuart Barker: implication is for fair technologies, things like open architectures that are coming through and I think for any agency going

14:56 Stuart Barker: through as well with all this kind of stuff you’re moving through into a modern ticketing thing.

14:59 Stuart Barker: It just brings a whole ton of data.

15:01 Stuart Barker: Right. It brings masses and masses of data, which is exciting because there’s lots you can do with it.

15:06 Stuart Barker: But also it’s challenging because then you have to secure it.

15:09 Stuart Barker: So there’s, there’s a whole bunch of topics around those areas as well.

15:12 Stuart Barker: But it’s, it’s right the way through.

15:14 Stuart Barker: Right. And we’re, we’re trying to showcase a whole, you know, all the different things, as many things as we

15:19 Stuart Barker: can relate to the market, but all, all in two days in one track.

15:22 Stuart Barker: So. But those are just some of the highlights that we’ll be covering.

15:25 Levi McCollum: Oh, that sounds great. You know, Christian and I are big fans of going to, to conferences, especially ones that

15:32 Levi McCollum: are extremely well organized and they have activities for the folks, you know that are attending.

15:38 Levi McCollum: Yeah. How does transport ticketing North America and global, but North America specifically, since it’s coming up here pretty soon,

15:45 Levi McCollum: how does it support transit professionals?

15:49 Stuart Barker: Well, I mean, you just heard me talking for the topics, right? And I kind of get excited, so I

15:54 Stuart Barker: talk quite fast, so I’m going through them.

15:56 Stuart Barker: But, but it’s, hey, it’s a, when you’re passionate about a market, you kind of get excited and the event’s

16:02 Stuart Barker: coming up, so that’s, that’s a good thing.

16:05 Stuart Barker: But so, so look, obviously it’s a conference and so we try and feature.

16:10 Stuart Barker: The program is as heavy as possible with learnings from other agencies.

16:14 Stuart Barker: We think that’s one of the, one of the best ways that any agency about to go through a project

16:18 Stuart Barker: can, can, can learn. So as much as possible, we try and get other agencies up on the stage to

16:25 Stuart Barker: kind of talk about their experiences and some of the honesty around some of the challenges.

16:30 Stuart Barker: Right, because, because nobody does for nobody is this just a simple, straightforward thing.

16:35 Stuart Barker: And, and you know, there are agencies from Florida, we guys are based California, New York, Texas, Utah, you know,

16:41 Stuart Barker: all across the US So we have a really, a really busy conference over the two days.

16:47 Stuart Barker: We, we, they’re the expo of the world where you can kind of come and engage and even play with

16:52 Stuart Barker: some of the technologies as well.

16:53 Stuart Barker: So we, we have the system integrators, we have card schemes, we have payment service providers and, and other players

16:59 Stuart Barker: within the market as well. Who, anybody who is, you know, already busy in, in, in the market with the

17:06 Stuart Barker: project or even just kind of wanting to see what’s, what’s out there in the market.

17:09 Stuart Barker: You can come and engage with those guys.

17:12 Stuart Barker: And then we also do things like round tables so we, we split off, you know, specific subjects that people

17:17 Stuart Barker: really want to get in depth with.

17:18 Stuart Barker: We run roundtables on those for, for an hour.

17:21 Stuart Barker: You can just talk with other agencies and do that.

17:23 Stuart Barker: Real shared experience. And like any other great event, right, there’s all the bits of it that we program, but

17:30 Stuart Barker: it, it’s also that chance just to meet with people from a.

17:36 Stuart Barker: Really dealing with those similar things from other agencies across the US and some from further afield and just going

17:43 Stuart Barker: to have those conversations over a beer in the evening as well, or over a coffee or over lunch where

17:49 Stuart Barker: you can really get into that detailed stuff.

17:52 Stuart Barker: And that’s always a great value at an event like this, right? It’s of a scale where you can find

17:57 Stuart Barker: people with those shared challenges and you can have those private discussions where you can really get into it and

18:04 Stuart Barker: support each other. So I think it’s those kind of elements that really bring it out.

18:11 Stuart Barker: And I know certainly when we were on site in Chicago last year, just I could see the conversations happening,

18:16 Stuart Barker: people getting really into it, loads of information sharing.

18:19 Stuart Barker: And I think that’s what helps really drive the value through an event like this.

18:23 Stuart Barker: Because this niche, right, this is, this is a super niche topic.

18:27 Stuart Barker: So if you’re in the space, this is a really great opportunity to come in and just be fully immersed

18:32 Stuart Barker: in it for two days.

18:34 Christian Londono: So, Stuart, it sounds that for those transit professionals, one is the networking opportunities and two, it’s being able to

18:44 Christian Londono: hear firsthand from folks that have gone through a project that, you know, they might be interested in putting in

18:53 Christian Londono: place at their agency. You know, typically I find that either is the, you know, IT manager in a transit

19:05 Christian Londono: agency that maybe know more about computer systems and kind of just it general.

19:12 Christian Londono: And then now they’re, they’re given the project, right? They’re asked, hey, listen, we have to upgrade our, you know,

19:20 Christian Londono: our fair technology. And you’re going to be it.

19:23 Christian Londono: You’re leading the project. So of course that creates a lot of anxiety and anything that touches the writing public,

19:32 Christian Londono: it’s, it’s transformative, but it’s also a delicate, right, because, you know, when you’re charging fares, maybe in a different

19:42 Christian Londono: way or, you know, people have to do something different than what they’ve been used to.

19:48 Christian Londono: It creates a little bit of anxiety.

19:50 Christian Londono: So in. Drivers have to be familiar with new equipment and know how to answer questions or how to operate

19:58 Christian Londono: around it. So there’s, there’s, even though it’s very niche, it’s, there’s a lot of unknowns for a Lot of

20:04 Christian Londono: transit professionals and being able to come to the setting and see things firsthand and get resources like that.

20:11 Christian Londono: That’s the word that, from what you just said, that’s the word that is stick my mind is resources.

20:17 Christian Londono: You’re coming in for resources that are related to, you know, fair technology.

20:22 Stuart Barker: I, I mean I think, I think there, there are some fair collection professionals but like you say, sometimes, sometimes

20:27 Stuart Barker: it’s, it’s the IT director and whether, whether they wanted this project or not.

20:30 Stuart Barker: Right. They get it. But it, it’s.

20:33 Stuart Barker: But, but it, it touches so many bits and it’s, and as you say it’s customer facing and I guess

20:39 Stuart Barker: and I think whenever I look at this I kind of, you know, many, many of the concepts that get

20:45 Stuart Barker: covered on a really high level I suppose are not that you could read about them, right? You could look

20:51 Stuart Barker: up. The thing about any project is it’s unique, right? Because every city or state or town or environment or

21:00 Stuart Barker: whatever it may be is unique.

21:03 Stuart Barker: And the ridership for any area is unique.

21:07 Stuart Barker: And so how are you implement the projects and how you embed them and how you make them successful? I

21:12 Stuart Barker: think that’s, that’s the thing really that we’re driving at.

21:15 Stuart Barker: It’s not just the, you know, like an A101 of kind of how to do this because there’s no blueprint.

21:21 Stuart Barker: So it takes a lot of thought, it takes a lot of effort and there’s a lot of tailoring to

21:26 Stuart Barker: make, to make these projects successful because you think about them, you know, if you, if you’re going to transition

21:31 Stuart Barker: to contactless or transition to whether open loop or closed loop or whatever it may be, it’s a lot of

21:38 Stuart Barker: investment, it’s a lot of time and we know what the benefits are expected to be.

21:45 Stuart Barker: But it’s got to be done.

21:47 Stuart Barker: Right? And that’s the, and I think you mentioned the resources and that’s it, it’s the resources.

21:52 Stuart Barker: It’s that knowledge to be able to refine it and just really make it work within that specific environment.

21:59 Stuart Barker: Because it’s always going to be different.

22:01 Stuart Barker: It’s always going to be different every single project.

22:03 Stuart Barker: So it’s what can you learn? What can you glean from, from different, different agencies and, and people have already

22:09 Stuart Barker: done it and look from the, and and I guess this is also from the supply side, right? This is

22:14 Stuart Barker: also from the vendors. I think many of them, it’s not just about their technology.

22:18 Stuart Barker: They also have experiences. They’ve also been through many of these projects and, and, and they’re there to share that

22:23 Stuart Barker: too. Right. It’s not just them saying, hey, buy my technology.

22:27 Stuart Barker: It’s also for them to help the industry move along and it’s also for them to help share that experience

22:32 Stuart Barker: that they’ve had. But, but you’re right, it covers so much.

22:36 Stuart Barker: It’s very visible, it’s very. It touches so many different parts of the transit for just one thing.

22:44 Stuart Barker: Right. It’s not even the vehicles, but it touches so much of it.

22:50 Stuart Barker: They’re big projects. They’re really big projects and they’re really impactful.

22:53 Christian Londono: Yeah. And I think the cat, AVL technology, ETA Transit, Arduino, the company Levi and I, we work for, I

23:03 Christian Londono: think that EVL is one of the most essential pieces of technology for any transportation operations in general.

23:13 Christian Londono: But I would say very much up there is fair technology.

23:20 Christian Londono: Fair technology is also access to transportation.

23:24 Christian Londono: And with a lot of these technologies, what is enabling is that people can access transit in.

23:30 Christian Londono: Right. Transit without having to really think about how they’re going to pay to get into transit.

23:36 Christian Londono: Almost being able to pay with whatever they have on them.

23:40 Christian Londono: You know, maybe it’s a smartwatch, maybe it’s just a credit card or, you know, one of those QR codes

23:47 Christian Londono: for mobile ticketing. It’s just almost anything to be able to just access transit.

23:53 Christian Londono: And that’s transformational. That, that’s definitely something that is very important for transit agencies.

23:59 Christian Londono: And I think also transit agencies attending or that are considering attending this conference and I would very much encourage

24:07 Christian Londono: them to do so, especially if they’re getting ready for a technology project, is being able to size the technology

24:16 Christian Londono: and identify the technology that is right for your journey and your community.

24:22 Christian Londono: Right. Because not everybody is ready for all the bells and whistles.

24:26 Christian Londono: And part of that in the conference is learning that.

24:30 Levi McCollum: Right.

24:30 Christian Londono: Being able to see everything that is out there, all the different vendors that are in the space, and identify

24:37 Christian Londono: what’s the next step for my agency.

24:39 Christian Londono: Which combination of technologies should be what we’re looking at.

24:45 Stuart Barker: Exactly that. And there is no one size fits all.

24:49 Stuart Barker: Like I was saying, it’s really understanding your ridership.

24:52 Stuart Barker: It’s really understanding what, what’s going to benefit you and your ridership, make it easier to access the technology and

24:59 Stuart Barker: what’s going to fit with what else you have.

25:00 Stuart Barker: I mean, you talk about avl, but systems have to talk to each other.

25:04 Stuart Barker: Right. If you put in a fair payment system, but it’s not properly integrated, it’s not going to help you

25:13 Stuart Barker: get anywhere. So all of this stuff has to work together.

25:15 Stuart Barker: So I think these are lots of the things that we’re looking at around the edges.

25:19 Stuart Barker: I think that you could read about ABT very easily.

25:24 Stuart Barker: But it’s how do you do it well, how do you make sure it works? How do you make sure

25:28 Stuart Barker: you get the benefits out of it? And that’s what we’re always trying to focus on with these events.

25:34 Christian Londono: So Stuart, as we were mentioning, fair technology is quite important for transit agencies.

25:43 Christian Londono: It touches the public, it touches the boss operators, almost every single aspect of the transit operations.

25:49 Christian Londono: And it can be transformational. And I’ve had the experience to go through a technology implementation when I work at

26:00 Christian Londono: Palm Trend. And we actually replace aging fair technology with state of the art with open payments smart card.

26:10 Christian Londono: I mean, you name it, almost the latest and greatest that is out there.

26:13 Christian Londono: And I could tell you it was transformational for our riders.

26:17 Christian Londono: A lot of them gain a lot of the benefit for the agency, less cash counting and quicker, you know,

26:23 Christian Londono: farebox recovery. So it’s just, it has the potential to really enhance transit operations.

26:33 Christian Londono: And I’m curious if you could share with us some of those newer technologies and trends that might be transforming

26:41 Christian Londono: even more our industry. You know, could you name some, maybe some pilots or technologies that you’re seeing emerging in

26:48 Christian Londono: the space and might become prevalent in the upcoming years?

26:53 Stuart Barker: Yeah, of course, yeah. I mean, look, I think, you know, we, we’ve already talked about, you know, account based

26:59 Stuart Barker: thickening and open loop and closed loop and mobile and virtual smart cards.

27:04 Stuart Barker: Although, you know, there’s a lot to be done around those.

27:06 Stuart Barker: Right. And I think that they’re still going through, but I think in terms of some of the, the new

27:10 Stuart Barker: and emerging technologies, I think obviously biometrics is something really to keep an eye on.

27:17 Stuart Barker: We’re seeing some pilots of that in Asia and then also in Middle East, I think Dubai in particular, there’s

27:23 Stuart Barker: a pilot going on there with some biometrics.

27:25 Stuart Barker: And look, we’ve seen this already for example with airline gates, airport gates, where they’re using biometrics.

27:32 Stuart Barker: But there are extra challenges around public transit.

27:35 Stuart Barker: So it’ll be interesting to see how that develops.

27:38 Stuart Barker: But it’s coming down the line, right? And I think the fact that already some live pilots going on just

27:43 Stuart Barker: kind of shows us that. And then I guess one, some of the other things, these are potentially not things

27:50 Stuart Barker: to name the agencies just, just because of where they are.

27:52 Stuart Barker: But, but I think there’s AI and some machine learning really in use around things like fare evasion, kind of

28:01 Stuart Barker: detecting, detecting odd patterns and things.

28:03 Stuart Barker: Like that, which are some of the bigger agencies are starting to look at in terms of trials as well.

28:07 Stuart Barker: Because it’s, I think revenues are super important for all the agencies now, as we all know.

28:14 Stuart Barker: And I think some of that ability to do real time detection but also kind of predictive policing of a

28:20 Stuart Barker: fair evasion is we’re going to see more of that coming.

28:22 Stuart Barker: And I know some of that is in trial with some of the bigger agencies at the moment.

28:26 Stuart Barker: I think we’ll see more of that.

28:27 Stuart Barker: Whether, whether you and I get to see much about it in, in the press on a high level is

28:32 Stuart Barker: a different thing. But it’s definitely starting to take place and it’s definitely starting to be implemented within some of

28:36 Stuart Barker: those, some of those bigger agencies.

28:38 Stuart Barker: But we’ll have to see how much of it we get to hear about.

28:43 Levi McCollum: Stuart, this has been a great conversation, really interesting to talk about the Transport Ticketing North America and global events.

28:51 Levi McCollum: I know you do both. Just for our listeners, a couple of key takeaways that I was able to make

28:58 Levi McCollum: note of. June 24th and 25th in Chicago is the Transport Ticketing North America event.

29:05 Levi McCollum: There are going to be resources and expertise available from transit agencies to ticketing vendors.

29:12 Levi McCollum: People with years, decades of experience working in this exact field.

29:16 Levi McCollum: So if you’re going through a project that’s similar to this, make sure to be there.

29:21 Levi McCollum: It’s going to be free to transit agencies, if I’m understanding correctly.

29:25 Levi McCollum: So if you’re part of a government transit agency, then you know, you’d be able to attend with no registration

29:33 Levi McCollum: fee. And if you’re a vendor, you can use the code ETA10 during registration for 10% off.

29:39 Levi McCollum: That’s exclusive here.

29:41 Stuart Barker: Yeah, exclusive TTA. So if you’re an ETA partner.

29:44 Stuart Barker: Yeah, exactly. Or you hear about it from this podcast, then yeah, we’d love to have you.

29:49 Stuart Barker: But as you say, agencies, it’s completely free.

29:51 Stuart Barker: So full access to the conference, the, you know, catering, the exhibition, everything.

29:56 Stuart Barker: We want as many agencies there as possible who are involved in this to, to benefit, so.

30:01 Stuart Barker: Correct. Yeah, we’d love to see you there.

30:03 Stuart Barker: 24th and 25th of June.

30:06 Levi McCollum: Excellent. And can you tell our listeners how to learn more about the Transport Ticketing North America event? If they

30:12 Levi McCollum: hear this podcast and they want to register, where do they go?

30:15 Stuart Barker: Yeah, so it is Transport Hyphen Ticketing hyphen North hyphen America.com and that’ll get you there.

30:22 Stuart Barker: So it’s, it’s a bit of, it’s a bit of a long address, but you’ll find it there or you’ll

30:26 Stuart Barker: find us on LinkedIn or, or just through a Google search.

30:29 Stuart Barker: You’ll get there. But it’s Transport Ticketing North America.com and you can see full details of speakers.

30:37 Stuart Barker: We’ve got signed up, exhibitors, partners and you can register there as well.

30:42 Stuart Barker: So. And we’d love to see you there.

30:44 Stuart Barker: And obviously eta, we’ll be seeing you there as well.

30:46 Stuart Barker: So you get to come to the event and you also get to see ETA there as well, which would

30:49 Stuart Barker: be, which would be fantastic.

30:52 Levi McCollum: Excellent. Well, thank you. We’re going to put that registration link in the description as well.

30:57 Levi McCollum: So if you have trouble finding it, you’ll be able to get it there.

31:00 Levi McCollum: Looking forward to seeing you, Stuart, and hopefully some of our listeners in Chicago on June 24th and 25th for

31:07 Levi McCollum: the transport Ticketing North America event.

31:09 Levi McCollum: Thank you for joining us, Stuart.

31:11 Stuart Barker: Thank you, Christian, Thanks. Thanks so much.

31:13 Stuart Barker: Great to speak to you. And I look forward to seeing you in just a month’s time in Chicago.

31:19 Christian Londono: That’s right. It’s going to be a lot of fun and hopefully a lot of our listeners will be attending

31:23 Christian Londono: as well.