NY-Area Agencies Test Tech to Improve Operations, Employee Retention

The Transit Tech Lab — a public-private initiative created by New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Partnership for New York City to  introduce public transportation agencies in the New York City region to growth-stage private sector firms with innovative solutions — announced that 15 companies have been selected to collaborate with regional transit agencies to test technologies designed to enhance operational performance and improve employee retention and recruitment.

The Operational Efficiency and Human Capital Utilization challenges were announced in January 2023 and solicited nearly 150 applications from across the world. Applicants were asked to demonstrate how their solutions can mitigate service disruptions, automate operations, and combat workforce shortages.

The companies selected will deploy their technologies over an eight-week “proof of concept” period with one or more of the following agencies: The MTA — including New York City Transit and Metro-North Railroad — the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT, and the NYC Department of Transportation.

MTA’s Operational Efficiency Challenge

Programs included in the partnership’s operational efficiency challenge are:

• ACCURE Battery Intelligence (USA and Germany) – Provides predictive battery analytics software that prevents battery fires and reduces the operations and maintenance costs of Electric Vehicle (EV) fleets.

Partner Agencies: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City Transit, and NJ TRANSIT

• Digital Mortar (San Rafael, Calif.) - Utilizes passenger flow sensors to provide real-time customer journey analytics for queue management, dynamic labor allocation, lost revenue analysis, and space planning and commercial real-estate optimization.

Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT

• Humatics (Waltham, Mass.) – Enables revenue service rolling stock to provide near real-time monitoring of track condition with precise positioning of track anomalies for improved maintenance.

Partner Agencies: New York City Transit, NJ TRANSIT

• Lux Modus (Calgary, Canada) - Uses LiDAR and imagery fusion technology to automate 3D mapping to optimize asset management on critical transit infrastructure.

Partner Agencies: New York City Transit, NJ TRANSIT

• Optibus (Tel Aviv, Israel) - Uses artificial intelligence and optimization algorithms to empower planners and operators to improve public transit schedules and routes, with the potential to digitize the bus operator bid/pick process to optimize service needs.

Partner Agency: New York City Transit

• PavCon (Latrobe, Pa.) - Utilizes domain expertise, existing technology, and maintenance/operational data to deliver predictive maintenance and parts supply forecasts.

Partner Agencies: Metro-North Railroad, New York City Transit

• Signapse AI (Guildford, United Kingdom) - Utilizes AI to automatically translate written text to sign language enabling scalable, cheaper, and faster accessible content for the Deaf community.

Partner Agencies: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NYC Department of Transportation, NJ TRANSIT

• Swiftly Inc. (San Francisco) - Provides the industry’s leading transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance.

Partner Agency: New York City Transit, NJ TRANSIT

• TekTracking (Fairport, NY) - Provides a suite of mobile applications to automate the process for reporting on track inspection & signal testing.

Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

• ThroughPut Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.) - Provides a rapid supply chain diagnostics software that enables immediate operational intervention, eliminating maintenance downtime caused by supply chain delays and unavailability of parts.

Partner Agency: Metro-North Railroad

• Wi-Tronix (Bolingbrook, Ill.) - An immersive, real-time IoT platform that is essential for railroads and transit systems to continuously improve operations, safety practices, and service reliability; Wi-Tronix collects insights from onboard systems and enables remote visibility for customers to make decisions and respond to issues quickly and efficiently.

Partner Agencies: Metro-North Railroad, New York City Transit, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT

• Widesense (Berkeley, Calif.) – Provides real-time AI optimized actionable guidance to fleet operator dispatch and maintenance teams for optimized work assignments and charging schedules. The WideSense system helps EV operations eliminate range anxiety, ensure service reliability, and become more cost competitive than diesel fleet operations.

Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT

Human Capital Challenge

Participants in MTA’s human capital challenge include:

• eSkill Corporation (North Chelmsford, Mass.) - Provides a Talent Assessment Platform, including an online testing library and a remote proctoring solution, to easily evaluate job candidates through a fully configurable online platform.

Partner Agencies: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

• Jetdocs (Ontario, Canada) - Provides a centralized catalog for users to submit tickets, requests and approvals, enabling easy standardization of processes to streamline workflows and enhance internal collaboration.

Partner Agencies: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

• Pyxai (Boston) - Provides a virtual video-enabled assessment platform that evaluates and collects data on soft skills (e.g., communication, problem solving, adaptability, etc.) to help identify overlooked talent, improve retention rates, and reduce recruitment costs.

Partner Agencies: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT

The challenges mark the fifth iteration of the Transit Tech Lab, which has helped the regional challenges mark the Transit Tech Lab’s fifth annual global competition, which have helped the regional transportation network improve subway signaling, curb management, transit accessibility, and mitigate extreme weather conditions.

Since 2018, the TTL has fielded over 600 applicants, tested 36 technologies, and facilitated seven commercial engagements.