MBTA’s Post

Transcript

[Music] I am Dave Gerstle and I am the Chief��Digital Officer for the MBTA. The department��started 8 years ago as the Customer Technology department alongside the Customer Experience department to address a finding coming out of the��2015 snowstorms that there weren't any departments whose sole focus was on the rider experience. The agency found that there was this greater need to have technologists who have laser focused��on serving riders understanding what their needs are and then building these other tools and so��at this point we have a team that looks like what you'd expect at any you know software company�� modern software company out there where we have��over 100 folks who're building and maintaining��applications uh that MBTA operations and MBTA riders are relying on every day. Broadly we do��three things. We have transit technology, rider tools, and fares tech. So first up our transit��technology team so they're turning information��about schedules, vehicle predictions, service��disruptions, and more for all MBTA modes into the��information that riders get on digital screens��or websites and Google Maps, Apple Maps, the Transit��app and more. So in doing that they're managing��the infrastructure so the technology stacked��behind it that services more than half a billion��data requests per month with 99.99% uptime. They also build software tools that frontline staff��use to manage bus and Light Rail service every��single day and also analytical and planning teams�� uh use our data to be able to measure and improve��service performance. So next up our Rider tools��team manages mbta.com where we have 3 to 4 million��visits a month and then all of the hardware and��software that powers uh the more than a thousand�� digital screens that we have across the system providing folks with realtime rider information. Our fares technology team builds the software��to support the MBTA's fare programs including��the institutional fare programs, like Perq��for Work, University passes, and also all of��our reduced fare programs so things like the��Transportation Access Pass, the Blind Access��Pass, the Senior Pass and more. In addition��to research we do to better understand the��challenges of riders, we also try to learn from��riders in every way that we can so we're looking��at customer complaints uh we're talking to folks��on the Rider Transportation Access Group and other��rider advocacy forums and we're riding the system��ourselves. Just as uncovering and understanding user needs is the central tenant of any customer��technology company, uncovering and understanding�� rider needs is at the heart of what we do and frankly is the reason that we exist. [Music]