Aired on 10/20/2015
How to Get Things Done in Cities: Bridging the Public-Private Divide from Security & Sustainability Forum . For the slides, click here
There has been a revolution in urban transportation over the past five years—set off by start-ups across the US and internationally. While large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. have embraced these innovations, other cities often find it difficult to gather the political will, public support, and capital necessary to implement large-scale change.
Island Press and the Security and Sustainable Forum brought together a group of experienced, forward-thinking municipal and private sector leaders to discuss how public and private actors can work together to create and implement sustainable, efficient transportation systems, and why collaborative economies will continue to drive change in urban environments.
The panel discussion was moderated by Harriet Tregoning, director of the Office of Community Planning and Development at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and former director of D.C.’s Office of Planning.
Panelists:
Gabe Klein, former DOT director in Chicago and former Director of the District DOT. Before working in local government, Klein was Regional Vice President of Zipcar.
Robin Chase, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar; Buzzcar, a peer to peer carsharing service in France (now merged with Drivy); and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community.
Ed Reiskin, Director of Transportation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and president of NACTO.
Panelist Bios:
Harriet Tregoning leads the Office of Community Planning and Development at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She recently led HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience, helping regions, cities, counties and towns across the country build a strong foundation for a diverse and prosperous economy based on enhancing community quality of place, economic opportunity, fiscal stability, transportation choice, and affordability. She was previously Director of the District of Columbia Office of Planning
Gabe Klein is the former DOT director under Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration in Chicago and former Director of the District DOT under Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. In Washington he launched Capital Bikeshare, the first large-scale bikeshare system in the US, and in Chicago he later launched Divvy, which is now the largest bikeshare system in the US. Before entering the public sphere, Gabe honed his creativity and leadership skills working for startups, including Zipcar, where he served as Vice President for four years. He also wrote a business model for the first point-to-point car sharing concept and co-founded the first all-natural multi-unit food truck company in the US. In 2015, Gabe joined Fontinalis Partners as a Special Venture Partner on their new fund. He continues to advise a number of technology and mobility companies, including Transit Screen and Phone2Action, where he provides leadership on strategy. He is on the boards of NACTO and Streetsblog. Gabe and his work have been featured in many major news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, Bloomberg, and many more. He is the author of Start-Up City: Inspiring Private and Public Entrepreneurship, Getting Projects Done, and Having Fun published by Island Press.
Robin Chase is a transportation entrepreneur. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world; Buzzcar, a peer to peer carsharing service in France (now merged with Drivy); and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She is also co-founder and Executive Chairman of Veniam, a vehicle communications company building the networking fabric for the Internet of Moving Things.
Ed Reiskin was named the Director of Transportation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in 2011. In this role, Mr. Reiskin oversees the Municipal Railway (Muni), parking, traffic engineering, bicycle and pedestrian safety, accessibility, and taxi regulation. Muni is one of the oldest public transit agencies in America and the largest in the Bay Area, currently carrying more than 200 million riders per year and 700,000 boardings on an average weekday.
