As part of the much-needed effort to modernize New York City public transit, the MTA and the Partnership for New York City have announced six finalists for the inaugural Transit Tech Lab accelerator program. The eight-week program, which began this week, will give the six chosen companies an opportunity to try new technologies customized to solve for specific subway and bus priorities such as reducing cost and cutting down subway delays by employing predictive maintenance, deploying a transit network planning platform, using computer vision to untangle bus lane traffic and using sensors to address platform crowding.
Successful companies could snag a year-long pilot position with the MTA. In a global competition between almost 100 companies, the six finalists were selected to work with the MTA to customize their products to address the needs of the transit agencies. The pilot program is a rare chance for young companies and new products to try out their products at a cost and pace that is affordable to them while giving the MTA staff a chance to become familiar with the latest technology.
The Transit Tech Lab is yet another way New York City hopes to become a center of innovation in the field of mobility technology as it relates to mass transit. The new program is part of the Transit Innovation Partnership, a public-private initiative formed by the MTA and the Partnership for New York City. The Lab is modeled after the successful FinTech Innovation Lab that the Partnership Fund has run for eight years to foster similar innovation in the global financial technology industry.
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