Professor Matthew W. Daus, Esq. with the Hackathon Winners
The Transportation Alliance (TTA) announced that an engineering team from New York University won the association’s 2019 Microtransit Hackathon. The TTA partnered with the International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR) to host the 2019 Microtransit Hackathon, which ran Sept. 13-18. The winning team, named NYU BUILT, was one of four teams to participate in this industry first.
Competing university students examined anonymized taxi trip data from Toronto and St. Louis. They were tasked with identifying efficiencies and profit opportunities that could be used to map out possible microtransit routes for eight-passenger vans also capable of serving as Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles.
The winning team was comprised of team advisor Dr. Joseph Chow, team manager Ziyi Ma, and team members Gyugeun Yoon, Jinkai Zhou and Yueshuai (Brian) He. For their innovative solution, the team received a $5,000 prize – courtesy of The Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Foundation (TLPF) and Curb Mobility, LLC.
“Regulators and the for-hire industry must be ahead of the curve with new technology and services to meet the needs of passengers and drivers,” said Matthew W. Daus, President of IATR and Transportation Technology Chair at CUNY’s City College Transport Center. “One way that IATR and TTA are both realizing this vision is by using data-driven approaches to improving transportation services for the public through competitions involving the academic community.”
Source:The Transportation Alliance
