My APTA Emerging Leaders Program Application Responses

Applications for the American Public Transportation Association's Emerging Leaders Program are open! The network that the program has provided me has been one of the best recent developments in my life. I found the application process daunting so just like I did with my hackNY application responses, I wanted to offer my ELP application responses for anyone who might find them helpful.

If you have any questions about ELP, please feel free to leave a comment below!

Why are you applying and how do you plan to benefit from the ELP?

ELP will make me feel more like a transit technologist and less like a technologist that just happens to work in transit. Last year at APTA Mobility in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to meet many members of the ELP Class of 2023 and after hearing how many of them found community in transportation through the program, I knew I had to apply. Despite racking up an unspeakable number of hours in SimCity 4 as a child, I never imagined a career in transportation until I happened upon Token Transit. Since then, although the company has sponsored my attendance at multiple APTAs, I still crave a sense of connection and a feeling of being properly situated in this industry.

Through ELP, I hope to gain perspectives and community. My experience in industry so far is mainly tied to fare collection work, but I would love the opportunity to be exposed to other domains. For instance, at APTA Mobility I learned that EV bus fleet management is proving to be a challenge because it's hard to forecast battery degradation when accounting for vehicle range in scheduling. As a technologist, I am fascinated by these problems outside of my primary work in fare collection. ELP will offer me the opportunity to be exposed to the diversity of fields in our industry from fleet management and fare collection to transit-oriented development and labor relations. Through this exploration, I hope to become firmly situated in the transportation industry.

Describe three specific career goals for the next three years. Please list goals clearly and concisely in bullet form -Career Goal #1, Career Goal #2 and Career Goal #3.

#1: Create and Run a University Internship Program

I owe much of my career to being supported as an intern at Facebook in 2017 and my experiences as a hackNY Fellow in 2018 (see below). I am currently advocating for Token Transit to create an internship program so that younger university students studying computer science can see a career in civic tech and transit tech as an option.

It's my hope that setting up this program will provide an option for younger folks considering careers outside of the traditional big tech pipeline.

#2: Share My Work in the Open By Speaking at Tech Conferences

This year, one of my goals is to share the work that I do more openly. I've already applied to present at this year's Code for America Summit sharing my experience coordinating with state officials and a local transit agency while building software for fare validators. At APTA Tech in 2023 there was a panel about strategies to recover ridership post-pandemic. This feels like the right place to share the work I've done scaling mobile pass programs. I am excited about the opportunity to share my work externally and get involved with wider industry conversations.

#3: Take on a Local Leadership Role

New York is home to a plethora of organizations, including a very active chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation. I have set a goal this year of attending YPT events with the goal of contributing back to the organization in some capacity.

Share your perspective on one major challenge or opportunity facing public transportation today.

One of my most embarrassing experiences with transit was when I was kicked off a SEPTA Regional Rail train as a student because I had no cash for the fare. As a college student in Philadelphia, something that frustrated me to no end was the number of friends I had who couldn't seek out opportunities in Philly because the cost of SEPTA was a barrier to access.

My coworkers and I have built out infrastructure to allow an administrator to upload a list of emails and send passes to the phones of thousands of riders with the click of a button. I believe that scaling mobile pass programs with seamless pass distribution is key to boosting university ridership. University riders already have near-100% smartphone adoption so a university administrator could simply send out thousands of passes to their students.

University pass programs are complicated because their success requires cooperation between three organizations: An agency, its fare collection system, and campus administrators. My role gives me insight into agency needs, but I know little about what drives a university to offer a pass program. Since agencies manage the association with universities, this relationship-building process is opaque to me sitting on the fare collection side. With my cohort, I hope to bring all three sides to the table to understand how we can all grow ridership together. My goal is to thoroughly understand the factors that go into building strong university pass programs so that we can get young people on transit.

Where do you see yourself in APTA and the public transportation industry in the near future?

In the near future, I aim to engage with APTA from the perspective of listening and learning. Silicon Valley types often jump into any industry or problem space with the headstrong notion that they can solve anything with tech. I am weary of this mindset and am inspired by other technologists who take the time to listen and understand. At TransportationCamp NYC last year, Ryan Mahoney and Kristin Taylor gave a great presentation about how Design Thinking translates into building digital services at the MBTA. One day, I'd like to be as articulate. Manjit Sooch, a former software engineer, now chairs an APTA sub-committee. I look forward to giving back similarly.

Through listening and learning, I aim to form a more holistic picture of the motivations and challenges in industry outside of my own immediate work. As our industry continues to adopt technologies like passenger counters that use facial recognition, I would love to get involved and help. I can draw from my experience when discussing the tradeoffs between generating useful civic data and privacy. After the insights and community I gain from ELP, I look forward to find ways in which I can contribute.

I am excited to be an active ELP alumni. Through a past fellowship I have done, I have learned that some of the most fulfilling relationships are made through fostering alumni connection. Just as I have volunteered my time with hackNY, I look forward to mentoring, reviewing applications and helping out with future ELP classes.

Please provide any additional information you would like the selection committee to consider (e.g., participation in professional or community organizations, volunteering, recognition, certificates, etc.) in reviewing your application.

As part of the ELP '25 cohort, I am excited to be an active alumni. My experiences helping out with another fellowship program inform this excitement.

In 2018, I was selected as a hackNY[0] Fellow. This is a program for young technologists in the New York City area to spend a summer working an internship and to situate themselves in the technology sector. That summer, I met some of my best friends and we've been a support network for each other as our career paths have diverged. It's seeking out a similar professional network in transportation that motivates my application to the ELP.

In 2022, to give back to hackNY, I volunteered to serve as the Fellowship Director. I led a Fellowship class of 16 college students and organized activities and networking events to help them feel a sense of belonging in the technology sector. I organized the speaker series, seeking 16 speakers representing diverse backgrounds and perspectives ranging from transportation to language learning to share their career paths with the fellows. I still keep in touch with many of my mentees and cherish the mentor-mentee bonds we've built.

My experience as a hackNY Fellow and giving back to the organization motivate me to seek out a similar relationship-building experience in transit through ELP. I feel confident as a technologist but am still finding my footing in transit. After ELP, I hope I'm able to similarly give back and help others find their way into transit careers. [0]: hackny.org