MTC to Work With Startups to Tackle Transportation Challenges

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) this month selected four firms to work with in an effort to collaborate on innovative technological solutions to public sector challenges.

The initiative is part of the national Startup in Residence (STIR) program offered by City Innovate, a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to improving efficiency and accountability in governments and their services. STIR bridges the gap between the private and public sectors, promoting partnerships to create technology solutions for government-defined issues, which ultimately benefits the public.

The MTC-selected organizations will complete a pro bono residency over 16 weeks starting in February. Among the challenges: crafting a new incident dashboard to measure response to traffic incidents; creating a regional standardized feed for transit agency schedules; helping write software to reduce traffic delays and increase reliability for AC Transit; and enabling immediate internal customer feedback on information technology difficulties.

MTC’s selected startup firms for the challenge are:

• Traffic Incident Dashboard: mySidewalk mysidewalk.com
• Regional GTFS Feed: Interline Technologies LLC www.interline.io
• Dynamic Transit Routing: Quant Collective  quantcollective.com
• Voice-enabled Tech Support: Elite Automation (no website)

Through this work, the selected participants will get an inside look at one of the nation’s premier metropolitan planning organizations. If a participating organization’s solution is approved by MTC at the conclusion of the residency, an expedited procurement process will commence, leading to a contract for the product.

MTC joins 31 government partners participating in the Startup in Residence program this year. Since 2014, nearly 50 startups from around the world have provided technology solutions to cities including San Francisco, Oakland, Miami and Houston.

Last year was MTC’s first year participating in STIR. After a successful residency, Gruntify came under contract with the Commission for its proposal to improve the exchange of real-time traffic incident information to help first responders safely and quickly clear roadway emergencies.

Other previous iterations of STIR have helped Oakland improve administration of its Head Start program and empowered San Francisco to streamline the process for becoming a foster parent, among others. See case studies like these here.

About STIR: Startup in Residence (STIR) connects startups with government agencies to develop technology products that solve real civic challenges through a 16-week program. Run by City Innovate, STIR is now in 31 cities across the US and has worked with nearly 50 companies. See all the 2019 STIR team partnerships here. To learn more about Startup in Residence visit: startupinresidence.org.