One word to describe yourself: Curious
Alma Mater: Lawrence University; Northwestern University
Fast fact about yourself: I have daily streak of over 6.5 years on Duolingo for learning Swahili.
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? Taking my son, Milo, on the Chicago Transit Authority for the first time. He loved it and made plenty of friends. He’s a natural bus baby!
In his role as program manager at SUMC, Hani Shamat provides technical assistance, develops resources and disseminates information to help transit agencies and local governments across the country advance mobility through the adoption of new partnerships and technologies. For example, through a partnership with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and SUMC’s Mobility Innovation Collaborative Program, Shamat has helped agencies develop on-demand transit services in urban and rural areas, advance payment integration systems and extend the use of data-oriented tools to improve transit service.
During his time at SUMC, Shamat has excelled at disseminating these innovative mobility practices by supporting project development through technical assistance and conducting applied research. This work is reflected in his efforts to capture the experience of innovative transit agency managers and operators through interviews, research and conversations. He’s able to turn this information into case studies—like Delaware Department of Transportation’s DART Connect microtransit service or Central Ohio Transportation Authority’s artificial intelligence-based traffic management platform—that serve as inspirational resources to other agencies pursuing similar projects.
Shamat also supported the production of microtransit driver stories to move the industry’s conversation about microtransit beyond service planning and to incorporate—and praise—transit operators' experience. He has also contributed to studies about transactional data specification, demonstrating its role in facilitating coordinated demand-response transit in projects led by transit agencies and non-emergency medical transportation providers.
In addition to case studies and driver stories, Shamat was an author of the Mobility Innovation Guidebook, an industry-wide research publication on mobility innovation that explores what excites, challenges and stumps professionals in the field. He also authored the research report First and Last Mile Connectivity for Missourians for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), which examined current barriers and offered recommendations for how MoDOT and other state departments of transportation can effectively support first- and last-mile transportation to improve employment access.
Outside of written materials, Shamat has led multiple peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing events with transit agencies and spearheaded the Innovative Transit Micromobility Integration workgroup with the goal of supporting transit agencies in expanding their suite of modes to provide transportation services to their communities.
Over the last few years, Shamat has increased his industry participation, presenting many of these best practices at industry conferences such as Transport Chicago, American Public Transportation Association’s Mobility Conference, North American Bikeshare & Scootershare’s Annul Conference and Transit Retreat. He also co-hosted an episode on the Latinos and Planning Division of the American Planning Association’s Plan Dulce podcast, where he shared his experience supporting a youth bikeshare program initiative in Chicago.
Outside of work, Shamat serves as chair of Young Professionals in Transportation - Chicago Chapter, where he helps organize networking and educational programming for others in the industry.
Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?
I have always been interested in how people move. In undergrad, I studied anthropology and archaeology, and I had an opportunity to work on a research project analyzing stone tools in Northern Tanzania. The most fascinating find was a collection of several-thousand-year-old obsidian tools.
Obsidian is a volcanic glass, meaning it must have been collected near a volcano, of which there was none anywhere near where we found the tools! All of a sudden, the entire focus of the project changed, and I got to thinking about how prehistoric humans migrated, traded and moved around. Travel is integral to humanity, now just as it has been for hundreds of thousands of years, just as it will be in the future. Getting into this industry just made sense. I want to learn about how people move and help make sure everyone can access that freedom and opportunity.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Being able to learn about a wide array of innovations, technologies and trends that are moving the industry forward. There is always more to discover.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Although I love how there is always something new to learn, there is just never enough time to learn it all!
What is the accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
One specific project I am particularly proud of is the evaluation of Northwest Center's Bikes for Belmont Cragin initiative. It was a great opportunity to showcase community-focused and youth-driven work from a local CBO in working with the city, elected officials and bikeshare operator Divvy to bring bike lanes and bikeshare to an underserved neighborhood in my backyard. I also helped host a podcast with some representatives of this organization to further highlight this amazing work.
What is your best advice/tip/best practice you can share from your area of expertise?
Don't be afraid to ask difficult questions! That’s how you get to the meat of the problem and can work on some real solutions.