L.A. Metro’s simple question to innovators: Can you solve traffic?
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is hoping to tap into the ingenuity of innovators and entrepreneurs in a bid to solve L.A. County’s transportation challenges.
The transit agency will launch a series of forums, beginning Dec. 4, with the challenge topic “Think You Can Solve Traffic?” According to Metro, this forum will include panel discussions on using incentives and/or fees to get more people to consider alternatives to driving or to avoid driving during peak periods. Among the topics will be how to use congestion pricing (tolled highway facilities) as one possible way to ease L.A.’s infamous traffic congestion.
“LA’s rush hour traffic is a unique problem that requires unique solutions,” said L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Sheila Kuehl. “We want to tap private sector brain power and ingenuity to encourage innovative thinking outside the box.”
The forum will be accompanied by a call for solutions from across private-sector industries and disciplines – technologists, startups, inventors, scientists, urbanists and transportation wonks, to name a few.
“We are positioning L.A. County to be The Transportation Center of Excellence by actively seeking solutions outside of traditional channels,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “This series will expand our ability to receive and incorporate new and innovative ideas in a timely manner to tackle some of our most pressing issues.”
The “Think You Can Solve Traffic?” forum will take place from 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., Dec. 4, at Union Station’s Historic Ticketing Hall. Over the next 18 months, other forums plan to tackle topics like improving customer experience, reliability, safety and security.
If you think you have a solution on the challenge topic, Metro asks for entries to be submitted by Jan. 31, 2019, to be included in the review round. All submittals will be reviewed by Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation and an internal panel of Metro experts as part of Metro’s Unsolicited Proposal program. Proposers may be invited to present to Metro executives and external experts by Spring 2019 and may have opportunities to advance toward a proof of concept, formal procurement or other next steps. Attendance to the forums is not required to submit solutions.
Mischa Wanek-Libman | Group Editorial Director
Mischa Wanek-Libman is director of communications with Transdev North America. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the transportation industry covering construction projects, engineering challenges, transit and rail operations and best practices.
Wanek-Libman has held top editorial positions at freight rail and public transportation business-to-business publications including as editor-in-chief and editorial director of Mass Transit from 2018-2024. She has been recognized for editorial excellence through her individual work, as well as for collaborative content.
She is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association's Marketing and Communications Committee and served 14 years as a Board Observer on the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) Board of Directors.
She is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.
