In this webinar, Saba Long and Alice Grossman will talk about why transportation organizations should invite the public to take an active role in improving public transportation. Participants will hear from Saba about how the MARTA Army, a volunteer-led effort, is helping to make transit in Atlanta more accessible through operations like Bus Stop Census and TimelyTrip. Through Bus Stop Census, more than 1,000 bus stops have been surveyed by the public, providing critical information such as safety and accessibility conditions. MARTA Army has crowdfunded the purchase of dozens of trashcans to be placed at bus stops. Through Operation Feed-an-Operator, the organization has distributed more than 12,000 meals to furloughed and frontline transit workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers:
Saba Long, Founder, Obelisk Strategies
Alice Grossman, Ph.D., Senior Policy Analyst, Eno Center for Transportation
Why Transit Agencies Need the Public to Take Ownership of the Transit Experience
An Eno Center for Transportation Webinar
July 9, 2020
2:00 pm to 2:30 pm EDT
Free
Register here
About the Speakers
Saba Long is the founder of Obelisk Strategies, an Atlanta-based public relations agency with a focus on civic and corporate communications strategy. With more than a decade of experience, she has provided communications expertise to numerous political campaigns and ballot initiatives, counseled tech startups, and served as a liaison for a White House advisory panel on infrastructure and cybersecurity. Saba has worked on nearly every major transit referenda in metro Atlanta since 2010, bringing transit back to Clayton County and expanding MARTA service in the city of Atlanta. She served as a contractor and consultant for MARTA, providing media relations and executive communications to then-CEO Keith T. Parker.
Ms. Long is a founding member of the MARTA Army, a citizen-led initiative to improve the transit ridership experience. The Army’s most known initiative, Operation TimelyTrip brought route information to popular MARTA bus stops that lacked relevant signage and was instrumental in helping the agency improve the bus customers’ experience. In its 2019-2020 budget, MARTA has announced this will be the “Year of the Bus.” Saba has also served on the boards of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, PEDs, and the Atlanta chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation.
Alice Grossman is a policy analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation conducting research in various areas of multimodal transportation. Dr. Grossman has worked extensively on research relating to metropolitan transportation planning and performance measurement, mobility-on-demand and TNCs, electronic travel diary development, K-12 and higher education in transportation, active transportation safety, and pedestrian infrastructure asset management and accessibility. She recently authored We Need Antiracism in Transportation.