MTA launches transit tech accelerator lab

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City yesterday launched the Transit Tech Lab, an accelerator program for startups looking to solve public transit challenges.

Early- and growth-stage tech companies can submit ideas to address the lab's two challenges: determining a way to better predict subway incident impacts, and finding a way to make buses faster and more efficient.

For the subway challenge, the lab is seeking technologies that will predict how long a subway delay will last and how long it will affect trains and lines across the system. Potential technologies to solve the challenge could analyze historical subway data to find patterns to predict future disruptions, and provide tools to immediately communicate disruptions with riders.

The lab will make it faster and cheaper for the MTA to review new products and carry out pilot projects, agency officials said in a news release.

The program originated from the Transit Innovation Partnership (TIP), a working group that the Partnership for New York City and the MTA established earlier this year. TIP is a privately funded, nonprofit initiative that was developed in response to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call to the business community to address the needs of the regional transit system, MTA officials said.

"The MTA is committed to exploring every avenue to ensure that we modernize our system for the next generation of riders," said MTA President Pat Foye. "We look forward to working closely with the [TIP] and making sure we're doing everything in our power to embrace the sort of innovation that will move this organization forward."

The lab will select companies to participate in an eight-week program starting in February 2019. The program will allow participants to refine their products to directly meet public transit needs.

After the program is completed, the MTA will select companies for a 12-month unpaid pilot on its transit system.