OSPT hosts debate and discussion at Chicago workshop

OSPT hosts debate and discussion at Chicago workshop

Chicago, USA is a city renowned for its world-class transportation system, therefore what better location for OSPT Alliance to host its workshop ‘How Standards Impact the Implementation of MaaS and Payment Integration’ than the Windy City. In July, transit consultants, agencies and operators – alongside handset manufactures, service providers, product developers and system integrators – were welcomed to the workshop by the association and sponsor, Americaneagle.com.

Across two days, delegates and speakers debated and investigated a range of important topics including the need for ‘standards consolidation’ and how OSPT Alliance can respond to the long-term requirements of the transportation market. In addition, delegates discussed utilizing HCE and open standards for mobile ticketing, and how to survive in the ‘new age’ of mobility services.

The event featured keynote presentations from two industry influencers. Delegates attending the workshop on day one, heard from Paul Comfort, Author, Former CEO of MTA Maryland, Host of the ‘Transit Unplugged’ Podcast, and current VP of Business Development for Trapeze Group. Paul provided attendees with a unique insight into current global transit trends and explored a series of lessons from transit CEOs following 50 interviews.

On day two, the keynote was delivered by Steve Wakeland, Exec Chairman at ITSO. Titled ‘Transport and the Tech Giants: MaaS and the Missing Link’, Steve explained to delegates how standardization can meet the objective of enabling tickets and passes on any mobile device, and the benefits of ITSO on mobile.

Additional presentations and sessions were delivered by:

  • Norb Svanascini, Founder & Vice President, Americaneagle.com
  • Nick Ihm, Chief Technology Officer & Cofounder, Bytemark
  • Shyam Dunna, President & CEO, nMomentum
  • Roxann Galvan, Transit Benefit Program Manager, Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and President of the Chicago Chapter, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)
  • Sai Ivaturi, Associate Director, Datamatics Global Services Ltd
  • OSPT Alliance Board members, working group Chairs and the General Secretary

Both days also included open discussion sessions addressing key questions impacting the industry, such as ‘how should we collaborate’ and ‘how do we realise our vision’.

“This two-day workshop provided OSPT Alliance with some real food for thought,” comments Chung Chung Tam, Chair of the OSPT Alliance North America Sub-Working Group. “The combination of presentations and lively discussions raised some important topics for OSPT Alliance and the wider transportation market to address and overcome. OSPT Alliance looks forward to working with its members and the wider transportation ecosystem to support the development of secure, open and interoperable mobility solutions”.

Find out more about upcoming OSPT Alliance Events.

Author

  • Chung Chung Tam

    Chung Chung Tam is Chair of the OSPT Alliance North America Sub-Working Group. He currently serves as the Solution Architect and Senior Vice President at Americaneagle.com where he leads a team to promote web development and mobile apps for the transit industry and government. During his career, Tam has worked for the Chicago Transit Authority, Clever Devices and LECIP Inc. He has over 29 years of executive level project and product management experience in the design, deployment, implementation, and maintenance of transit automated fare collection (AFC) systems and intelligent transportation system (ITS) projects. An internationally recognized expert in electronic fare payment and standards development, Tam was also appointed and elected to chair multiple transit fare payment standards committees, the Fare Collection Committee for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).