INTERVIEW
Exclusive Interview with:
Ms. Sebnem Tugce Pala Public Policy Specialist from San Francisco Bay Area In a recent interaction with Urban Transport News, Sebnem discussed on future of mobility and role of MaaS (Mobility as a Service) to outcome public transportation challenges during ‘New Normal’? Before we begin, please tell us a little bit about your professional journey in the transportation industry? My professional journey in the transportation industry started with my work experience at Iris Automation. Iris Automation as a top 100 AI start-up builds air collision avoidance systems for autonomous drones. I worked for their public policy and regulatory affairs team. Afterwards, I started working for policy initiatives team of Spin Electric Scooters (Ford Mobility). In October 2019, I joined UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) as a policy researcher. I did policy research on urban air mobility, automated driving systems, automated vehicle sources as well as mode split across transportation modes (e.g. shared mobility riders versus public transit riders) at TSRC. Since May 2020, I have been working for AmpUp. AmpUp builds peer to peer networks for electric vehicles and charges technology solutions for businesses. I am now leading public policy efforts of AmpUp and mostly focusing on state incentives and initiatives in the EV space. What things inspired you to switch your career from non-transportation to
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transportation sectors? Since my childhood, I have always wanted to contribute to the public good and touch upon people’s lives. My ultimate goal has always been to change the world for the better. I strongly believe that transportation is one of the fastest and the most efficient ways to change the world for the better. Regulations play a key role in the transportation sector. Given my prior work and study experience in public policy and my huge passion for the sustainable transportation, I decided to switch my career from nontransportation to transportation sectors and I aim to be one of the thought leaders doing impactful work in this sector. Do you think there was an uptake of MaaS (Mobility as a Service) last year? Please elaborate. Yes, I think that there was an uptake of MaaS last year as technology companies in this sector have been growing rapidly. Über and Lyft have been dominating this sector lately. Based on Global Info Research’s study, the worldwide market for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of roughly 36.8% over the next five years,
Urban Transport Infrastructure // SEPTEMBER 2020
will reach 158000 million US$ in 2024, from 24100 million US$ in 2019. Nevertheless, MaaS has been hit by the COVID-19 crisis harshly and this has affected the growth of MaaS in a negative way. Do we need all this tech to solve our transportation problems? I wholeheartedly believe that technology is a great enabler to solve our transportation problems. Of course, there are other components such as infrastructure and policies. However, technology as a great enabler in the sector of transportation helps transform cities. What role can MaaS and these new forms of transportation play in making transportation more accessible for all? Based on my experience, I can easily state that most of MaaS companies’ core values are sustainability, accessibility, safety and equity. They play a key role in serving for unbanked populations, lowincome users and working with disability organizations. They are striving to provide sustainable, accessible and affordable mobility for everyone. For instance, Bird as one of the leading micro-mobility companies offers WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
