E09: The Future of Public Transportation Through Innovation with Sam Ryan

Ride-sharing apps nowadays boast convenience and efficiency. What if there’s a way to bring technology and systems together into the bus and shuttle of public transportation? Sam Ryan sees the future and solutions of transportation in bringing innovation to commuters. In this episode of The Future of Ground Transportation Podcast, he shares how technology can revolutionize buses and coaches to complement the public transportation we have today. Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation: The need for innovation in public transportation Solving transportation problems with buses and coaches How technology can complement public transportation Improving the efficiency of transportation for daily commuters Challenges in integrating new technologies Episode Highlights: [01:29] Solving Transportation Problems with Innovation Sam Ryan became fascinated by the challenges of transportation and innovated new ways to solve them. He, alongside Barney, started their careers in the ride-sharing space when it was new. They looked into bringing technology and innovation to the bus and shuttle sector of transportation. [15:25] The Future in Technology Using collected information from clients, public transit data, and census data, Zeelo can optimize the best routes and design programs for efficient transportation. Their route optimization software can learn and get smarter with each program. [22:16] The Turning Point for the Bus Industry Sam sees this moment in time as an opportunity for technology to help the coach and bus industry to thrive in the next few years. He aims to build trust and show how Zeelo and fleet operators can combine experience and modern technology to improve transportation. [31:56] Innovating the Way Into the Future From a start-up, Zeelo is now scaling up thanks to its strong foundations. For the business, their definition of success is to grow profit positively and have an impact.  This 2023, they’ll be continuing to expand. To continue making leaps in the field of transportation, Sam advises you to stay curious, keep challenging, and don’t stop innovating. Notable Quotes: [12:09] “We help to fill those jobs by connecting people via transportation.” [29:48] “I see through the use of our technology and service that we're doing across hundreds and hundreds of customers that we're able to do that really, really efficiently at scale” [38:25] “The minute that you're no longer kind of naive and curious, then you stop innovating.” Resources Mentioned: Zeelo Connect with Sam Ryan: email | LinkedIn | Instagram Shoe Dog by Phil Knight What You Do is Who You Are and The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz About the Guest Sam Ryan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zeelo. There, he continues to bring innovative solutions to the transportation industry. Zeelo is a technology company that provides a smart shuttle bus platform for commuters. They aim to provide affordable and sustainable transportation for everyday people.