Posts by David Zipper — Guest Contributor

David Zipper is a Resident Fellow in the German Marshall Fund's Urban and Regional Policy Program and a Senior Advisor to the Greater Washington Partnership. A big believer in the power of new technology to improve cities, he previously oversaw economic development strategy for two mayors of Washington, DC.

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  SmarTrip was revolutionary, but it’s 20 years old. What’s next?

  TransitBy David Zipper (Guest Contributor) September 11, 2018 43

  It was less than 20 years ago — 1999 to be exact — when Metro released SmarTrip, the first contactless payment card in American public transportation. A few years later, Baltimore’s CharmCard was designed to integrate with SmarTrip. At the time our region was a national model for mobility payment technology, but it’s hard to imagine anyone making such a claim today.  Keep reading…

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  What if our region had a seamless platform for buses, bikeshare, ride-hail, and more?

  TransitBy David Zipper (Guest Contributor) August 6, 2018 20

  If you’re like me, you use a SmarTrip card, a Capital Bikeshare dongle, and half a dozen apps on your smartphone to access ridehail, bikeshare, or carshare — and none of them communicate with each other. That leads to time wasted toggling back and forth, especially if a trip requires more than one service. What if you could manage all of these in one place?  Keep reading…