Fast Forward
Fast Forward is a bi-weekly podcast covering the revolution in urban mobility. Hosted by CEO and Founder of CoMotion, John Rossant, each episode features a guest on the front lines of the transformation in transportation, along with fun and incisive commentary on that week’s news — from batteries to bicycles to whether Elon really means it’s “full self-driving” this time. (Spoiler: he doesn’t.) Fast Forward is powered by CoMotion. —————— Visit www.comotionla.com to find out more about our flagship gathering convening the top players shaping the future of mobility. —————— Stay on the cutting edge of mobility and get updates delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for CoMotion NEWS, our must-read newsletter that contains the most critical mobility news, updates about CoMotion events, the Fast Forward Podcast and more! https://comotionla.us15.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=6865bcd9d32be18e25c179584&id=9f52f34fe3
Episodes
June 24, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Steve Adler, former mayor and city councilmember of Austin, TX. They discuss the work required to bridge across interest groups, passing legislation with long time horizons, and how to build consensus for large-scale transit projects.
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June 9, 2025 • 25 mins
With the recent signing of Shohei Otani, traffic to Dodger Stadium, LA's premiere sports venue, is up more than 12% - all without fixed transit infrastructure to handle the surge. In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with David Grannis of Zero-Emissions Transit and Michael Manley of Gondola manufacturer Leitner-Poma to discuss their project that solves the stadium's congestion by going in one direction: up.
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May 27, 2025 • 28 mins
Why is it often easier to pay for a cup of coffee than it is to pay for a ride on transit? In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Ben Lebedin from US Bank & Elavon to discuss the opportunities presented by open-loop payments, the benefits of the service to both consumers and transit agencies, and the treasure trove of data that it presents.
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May 13, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles is joined by Matthew Daus, Partner at Windels-Marx and former Commissioner of the New York City TLC. They discuss the political headwinds facing congestion pricing, the challenges and successes of modernizing taxi service in the city, and what insurance markets might yield in policy to come.
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April 22, 2025 • 28 mins
More than 70% of CO2 emissions are being generated in cities and these cities often lack access to the financing tools necessary to bring sustainable solutions to life.
In this episode, CoMotion’s John Rossant chats with Mauricio Rodas, Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador, and Lisa Sachs, Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment to discuss the rising demand for sustainable mobility and transit solutions, and the new global T...
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April 8, 2025 • 36 mins
Across the country, transit agencies face a dilemma: how to provide reliable, safe, and equitable service for individuals who rely on ADA paratransit, while keeping costs low?
In this episode, CoMotion's Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Dmitriy Vanchugov, Head of Partnerships at Uber Transit, alongside Spare Labs Co-Founder & CEO Kristoffer Vik Hansen, Stephanie Doughty (MV Transportation), and David Hatch (MBTA) to explore all t...
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March 17, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Lewis Lehe, Assistant Professor in the Transportation Systems group of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at UIUC, to discuss congestion pricing's consequences, two months later. Has the toll worked in reducing congestion downtown? How might we measure that? And beyond simply reducing congestion, are there other benefits to this policy? This conversation explores an...
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March 3, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Leigh-Ann Buchanan, Founder & CEO of the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, a 501c(3) non-profit that connects the most innovative startups in Miami's private markets with the most pressing needs in the public sector. They discuss how MDIA is disrupting slow procurements, and how public sector involvement can 'de-risk' innovation. Plus, a sneak peek at CoMotion MIAMI '25.
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February 16, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Puneeth Meruva, Partner at Trucks VC, a fund which invests in early-stage ideas that make transportation decarbonized, safer and more accessible. With the retrenchment of public dollars in things like electrification and alternatives to private automotives, the private sector is exploring where true creativity and returns are possible, and where policy adaptations can yield scalabl...
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February 3, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Alison Cohen, founder, chair, and president of Bicycle Transit Systems, one of the oldest and largest bikesharing networks in the country. They talk about the stubborn economics of bikeshares, the history of the model from coin-operated to electrified, and what's in store as systems recover from the ebbing ridership of the pandemic.
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January 5, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Henriette Cornet, USF professor and sustainable autonomy expert, and Toby McGraw, Chief Revenue Officer at Beep, an autonomous shared mobility startup, to discuss the past, present, and future of autonomy, with lessons from Europe and beyond on fleet management, integration of autonomous infrastructure into urban cores, and using autonomy to compliment, rather than compete, with pu...
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December 5, 2024 • 37 mins
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Ya-Ting Liu, the new Chief Public Realm Officer for New York City. They talk about how urban leaders can thoughtfully deploy pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, tackle entrenched bureaucracies, and expand economic opportunity through vibrant, joyful urban design.
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Join us next at CoMotion MIAMI '25, Apr 29-30. Get your pass now and save 50% off: www.comotionmiami.com...
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December 5, 2024 • 25 mins
In this episode, John Rossant talks to Paul Rennie, OBE, the British Consul General in Los Angeles, about the UK's new legal framework around autonomy and how that'll impact the next decade of innovation in the sector. They also talk regional investment, what LA's car-culture can learn from the brits, and how autonomy may reshape not only our cities, but the demographic fabric of our countries.
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Join us next at CoMoti...
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December 1, 2024 • 29 mins
2024 saw a significant contraction in venture capital investment in mobility, down more than 50% since its frothy peak in 2021. So what comes next? In this episode, John Rossant, CEO & Founder of CoMotion chats with Prescott Watson, Operating Partner at RedBlue Capital, and investor and board member of Aerolane, a new company focusing on reducing aerial cargo costs. Hear from them about where venture does (and doesn't) make sense i...
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November 25, 2024 • 27 mins
In this episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast, host Nick Perloff-Giles dives into Portland's efforts in advancing sustainable delivery and smart curbs with PBOT's Jacob Sherman and Kristin Hull. They share insights on the challenges and lessons learned from implementing smart curbs, mapping curb usage, and partnering with private companies to “make the curb more productive”. The conversation explores the significant shift in u...
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November 3, 2024 • 35 mins
In the latest episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast, Ray Sosa, Chief Planning Officer for LA Metro, sits down with our own Nick Perloff-Giles to talk about the billions the agency is investing to expand transit in the notoriously car-centric region. Ray, who has been working in LA transit for three decades, says the big shift is not just about the new rail lines and bus routes being built, it’s about a fundamental change in at...
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October 29, 2024 • 24 mins
In this special episode of CoMotion's Podcast, John Rossant sits down with Andrew Glass Hastings, Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation, to discuss what's in store for both CoMotion LA and the OMF Summit - and by extension, what's in store for our cities, roads, skies, and waterways. Hear from them about the emerging landscape of curbside data, the challenges of scaling innovative aerial transit, and how autonomy might...
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September 16, 2024 • 37 mins
In the latest episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast supported by the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, John Rossant sits down with Taras Wankewycz, Founder & CEO, H3 Dynamics to discuss, the right range for a hybrid electric eVTOL, their EU-funded clean aviation project with Pipistrel exploring a new class of aviation-grade fuel cell systems, and solutions to hydrogen supply.
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Join us next at CoMotion LA '24, Nov 13-14. ...
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August 28, 2024 • 29 mins
In this week's episode of CoMotion's Fast Forward Podcast, Nick Perloff-Giles has an exclusive conversation with Marc Nichols, General Counsel at the Federal Aviation Administration, leading the “safest and most efficient airspace system in the world” that just announced $291 million of investments from the Inflation Reduction Act for projects that help achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from aviation by 2050. We...
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July 25, 2024 • 19 mins
What could Saudi Arabia's futuristic NEOM, the Brooklyn-Queens Tram Project and Toronto's public transit possibly have in common?
Meet 'Adam of Arabia' - Adam Giambrone, MBA, a senior transportation executive with decades of experience in providing innovative transit solutions who's threading the needle between legacy transit and the most forward-looking systems on the globe. Most recently, he was the Director of Urban & Regional ...
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