Expanding the Remix Policy Team to Enable Better Transportation Outcomes
It’s been an exciting start to the new year at Remix. We’re now working with nearly 350 cities, launched a new and improved Jane isochrone (our most beloved product feature), and raised our Series B — all in service of our mission to help build more livable cities.
When we founded Remix during our non-profit fellowships at Code for America in 2014, we had no idea how fast the transportation industry would evolve. As a civic tech company, we are strongly shaped by Code for America’s values — starting with the core belief that “government can work for the people, by the people, in the digital age.”
As we’ve expanded our lens from transit planning to street planning and mobility management, we always focus on outcomes that result from data-driven public policy. These public policy outcomes are shared by many— such as equitable access to mobility services, sustainability, and safety. We’ve built strong partnerships with both cities and mobility providers that agree on the value of data to reshape mobility. We believe that when cities and mobility companies work together in a spirit of collaboration, the resulting outcomes are more powerful for all involved — and successful companies can thrive alongside public good rather than in opposition to it.
Today, we’re proud to announce that Jascha Franklin-Hodge, former Chief Information Officer of the City of Boston, and Meera Joshi, former Commissioner of New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, will be advising Remix as we work with our city customers and partners to achieve the best transportation outcomes for all. Both Jascha and Meera bring a wealth of policy experience that will be invaluable in such a rapidly changing environment.
Jascha Franklin-Hodge
Jascha is a national thought-leader on data governance. During his tenure as Chief Innovation Officer at City of Boston, Jascha created the City’s first Digital Team to build exceptional, user-centered digital services, such as the award-winning Boston.gov and BOS:311 mobile app. He also established a Citywide Analytics Team to apply the tools of modern data analysis and modeling to improve quality of life in the city, enhance the operations of government, and support data-driven policy making. His team addressed issues as diverse as transportation policy, firefighter safety, workforce diversity, and ambulance response times. Jascha also spearheaded city policy and programs related to broadband and digital equity, created a digital constituent communication program, and led Boston to be the first-ever city to negotiate a data sharing agreement with Uber in 2015.
Prior to his career in public service, Jascha founded Blue State Digital and led the technical infrastructure that powered the success of the 2008 Obama campaign. Jascha recently finished his term as a Joint Research Fellow with the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the Harvard Kennedy School. He authored Remix’s latest policy brief, “A Practical City Guide to Mobility Data Licensing.”
Meera Joshi
Meera is the former Commissioner of NYC’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), where she oversaw the largest private for-hire ground transportation industry in the US, making a million trips a day. Under her leadership, the agency fostered tremendous diversity, growth, and innovation in the taxi, car service, ride-hailing, and commuter van industries while maintaining the highest standards of public safety and consumer protection. Meera initiated programs that have made TLC a national leader in data analysis, accessibility for individuals with disabilities, protecting drivers’ pay, and traffic safety.
Meera is a vocal advocate for the value that robust transportation data brings to policymakers and citizens alike, and under her tenure NYC became the first city in the nation to require detailed data from large app operators. By making much of this data public, she has become a leader in the Open Data movement. Under her leadership, NYC created the largest wheelchair-accessible for-hire fleet in the country, including a program that centrally dispatches a wheelchair-accessible taxi on demand to anywhere in the five boroughs, and created the first pay protection for drivers of app services like Uber and Lyft in the nation. TLC serves as one of the lead agencies in New York’s citywide “Vision Zero” program and promotes traffic safety through a comprehensive suite of education, outreach, enforcement, and technology promotion programs. Through these efforts, fatalities involving TLC vehicles were reduced by 50%. Meera is currently a Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy.
Jascha and Meera join the accomplished members of our current policy team, Rachel Zack and Andrew Glass Hastings:
Rachel Zack is a policy strategist at Remix, where she researches policy related to dockless programs, ride-hailing and autonomous vehicles. She explores how cities can work with private partners to disrupt vehicle trip generation, while also delivering on safe and more equitable mobility systems. Before joining Remix, Rachel consulted for agencies across the country (including SFCTA, MTC, TriMet, MnDOT) on strategic planning for shared mobility and autonomous vehicles. Rachel worked closely with technology companies to implement pilot programs that delivered on congestion reduction and increased transit access. Her work in the field received the Caltrans Excellence in Transportation Award in WTS Innovative Transportation Solutions Award in 2017.
Andrew Glass Hastings is a senior policy strategist at Remix, and has been a leader on key transportation policies and initiatives for nearly 15 years. Previously as the Director of Transit & Mobility for the City of Seattle, Andrew and his team worked to redefine urban mobility by integrating new mobility programs and services into the broader transportation system. Prior, Andrew was the Senior Transportation Advisor to two mayors in Seattle, the Government Relations Administrator for King County Metro, and helped pass the adoption of the Sound Transit 2 Plan, which dedicated $10.8 billion for light rail in the Puget Sound region.
We’re excited to have such a strong team pushing for better transportation policy outcomes in our cities. For more, you can see the full press release here, follow along at blog.remix.com/policy, or reach out at hello@remix.com 👋.
