The Secret Sauce to Boosting Transit Ridership in Mississauga 27%
Eve Wiggins is growing ridership in Mississauga, ON and it’s a BBQ showdown in Austin
Transit agencies around the Greater Toronto Area need to hire about 1000 new drivers, and everyone is pulling from the same pool of people–including regular trucking companies and Amazon. But Eve Wiggins, Director of Mississauga Transit, is finding drivers and has been able to increase ridership 27% over last year. So how’d she do it? That’s our latest episode on the podcast this week.
We have a new episode of Transit Unplugged TV this week coming to you from Austin, TX! CapMetro CEO Dottie Watkins gives Paul a tour of their massive capital expansion project on the go, but maybe the stars of the show might be the food, the music, and the bats. Yes, bats. ???? Watch the show on YouTube.
Keep reading to learn about it all. Let’s get to it.
????Mississauga Transit is at 109% of 2019 ridership. What’s the secret?
Eve Wiggins, Director of Mississauga Transit (MiWay), hasn’t been at the helm long, but she’s keeping the agency on course to keep growing ridership, expand service, move towards hydrogen fuel cell buses, generating their own hydrogen fuel, and building more bus garages to support it all. It’s a tall order, but Eve is standing atop a CASTLE (Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love, and Effectiveness) to guide her leadership.
As maybe the most important transit connector in the Greater Toronto Area, MiWay connects people to jobs and opportunities across the region. And that doesn’t even include Mississauga’s own booming jobs sector!
????Part one of the BBQ showdown is on
Austin is famous for a lot of things, SXSW, music, and food. This month Paul takes us on a journey across the city with CapMetro’s CEO Dottie Watkins to see the massive transit expansion in the works and everything amazing about Austin.
To kick off our three-city BBQ showdown, Paul visits Terry Black’s BBQ with the Food Network’s Ali Khan. You will not believe the plate of food served up to Paul, including the biggest BBQ rib you’ll ever see (outside of Texas). Next we head to Kanas City with its famous BBQ and finally to Memphis. Which would you pick? And “All of the above” is always a correct answer.
Watch the whole episode on YouTube:
