Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham AWS
1/3/2018
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
IF I KNEW THEN... In this ongoing series, we ask executives, entrepreneurs and business leaders about mistakes that have shaped their business philosophy.
Rahul Kumar VICE PRESIDENT, TRANSLOC By Caroline Curran @cgcurran
http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
TECH
TRAVEL
TRANSPORTATION
1/5
1/3/2018
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
Background: TransLoc aims to deliver seamless mobility for all through a transportation technology platform. The Durham, North Carolina-based rm has partnered with more than 200 providers – from Amtrak to Uber – to reach a high level of service and win the con dence of riders over the past decade.
The Mistake: Planning from behind a desk; not out in the community. I’ve been working in the public transportation space for 17 years now. About 15 years ago, I was working for a transit agency in Los Angeles, and we had this grand plan of revitalizing and modernizing transportation. The plan included o ering new services from the suburbs to downtown, new community-based services, changing up how school transportation was o ered. It was a big master plan. We were doubling the budget and we were doubling the types of services o ered. And, for some reason, they decided to put me in charge of that plan, deploying it and making sure it became a reality. It took us about a year to come up with it, and I did a lot of that work behind my desk. When it came time for the buses to roll out — March 15, 2002 — the biggest part of our plan was to connect these buses that drove from the suburbs into downtown, bring them all the way back and then pick up students and take them to their speci c schools. I didn’t account for Southern California tra c. I didn’t account for how keenly trained the bus drivers would have to be to implement this plan successfully. Of the buses that all came back, they were one to two hours late. Some of the 6- and 7-year-olds were dropped o at the wrong school or never picked up at the end of the day and taken home. As a parent now (I wasn’t back then), I can only imagine how frightening that was that your kid, rst, may not even get picked up, and second, may get dropped o at the wrong school. It was a pretty sizeable mistake.
“
Because of this mistake, we had a massive public relations disaster on our hands.
The Lesson:
”
I, along with a few of our sta , went out to a lot of these stops and sat there with students, and talked to parents one-on-one. We had radios on our belts and we were in contact with the bus http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
2/5
1/3/2018
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
drivers. Unfortunately, you can’t rectify the service overnight. You’ve got to do this manual, making sure it all happens. We did that. We also did town hall meetings, both in the community and with our drivers and 600 employees, to make sure they knew what was going on. In hindsight, what I should have done was do all of those things beforehand — the town hall meetings, the driver trainings, everything — well in advance of the actual change. It sounds like common sense now. I have no idea why I didn’t do that at the start. This mistake was only about 10 percent of our services. So, 90 percent of the plan ran perfectly. But because of this mistake, we had a massive public relations disaster on our hands. What it really taught me was, obviously, don’t wait until the public relations disaster. Try to think through the ripple e ects of every decision that you’re making without being paralyzed. Today, at TransLoc, we are trying to do the same thing — not the mistake, of course — but the actual modernization of transportation. Everyone rides Uber today, but not many people use public transportation. What we’re trying to do is completely shift the way public transportation is o ered in cities to be much more in line with what people actually want. Instead of saying, "Hey, there’s a big bus on the road," we want to change that and say, "Hey, I need to go from here to here. What’s the best mode to get me there?" This is a big, big move. Public transportation has not been modernized in 100 years. From that mistake I made 15 years ago, we’re learning to think through every single variable. We start with the user at the center of any decision we make or any solution we create, and then work our way out. I used to think about the bus, and then think out to the user. It’s fundamentally changed the way I think about the services. Follow TransLoc on Twitter at @TransLoc. Photo courtesy of TransLoc.
Do you have a good story you’d like to share, or know someone we should feature? Email [email protected]. And be sure to sign up for your local newsletter from Crain's Raleigh-Durham.
http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
3/5
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
IF I KNEW THEN... In this ongoing series, we ask executives, entrepreneurs and business leaders about mistakes that have shaped their business philosophy.
Rahul Kumar VICE PRESIDENT, TRANSLOC By Caroline Curran @cgcurran
http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
TECH
TRAVEL
TRANSPORTATION
1/5
1/3/2018
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
Background: TransLoc aims to deliver seamless mobility for all through a transportation technology platform. The Durham, North Carolina-based rm has partnered with more than 200 providers – from Amtrak to Uber – to reach a high level of service and win the con dence of riders over the past decade.
The Mistake: Planning from behind a desk; not out in the community. I’ve been working in the public transportation space for 17 years now. About 15 years ago, I was working for a transit agency in Los Angeles, and we had this grand plan of revitalizing and modernizing transportation. The plan included o ering new services from the suburbs to downtown, new community-based services, changing up how school transportation was o ered. It was a big master plan. We were doubling the budget and we were doubling the types of services o ered. And, for some reason, they decided to put me in charge of that plan, deploying it and making sure it became a reality. It took us about a year to come up with it, and I did a lot of that work behind my desk. When it came time for the buses to roll out — March 15, 2002 — the biggest part of our plan was to connect these buses that drove from the suburbs into downtown, bring them all the way back and then pick up students and take them to their speci c schools. I didn’t account for Southern California tra c. I didn’t account for how keenly trained the bus drivers would have to be to implement this plan successfully. Of the buses that all came back, they were one to two hours late. Some of the 6- and 7-year-olds were dropped o at the wrong school or never picked up at the end of the day and taken home. As a parent now (I wasn’t back then), I can only imagine how frightening that was that your kid, rst, may not even get picked up, and second, may get dropped o at the wrong school. It was a pretty sizeable mistake.
“
Because of this mistake, we had a massive public relations disaster on our hands.
The Lesson:
”
I, along with a few of our sta , went out to a lot of these stops and sat there with students, and talked to parents one-on-one. We had radios on our belts and we were in contact with the bus http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
2/5
1/3/2018
Rahul Kumar | Crain's Raleigh Durham
drivers. Unfortunately, you can’t rectify the service overnight. You’ve got to do this manual, making sure it all happens. We did that. We also did town hall meetings, both in the community and with our drivers and 600 employees, to make sure they knew what was going on. In hindsight, what I should have done was do all of those things beforehand — the town hall meetings, the driver trainings, everything — well in advance of the actual change. It sounds like common sense now. I have no idea why I didn’t do that at the start. This mistake was only about 10 percent of our services. So, 90 percent of the plan ran perfectly. But because of this mistake, we had a massive public relations disaster on our hands. What it really taught me was, obviously, don’t wait until the public relations disaster. Try to think through the ripple e ects of every decision that you’re making without being paralyzed. Today, at TransLoc, we are trying to do the same thing — not the mistake, of course — but the actual modernization of transportation. Everyone rides Uber today, but not many people use public transportation. What we’re trying to do is completely shift the way public transportation is o ered in cities to be much more in line with what people actually want. Instead of saying, "Hey, there’s a big bus on the road," we want to change that and say, "Hey, I need to go from here to here. What’s the best mode to get me there?" This is a big, big move. Public transportation has not been modernized in 100 years. From that mistake I made 15 years ago, we’re learning to think through every single variable. We start with the user at the center of any decision we make or any solution we create, and then work our way out. I used to think about the bus, and then think out to the user. It’s fundamentally changed the way I think about the services. Follow TransLoc on Twitter at @TransLoc. Photo courtesy of TransLoc.
Do you have a good story you’d like to share, or know someone we should feature? Email [email protected]. And be sure to sign up for your local newsletter from Crain's Raleigh-Durham.
http://raleighdurham.crains.com/if-i-knew-then/rahul-kumar/transloc
3/5
