Mike O'Dea

Having been involved with safety and security planning for numerous large U.S. cities as a trusted advisor on technology investments, Michael O’Dea has been a regular presenter regarding the benefits of “Safe and Secure Communities” and topics associated with Video-based Solutions and PSIM. At Teleste he was responsible for the Video Security and Information Solutions business activities in North America until the end of 2023.

All blog posts by Mike O'Dea

28 March, 2023

From transactions to relationships: connecting transit agencies with a new generation of customers

Transit agencies are facing a new challenge as they try to attract and engage with a new generation of customers. This generation of riders has grown up in the digital age and has certain expectations for their transportation experience. They want to be able to find information quickly and easily online, and expect intelligent passenger routing and navigation information from departure to return. This presents a challenge for agencies, who must find ways to leverage existing technologies to meet these growing customer demands without completely overhauling their existing infrastructure.

20 January, 2022

Future proofing passenger information management systems

The world is more connected than ever before – communication channels have become a key piece that needs development alongside infrastructure modernization. Better means of communication opens transit agencies to new revenue streams and better relationships with their ridership – but before these can be achieved, the passenger information systems need to be brought to a level that resonates with the needs of modern passengers and of regulatory ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements tied to governmental funding.

26 October, 2021

Communication is key to restoring and increasing ridership

With the emergence of smart devices and new wireless technologies, the way we consume media has evolved significantly in the past decade. We are now used to ingesting large amounts of visual information from the palms of our hands via smart devices, and from increasingly large televisions and monitors that have vivid image quality and smart features that make them more engaging than ever before. There is a clear technological disparity between how information is being delivered to consumers through their personal devices, and how it is being delivered to them via most passenger information display systems (PIDS).

10 November, 2020

The tools to restoring ridership in a post-pandemic world

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive drop in ridership and as a result, public transport operators are struggling. While there likely is no going back exactly to how things were in the past, getting back to a thriving level of ridership is absolutely doable. It will require re-establishing a new kind of relationship and level of trust with the riders, this correspondingly requires new means of outward communication. As we see it, situational awareness software solutions can be used as precision tools to re-building the relationship between the transit agencies and ridership.

9 December, 2019

The colossal problem of fare evasion can be solved by data

Where there is mass transit, there is fare evasion. Public Transit Agencies across major cities around the world are estimated to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually to fare evasion. According to estimates, 200 million pounds are lost each year in the UK, and the yearly figure for New York City alone is estimated to be up to 300 million dollars. While fare evasion is not easily thwarted, determining the actual numbers beyond rough estimates can provide transit agencies the leverage to influence policy and targeted enforcement to combat fare evasion head-on.