Current Issues and Future Trends in Mobility Management

All right, TGIF, we're back again, and great to see you, Joe. It's been another wild week. We had our State of GovTech event in Washington, D.C. with CivStart and AWS, a great kind of market overview with what's happening. What have you been up to, Joe?

I think I've just been talking about that cybersecurity grant all week to government and industry, so that's a little bit about my week this week.

Yep, cybersecurity. If you've missed it, drop us a line. We definitely have some guidance we'd love to send you for cybersecurity, a lot of resources that are available. But today we have a special guest and, you know, a good friend of ours, Doug Rogers, is the Chief Revenue Officer at Passport, which is a GovTech 100 company as well. And, you know, Doug and Joe and I have had a number of conversations over what seems like, you know, the last decade, I guess, maybe the last 8 years or so on GovTech and the evolution of the market. Doug has, you know, really seen this market and led a lot of the changes in a variety of roles with some very recognizable names. I don't want to steal his thunder. And now as Chief Revenue Officer, Passport is really doing some incredible work in the transportation mobility space. And so we're going to welcome back to the stage Doug Rogers and kind of dive into everything that's going on in the market and more. So, you know, Doug, as I mentioned, you've taken a new role. Tell us a little bit about Passport and what you're up to.

Yeah, absolutely. First, let me just say I love being back with you guys. I make it a point to listen every week. It's a great way to actually end the week and then start noodling on some new ideas for the next week. But super appreciate the time here. So as you mentioned, Chief Revenue Officer with Passport. It has been a fantastic journey getting to this point. Passport is focused on mobility solutions for are predominantly cities, although we serve 800 clients across North America. A majority of those clients are cities and municipalities, and in essence, we provide a platform that helps connect parking permitting, enforcement, and payments to make that a much more simplistic and unified experience. It, it is a wonderful culmination, if you will, about the journey I've been on prior to Passport. I was with NIC, spent a fantastic journey. That's where I got introduced to both of you guys, working with states predominantly, but also at the Fed and the local level. Then joined Tyler as part of an acquisition. And before that, I was with a company called Cerner Corporation, which was in the health tech space and spent 14 years really, really deep in healthcare and some of the challenges that we navigated as part of that particular area.

So that's great. You know, like you said, you've worked in these industries now, the government services, healthcare, now parking mobility. About a— maybe it was a month or two ago, you had an interesting post on LinkedIn that talked about some of the similarities that you were seeing across these markets. Would you mind kind of sharing with our audience what you're finding some of the commonalities are?

Yeah, no, absolutely. I, you know, I didn't, I didn't really expect to see this through line, if you will, when I made the transition from healthcare into GovTech and You know, a bit of a, if you will, top-line saying that I've used: healthcare and government are very similar in the fact that they are both highly political, they're both bureaucratic, and they both— no offense to anyone— can be technology laggards. The biggest difference is that government has a very defined procurement cycle and healthcare doesn't. So you can take what you will from that. What I will say, one of probably the most basic connection points is the 14 years I spent within healthcare. One of the number one problems that we were trying to solve is how do we better help healthcare providers understand who you are regardless of where you've been? And so that makes sense in healthcare. You never like to walk in and fill out the clipboard again. When I transitioned to government, I just assumed, hey, this is a duh thing. Government knows everything about you. When I go to a government agency, I shouldn't have to provide all this information, but that's not the case, right? Now, a lot of good reasons for it, whether it's privacy, whether it's regulations, et cetera, but both at the state level and especially as I've transitioned into mobility, there's this level of fragmentation, especially as it relates to the consumer, about how do you connect the dots? How do you, from a government perspective, make it easier to engage, transact, and move about your business and not apply all this friction? So once again, if I had to say there's a common through line and just tremendous opportunity, better connecting the dots about who you are, bringing that to the forefront, and then making it super easy to do the thing we're asking you to do and then go about the rest of your life.

There's so much happening right now with parking and mobility. I mean, this is really become the poster child of a lot of modernization efforts and funding dynamics over the last year. You know, what are you seeing, uh, you know, as far as trends with the cities that you're working with within this sector? You know, any similarities with like the way that they're using technology to maybe do some of that dot connecting that you were just talking about?

Yeah, no, absolutely. I, I, I have to admit, I, I am super pumped to be in this space because to your, to, to your comment, There is just so much change. And we often say that government doesn't move fast, but it is going incredibly fast in this space for a variety of reasons. And, you know, to your question, Dustin, some of the things that certainly we're seeing not only in our customers, just, but broadly from an industry standpoint, is how do we manage this level of complexity? You know, let me just share some data points that blew my mind when, when I joined Passport. There is 2 billion, 2 billion parking spaces in the US alone, the continental US, not counting Canada, South America, etc. There is 150,000 gas stations across the continental US. There are only 12,000 fast chargers for EVs. We have had a 300% increase in scooters and bike shares in the last 12 months alone. And in 2020, there was roughly about $150 billion that was spent on e-commerce. Now, all of that are— these are all things that are happening at the curb. People are trying to park. People are either using a scooter or bike share. They're ordering a rideshare or they're ordering something from Amazon. And that vehicle is parking there trying to offload it or pick something up. And historically, what parking departments had to do is they were simply trying to determine if you're going to be here, can we get you to pay for it? And if you didn't pay for it, we're going to write you a ticket. Well, that, that very basic thing is exponentially harder to do today. And so trying to connect all of the dots, have much more of that viewable to the city in real time so that they can actually manage that space and provide something that's more livable, if you will. and not cluttered or not really jammed up. That is just a huge challenge that cities are working with. Oh, by the way, and y'all have talked a lot about this in your articles, the National League of Cities came out with a report earlier this year that said government has seen an 18x, 18 times decline in employment compared to the private sector. So whole lot of complexity, whole lot of new stuff that's happening at the curb. They have less people to do it. This is a very natural intersection for technology just to make it so much easier to manage all of that process.

You know, it's funny, right? I'd say the last 18 months, the discussions that we're in on this show or just in our professional lives about the curb—

Yeah.

Have substantially increased, right?

Curb is a platform.

Curb is a platform.

And the other thing that substantially increased is federal funding. You look at what's happening now in the transportation space. I joked earlier talking about cybersecurity all day, but a lot of attention's focused now on the infrastructure law and the impact that it's having on this sector. As it relates to the organizations that you work with, is IIJA and those monies starting to have an impact?

Yeah, so we're seeing, you know, not to misuse the word trickle-down, but we're starting to see, if you will, some of those things unlock in cities. It's still a little bit early, and what I mean by that is, you know, at least what we're seeing from the cities that we work with is they're just now grappling with how do I apply for these funds, how can they best be used, How are they going to flow into the system? So it's early in terms of it actually either changing or having a direct, if you will, impact on what the landscape looks like. But I will tell you some of the things that really have jumped out to us that are just remarkable opportunities. There's a northeastern city, you know, one of the more prominent cities in the Northeast. I was sitting down talking with their chief of streets and I asked him, What is your vision for this city? And he said, quite simply, my vision is mode shift. I want to get more people out of cars. I want to get them in transit, buses, bicycles, et cetera. Doesn't mean that cars are going away. Doesn't mean that we're not going to have anybody parking at the curb, but I want to reduce that in favor of these other things. Well, look, the reality of that mode shift is infrastructure spending. It's dollars going to change how roads are structured. If you're going to have protected bike lanes, if you're going to have bus lanes, if you're going to have segmentation of where people can go, Those are substantial dollars that have to flow into the system for cities to go actually go make those changes. The EV comment that I made earlier, 12,000 fast-charging EV stations, 150,000 gas stations, the dollars have to come into these cities to really just quite exponentially increase the number of EV chargers to make it much more frictionless or that you don't even think about it for when I go transit through the city in the same way I don't even think about if I need to go fill up my wife's car. I have an EV, so, you know, I'm a little bit better in that regard, but nonetheless. So those are some of the changes we're actually starting to see cities really think about how these dollars are going to reorient where people are spending their time. We're really at the forefront, especially with, with cities we're talking to, how we can partner with them. But I will just point back, it is going to come back to how can I unify all of these different endpoints, and that is going to be a technology problem to solve, which is a pretty exciting space to be in.

Yeah, absolutely. And of course you have an EV because you're an early adopter, disruptive innovator there, Doug. So, as you look to the next fiscal year, you know, there's a lot of technology priorities we see. Of course, you know, cybersecurity is number one, but often, you know, less than 2% of the overall IT budget. And then you get into like experience and other things. You know, what do you see for the next year in mobility management and kind of this whole space for cities? Any predictions on what they're going to be focusing on and prioritizing or types of activity we might foresee in the market here?

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, so, I mean, let's first acknowledge a reality. We're, we're coming out of a very disruptive cycle as, as a society due to the pandemic. And so that certainly is having an impact in terms of increased traffic, number of people on the roads, travel, etc., etc. That is driving part of the conversation. You know, as I look forward and certainly the themes that I continue to hear There's really 3 main things that jump out. First and foremost, from a convenience standpoint, cities are increasingly wanting to offer more convenience to their consumers, their constituents, for how they move across the city. One of the first places that they're doing that is by increasing the options they have to pay to park. You know, we were really one of the first that, that got out and talked with cities around, hey, we have a parking app, but it would be great if you actually brought other parking apps, not ours, into your market so that it opens up the, the element of choice. I think you're going to see actually more cities go down that journey. There's a couple of notable ones here over the last years who've experimented with that. My sense is that's going to unlock its scale. Now the flip side is cities are really then going to be challenged with, if I've got all these things taking payments, I need to actually manage that on the back end. So that's the second piece is I think you're going to see cities investing a lot more in how do I unify the management. Both I've offered more choice, I've got multiple different ways that I can pay to park, but I need to not only connect those things but also connect to how I charge for a scooter or charge for a bike or charge for when you go in a garage versus on the curb. So the second piece is you're going to— I think you're really going to see more platformication and procurements that are oriented around this platform concept. And then lastly, and I got to tell you, this has just really surprised me that this is reality, but today enforcement and parking are very disconnected. You know, sometimes they may not even be the same department. I think what you're going to see is those things merging and cities looking at a way from both a technology and a deployment standpoint for how this is unified. And not at a punitive standpoint, but from a compliance standpoint. I want you to pay, and I'm using enforcement as a mechanism to encourage paying, not to punish you because you don't. But that becomes much more easier to do when these things are highly connected and they talk back and forth with one another.

So I'm going to shift gears here for a moment. I know because of our social media interactions and your involvement on past episodes that you keep a close ear to the ground when it comes to the broader GovTech market.

What do you make of all the market activity that we've seen Yeah, you know what, I am a huge proponent that GovTech is a very great investment. It has been pretty fascinating to see, oddly enough, so outside of the mobility space, as you talked about and y'all have covered on your show, there have been some really cool, if you will, combinations that have happened, either acquisitions, mergers, etc. I am not— would not be surprised to continue to see that accelerate. Because there's just so much opportunity for a technology footprint in this space, and some of the historical players, quite frankly, they benefit from newer entrants that will push them, help push innovation, help push the technology, if you will. We've seen some similar type of things within parking, but not necessarily as much. I would also quite candidly be thinking that you're going to see more if you will, combinations to put pieces together to be much more competitive in this market as well as the broad GovTech market writ large.

Well, you heard it here first. GovTech is a very good investment, says Doug Rogers. So we completely agree as we see all of this activity in the market. It's unlocking a lot of innovation and creating a lot of new possibilities for government agencies. So, you know, kind of putting your futurist hat on, I know you framed a little bit of what you see, you know, What are you excited about, you know, kind of looking to the future and any of your predictions on mobility or just this GovTech market in general? Anything that excites you about what you're seeing outside of the good investment that you just made?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm gonna give a shout out to a prior company that y'all had on the show. It may have been 2 or 3 weeks ago, Hayden AI. That type of thing gets me super excited. You know, so they're, you know, as some of your viewers may recall, They're doing some really cool work around sensors and enforcement in bus lanes. A lot of really good reasons why that's a necessity. But I think the thing that excites me, and it's not just them, there's several other companies that fit within that mold, this idea of better connecting and using sensors, different types of technologies to capture information and then actually guide the city for how they engage either how they drive compliance or how they enforce or how they just present information. That stuff is super cool. And if I go back to what we talked at the very beginning, which is you would think because of the role, very integral role that government plays in our lives, that it should be a frictionless experience because they know so much about us. Well, I think we're really on the verge that there are tools, technologies, and capabilities that are going to make that much more a reality. Well, look, very credibly balancing some very real concerns on privacy and security. You can't trivialize those concepts, but you can balance and get to a space that it's easier for you and I and, and everyone else to engage in these activities and not have a really, really punitive experience that just ruins your day, if you will.

All right, Doug, where do we go to keep up with you and with the ongoings of Passport?

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, first of all, passportinc.com, fantastic way to learn more about what Passport is doing. Uh, @droger96 is my Twitter handle, uh, and I, um, I do a really great job of reposting great things that these guys talk about. Um, so all the good content's out there. And then certainly on my LinkedIn profile, try to, to provide a really good reflection around what I'm hearing and seeing from our city clients. and the things that they're trying to solve for.

Excellent. Again, thanks, Doug, for joining us this week. And that's it for this week's episode. Dustin and I head to NASSCIO, so we join you next time. We'll share with you what we've learned and what we heard. Until then. All right.

See you, Doug.

Yep, absolutely. Thank you for the time.