On this month's Transit Voices podcast, Ben Whitaker speaks with Dal Kalirai, Sales and Partnerships Director at National Express West Midlands, about the importance of women in the transportation industry, ensuring passenger safety on buses, and the benefits of incorporating technology into ticketing systems.

In the conversation, Dal talks about a customer-centric approach explaining, “We used to think the customer's never really at the heart of it, it was all about the operation and getting the vehicle on the road and the passenger would have to put up with whatever ticketing option was there regardless of how intimidating, awkward or inconvenient. Whereas the beauty of bus travel should be, you don't have to think about it.”

Dal’s explains how in her years working in transit, there was no innovation at all from paper passes, but then in 2016, she oversaw the introduction of mobile ticketing and then contactless EMV. In this month’s podcast, she not only explains how bus ticketing has led to an unexpected way of encouraging more students to turn up to class, and why technology has delivered increases in ridership as people have got more comfortable with ticket pricing and the ease of quick boarding, but also her passion for getting more women into the industry, and making everyone feel safer traveling at night.

“I've got two daughters,” she explains. “They travel by bus and as the evening approaches, you become anxious if they're not home, or how are they going to get home... You've been almost a paranoid parent, but it's because you see and you hear things that it isn't safe for you to travel. That's the bit that I want to address - getting like-minded women together to influence those decisions, and guide those decisions and almost through their lived experiences.”

You’ll also hear why another Transit Voices guest thinks Mobility as a Service is a Boondoggle that should be put in Room 101, and that Dal sticks with the safety theme when discussing her underdog – apps that make the journey safer.