Summit focuses on mobility, technology
KING OF PRUSSIA » The Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association hosted its final major event of the year Nov. 6 — its Advancing Mobility Summit.
The half-day event gave attendees a chance to network and to hear from top leaders in the transportation industry on the future of mobility, regional projects, innovative technology and projects and transportation funding, according to Stacey Henrich, TDM Manager for GVF.
GVF, a not-for-profit organization created to advocate and promote a viable transportation network for the region’s economic vitality, has hosted the event for the past 20 years. It was rebranded as the Advancing Mobility Summit three years ago, according to Henrich.
The keynote speaker for the event, Rob Wonderling, president & CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, spoke about the changes in consumerism due to technology and the effect on the mobility of goods.
Wonderling told the group that in order to progress and keep up with the changing landscape of technology and the movement of goods, it’s necessary to engage and build relationships with nontraditional partners, according to a press release.
“...Ultimately, I think leadership is not just embracing what matters most, not just in a diplomatic way, moving people from the status quo thinking ... a leader needs to think differently about everything that everyone else sees,” he said.
In addition to Wonderling, attendees heard from Jeff Knueppel, general manager of SEPTA and Barry Seymour, executive di-
rector of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, according to the release.
During a Q&A session, Knueppel and Seymour discussed the future of mobility, advances in technology and how it relates to transportation, funding and barriers.
Knueppel said one of the challenges for SEPTA is how to handle increased ridership.
“Regional rail has gone up 50 percent since 2000, 41 percent on the Market Frankfort line and 29 percent on the Broad street line since 2000. The way the city is moving now we could have a considerable increase again and, so we need to continue to look at this issue and what to do for a capacity increase,” he said.
“Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Region is growing and there is going to be continuous demand, and we are going to have figure out a way to increase the capacity to serve them,” Seymour added.
According to Henrich, events hosted by GVF provide an opportunity to stimulate dialog and work toward advancing mobility and improving congestion throughout the region.
She added that Knueppel
spoke to the group about the King of Prussia Rail project — an extension of SEPTA’s Norristown High Speed Line that will, when completed, provide direct passenger rail service to King of Prussia.
“There are 60,000 people working in King of Prussia and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission expects that number to grow to 64,000 jobs by 2035,” Henrich said in an emailed response to questions. “This transformative project is estimated to save 18 million vehicle miles annually, as well as roughly 1.7 to 2.1 million hours of travel time.”
Panel sessions focused on parking, municipal updates, state and local infrastructure updates, as well as engineering and regional updates. Some of the topics included: enhancing mobility among communities, and innovative engineering projects.
“Mobility across the world, our country, and our region is in flux and our Advancing Mobility Summit was a great place to learn and discuss those changes. GVF will continue to lead the discussion as we move forward with our collective future,” Rob Henry, executive director, GVF, said in the release.