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Organizations that manage their own parking (employers, schools, and residential buildings), often offer free or subsidized transit passes to encourage the switch away from driving. These programs are so effective that agencies, including CapMetro, tailor pass programs for these organizations. But CapMetro is in the process of modernizing its fare payment system, and is expected to launch a contactless open loop system (bring your own card). Riders will have more ways to pay than ever, so what does that mean for these pass programs? How can local organizations leverage these new tools to change driver behavior?

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By promoting greater awareness and utilization of sustainable transportation, travel training plays a critical role in enhancing social equity and ensuring that all residents, regardless of their background or circumstances, have access to safe, affordable, and reliable commuting options.

Learn how goDCgo and Dulles Area Transportation Association are moving beyond engagement, to empower residents to make informed, sustainable travel choices. This session will cover best practices for designing inclusive travel training programs to cater to diverse needs and discuss outreach and marketing strategies implemented to help all residents confidently navigate transit systems, improving mobility independence and access to essential services.

This session explores how collaborative delivery models—like Progressive Design-Build (PDB) and Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC)—enhance transit projects in dense urban areas. Traditional models often lead to delays and disruptions, while collaborative approaches involve early coordination among contractors, designers, agencies, and communities. The session will review case studies of actual projects highlighting how collaboration minimized impacts while maintaining mobility. The discussion covers strategies like temporary bus access, pedestrian paths, and real-time service alerts, asking whether these short-term solutions could become lasting transit improvements. The goal: transit systems that serve communities before, during, and after construction.

Behavioral science offers powerful tools to boost the effectiveness of TDM programs by addressing the real, often irrational, ways people make travel decisions. This session explores when nudges work, when they don’t, and how biases, habits, and friction points shape commuter behavior. Attendees will learn to spot key decision-making barriers, design smarter interventions, and identify critical moments when people are most open to change. Through interactive activities and real-world insights, participants will gain practical strategies to build more impactful, user-friendly programs that truly move the needle on mode shift. Bring cell phones to answer questions!

With no required parking, a burgeoning multimodal system and the growing interest in moving away from car-dependence - Austin is on verge of tapping into carless communities and developments that have a multimodal focus.

This panel of public and private experts are working on bringing high-speed passenger rail to Texas. While most passenger rail running in the state makes use of freight rail infrastructure, high-speed trains and freight aren’t compatible. The success of the Brightline rail service in Florida has brought renewed attention to the benefits and financial viability of private sector investments in high-speed passenger rail in other parts of the country. This panel will discuss the current landscape for high-speed passenger rail in the United States and in the state of Texas and consider if development could be expedited if it takes place outside freight rail corridors.