Episode 77: Public Sentiment and Public Transit

This episode of the Mpact Podcast looks at the ways that tools used by political campaigns to influence voters can be used to help transit agencies better understand their audiences. We’re joined in a 1-1 Conversation by Adelee Le Grand, an Mpact Board Member and Strategic Advisor at Intellectual Concepts LLC and Scott Wilkinson, Founder and CEO of AlphaVu.

Today we are awash in a sea of data and most of what we see online is filtered or controlled by algorithms. In this context, it’s difficult to reach people with your message or get a grasp of what they really think. Scott Wilkinson explains how data analytics can help go through huge volumes of input — from emails, public comments, social posts and mobile apps, and more — to understand what different segments of the public are thinking and then to speak to them with information that will resonate with their concerns.

Le Grand and Wilkinson talk about the potential for more effective communication by knowing, for example, what segments are interested in the environmental benefits of transit, who is intrigued by technological advances and who is susceptive to negative messages about transit – and how to counter them. They also focus on the role of AI and how some agencies are adjusting their procurement documents to determine what content is shared or not.