Upstate Mobility Alliance

Dr. Brooks is Associate Professor with the Clemson University Department of Automotive Engineering. In this interview we discuss some of her work to allow people to continue to drive for as long as possible and her current research on ride sharing.

In this episode, we speak with Kimberly Woods, Public Relations Manager, about the services provided to the Upstate by Amtrak and the benefits of rail travel.

Greenville is home to several innovative manufacturing companies, and we are fortunate to have Proterra as one of those. We spoke with Mike Finnern, Vice President of Customer Success and Program Management, about the history of Proterra and the benefits of electric public transit.

We speak with Katy Smith, Executive Director of the Piedmont Health Foundation, about social determinates of health and the importance of transportation in ensuring a healthy community.

We talk with Jody Bryson, Executive Director with International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC), about the impact ITIC has had on economic development and what Jody believes transportation will look like in 20 years, to include flying cars.

We interview Lance Estep, Principal Planner with Appalachian Council of Govenments about the work of COG's and specific projects he is working on. 

We talk with Mary McGowan who is board chair of Bike Walk Greenville about the importance of having safe and connected bike paths and some recent projects Bike Walk Greenville has been focused on. 

Listen to an interview with Lawson Wetli who is president of the Greenville chapter of the League of Women Voters. We talked about the history of women’s suffrage and the League of Women Voters as well as barriers to voting. One interesting fact that did not make the podcast was that in 2018, South Carolina ranked close to the bottom in voter turnout at 43rd in the nation.

We talk with Landon Masters, Ben Kessler, and Eva James from the Palmetto Clean Fuels Coalition about how they can assist businesses evaluate alternative fuel sources for their fleets and trends in clean fuels for South Carolina.  

Today we speak with Ann Angermeier, Executive Director with Upstate Workforce Board. We discussed what the job market in Cherokee, Spartanburg, and Union counties as well as some success stories of clients Upstate Workforce Board has helped.

Ann Wright, Vice President for Advancement with the Greenville Tech Foundation discusses the importance of the Greenville Tech Foundation and how they help students who face transportation barriers in receiving an education.

We speak with CJ Asmus, Commute Sales Executive with Commute with Enterprise. about the benefits for both workers and employers of commuting with a vanpool. Among the benefits, according to the American Public Transportation Association, is that households can save almost $10,000 by living with one less car.

Chad Carson, founding board member of Friends of the Green Crescent Trail, talks about transportation in the Clemson SC area, the idea behind the Green Crescent Trail, and his thoughts about the future of transportation in his community. A key observation from Chad was recreation will always lead the way when we were talking about designing trails for functional purposes.

I speak with Growing Mobility Investment Task Force Co-Chair and Director, Logistics Industry Initiatives, SC Council on Competitiveness, Suzanne Dickerson, about the logistics industry in South Carolina. Two key takeaways are South Carolina is on the cutting edge of logistics, and to be thankful for the truck drivers who are on the front lines during this pandemic.

I spoke with Technology and Innovation Task Force Co-Chair and Senior Business Development Director with CU-ICAR, Rob Krulac, about trends in the industry and the importance of CU-ICAR for South Carolina. Two key takeaways are the technologies coming out of CU-ICAR are applicable to more than the automotive industry and, thanks to CU-ICAR, Clemson University can expand educational offerings in computing and advanced manufacturing to meet the needs of our local industries.

We speak with Active and Livable Task Force Co-Chair and Director of Operations for the SE United States with Toole Design Group, Ernie Boughman, about his views on active and livable communities and the benefits they provide.

In this episode, I speak with James Keel, Director of Greenlink, about the importance of public transportation and how COVID-19 is impacting their operations.

In this episode, Scott Craig and I discuss his 3 foundational elements for public transportation from a riders perspective, which are frequency, the business of business paradox, and vision.

Today, we speak with Laura Ringo, Executive Director of PAL, about how they are supporting and growing the active living community in Spartanburg.

Today I interview Scott Craig, General Manager of Corporate Strategy and Planning with JTEKT North America and co-chair for the Moving People task force, where we talked about his work with JTEKT, embracing public transportation, and the importance of planning. One of the big takeaways for me is that coming out of COVID-19, we will still have the need to be mobile and we will need strong public transit to help us achieve that mobility.