Sandra Phillips

Tell us about yourself

Sandra turns new mobility visions into reality: as a Shared Mobility Architect she has been involved in more than 60 projects world-wide. Her work spans across Mobility-as-a-Service programs, microtransit for rural island communities, e-mopeds in Brooklyn as well numerous carshare services, including the first ever service launched in the Middle East. Sandra’s approach is rooted in her work experience in Senior Management and Executive roles with global OEMs, as well as being a product manager, startup advisor and shared mobility advocate for the past 10 years. Some of her career highlights as a Shared Mobility Architect include:2021: Clean50 Project Award for the Shared Mobility Compass Card program, integrating public transit, carsharing & bike-sharing in the City of Vancouver.2019: Launch of the first ever microtransit offering of Translink on Bowen Island.2018: Launch of Revel, first ever on-demand e-moped service in Brooklyn, NY.2016: The successful launch of ReachNow, BMW’s multimodal on-demand carsharing/ride hailing program in the US market. Sandra acted as interim ReachNow’s Chief Customer Officer and was responsible for Sales & Marketing, Product and Market Development.

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What are the top 3 trends in your transport/smart city niche that everyone should look out for in the next 5 years?

1. Electrification of shared mobility (from cars to bikes to scooters)

2. Integrated mobility where public transit and shared mobility (specifically micromobility) will be connected better (and often low tech rather than focusing on just Mobility-as-a-Service apps)

3. A focus on behaviour change and measuring that when setting up any shared mobility pilots.

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How do you/your company innovate?

Through a structured framework we call Shared Mobility Architecture and through collaborations where we bring startups, large companies and individuals together.

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Why is encouraging innovation, new ideas, and tech important?

We haven't solved our transportation woes and our car centric cities. In Canada transportation is responsible for 23% of all GHG emissions. So if we want to get people out of their own cars, we have to focus on change and coming up with different ways. I am cautious at recommending every latest tech trend, we have a bit of a love affair thinking that technology is the silver bullet to all our problems. After 11 years in the space, I believe that a lot of innovation/change in transportation needs to focus on user behaviour and low tech solutions are just as valuable.