Genfare employee Josh Moskowitz is Business Development Director serving clients in the western U.S. Josh has more than 15 years of experience leading urban mobility operations and business development teams. Keep reading to learn more about Josh’s background and why he’s got his finger on the pulse of what matters to our public transit agency partners.
Q: What were your first experiences with public transit?
A: Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the rite of passage for any teenager was when your parents gave you a MetroCard. Public transit was definitely ingrained in me at a very early age. I navigated public transit for an hour and half each way to high school every day, and it really opened up my world.
Q: How did you get your start in micromobility and public sector transit?
A: In my first job, I helped lay the policy framework for one of the first large-scale bike sharing programs in all of North America, working for the Mayor of Washington, D.C. The city was heavily investing in bicycle infrastructure with a goal of reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.
Capital Bikeshare DC ended up blowing away our initial expectations in terms of usage and membership. It expanded three times during my time at the city, and it’s still running today. It became a model for what bike sharing could be in a dense urban area, and seeing people from all walks of life using the service was very rewarding.
Q: You’ve got a long record of success in private sector micromobility as well. How did you make that move?
A: I went on to lead the bike and car sharing programs for D.C.’s Department of Transportation, and developed a great relationship with one of our car share vendors, car2go. They ended up hiring me to launch point-to-point car sharing in markets across the United States and Canada. I negotiated on-street parking agreements with municipalities in places like Montreal, Chicago, and the Twin Cities, built out our teams in those markets, and was heavily involved in operations as well. I got to work closely with third-party fleet vendors to create key performance indicators and metrics that allowed us to reduce overhead or costs and maximize revenue potential – the same results I now work hard to deliver for Genfare agency partners.
I’ve also served as chief operations officer for a company that served as the operational tip-of-the-spear for large bike, scooter, and car sharing companies across North America.
Q: You’ve said one of your goals is to give Genfare’s transit agency partners a voice. Why is that?
A: In the public sector, not everyone feels they’ve had the experience of being heard and listened to. With my background in public transit, I can put myself in the shoes of our agency partners and understand some of the challenges and the pain points that they have. It’s important to me to be an empathetic partner to my customers and foster long-lasting, productive relationships. And it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach – every city is unique in its makeup and character. I hope my customers feel heard and know they have me to advocate on their behalf.
Q: What questions do you ask, and what do customers want from Genfare?
A: I want to understand the challenges that you face now. What is your vision for fare collection for you and your riders? Many agency customers are very intrigued when they find out what we can do to improve their operations with mobile ticketing and open payment solutions. It’s like a light bulb moment when they realize that our automated fare collection solutions can take Google Pay, Apple Pay, and contactless credit and debit cards. They can see that a more simplified, empowered, and connected future is possible.
Q: What is one of the most exciting things Genfare is doing right now from your perspective as an employee?
A: I’m really excited about our new software tools and products, including reporting dashboards and databases. We’re focusing on business intelligence, and giving our customers the tools that they need to better understand their customers, usage patterns, the revenue they’re collecting, and really allowing them to have that information at their fingertips. Transit agencies also are very aware that we continue to make really great durable, resilient, versatile hardware, as we’ve done for 40 years.
Q: What is one of the biggest challenges that transit agencies are facing now, and where does Genfare come into the picture?
A: Historically, public transit has not been seen as sexy outside of big cities like New York, Chicago, and Boston. And agencies have had a hard time attracting younger riders. But we can now remove a big barrier to entry by providing those riders with multiple payment options. In that way, Genfare is playing a critical role in revolutionizing how people use public transit. Our Fast Fare fareboxes, for example, are a one-stop shop for every payment, including cash, coins, smart cards, and mobile wallets. I’ve found that our agencies are really interested in exploring those capabilities.
Q: Tell us a bit about your life outside of work.
A: I’ve got two girls, a teen and a five-year-old. My wife and I really love traveling and experiencing new places and countries. I was recently in the Bahamas – that was awesome – and I’ve been all over Europe on past work trips.
Q: Do you take public transportation when you travel?
A: We definitely make a point of that, including bike share!
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