Lee Schipper (left) and Ethan Arpi (right) enjoy a bike ride through the city.

The first time I went biking with Lee, we were both returning home from work at EMBARQ.  Lee insisted that we take Massachusetts Avenue, one of Washington, D.C.’s most congested streets but also the most direct route home. I thought it was a crazy idea but I went along for the ride. I have to admit, Lee had this way of getting me to do things I wouldn’t otherwise do. As I struggled to keep up with Lee, who was weaving through rush hour traffic and yelling back at me, “You should have seen me biking in Paris,” I decided then and there that I’d stick to safer streets.

Lee, by contrast, never took the safe streets, whether he was biking home from work or fighting for sustainability—the cause he believed so much in.  You could count on Lee to tell politicians things they didn’t want to hear and he was quick to challenge the “have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too” environmentalist who promised quick and easy solutions.  Let’s just say, “political” was never a good way to describe Lee.  Yet, through the force of his personality and the power of his intellect—I think all of us were in awe of his intellect—he made a bigger impact on the world around him than any of his more political peers.

Lee, along with his good friend, Nancy Kete, founded EMBARQ, an organization that is still marked by his DNA. Everywhere an EMBARQ employee travels, whether it’s to Mexico, India or Brazil, people respond the same way when they get an EMBARQ business card.  “Ah,” they say, smiling,  “you work with Dr. Schipper!”  It can’t be changed; the EMBARQ brand is very much the Lee Schipper brand.  And it’s a brand that all of us are proud to associate ourselves with.

Perhaps what made Lee so special was that he was much more than just a scientist. He loved music and was a phenomenal musician. In fact, he was more like a prodigy.  In the 1960s he toured Africa with his jazz band as part of a State Department program to promote cross-cultural understanding.  Later in life, he would perform on many different continents.  If you ever went to a conference with Lee, chances were you could find him at the after-party rocking out with a hodgepodge of musicians.

Lee: it has been a wild ride and we’re glad you touched our lives! From everyone at EMBARQ, a heartfelt goodbye.  We will miss you!

If you have any memories or tributes to share, please leave them in the comments.

Los Angeles’ Metro is doing something that no transit agency in the country has ever done: it’s marketing its products and services as if it were a private company bent on turning a profit. But for Metro marketing isn’t about increasing the bottom line. It’s about reducing traffic, cleaning the air and making people’s commutes in this auto-clogged city a bit less stressful.

Matt Raymond, the Chief Communications Officer for Metro, is the brainchild behind Metro’s marketing push. During a trip out to Los Angeles I had the chance to talk with Mr. Raymond. “The key to putting together the group,” Mr Raymond said, referring to the in-house ad agency known as Creative Services, “was that we wanted to make public transportation cool.”

Making buses appear as an attractive alternative to cars is an ambitious goal for any transit agency, but it’s especially ambitious in a place like Los Angeles where image and the automobile are everything. Yet, traveling around LA it’s hard not to feel the presence of Metro. It’s fleet of colorful buses are ubiquitous on every major city street. And unlike standard city buses, these buses aren’t dreary and dull. They boast vibrant colors like California poppy from a color palette inspired by the city. Metro also has a number of playful ads on billboards encouraging Angelinos to leave their cars at home and take the bus, rail or carpool.

Comic Relief: One of a number of funny ads for transit.

These ads and the re-brand of Metro seem to be paying off. Earlier this year the Creative Services division of Metro was instrumental in the success of Measure R, a 1/2 cent sales tax that is expected to generate 40 billion dollars over the next 30 years for improving transit services in LA. To get the 2/3 vote required, Metro convinced the vast majority of Angelinos, most of whom commute by private car, that they should pay for transit out of their own pockets.

The most impressive outcome of Metro’s marketing is that it has convinced people to start using its services. Following Metro’s re-brand, discretionary riders, those people who have the choice to commute by car or transit, have jumped from 24 to 36 percent. That is, Metro’s new clean and modern image is actually getting people into transit and helping address this city’s notorious traffic problem.

For people involved in advertising and marketing this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The reason why the pharmaceutical industry, for example, spends over 33% of its revenue on marketing is because it works. Otherwise, why would they do it? It’s true for every other industry as well, including the automobile industry which spends roughly $21 billion to convince you and me that we cant live without cars. So why aren’t more transit agencies following LA’s lead and investing in marketing?
Image Matters: Chevrolet’s portrayal of a city bus suggests that transit is something to be avoided – it’s full of creeps and weirdos. By contrast, LA Metro’s sleek depiction of the new orange line is intended to attract the sophisticated commuter.

The common perception is that money spent on marketing would be better spent on the transit systems themselves. The problem with this line of thinking is that it is short sighted. Over time, a sustained investment in marketing increases the number of people who use transit. Increased ridership leads to increased revenue and, ideally, an increase in service to match the new demand. That’s what’s happening in LA right with Measure R. It’s also what Clayton Lane, a transport expert for EMBARQ, calls “the virtuous cycle.”

Targeting Trend Setters: For its opposites ad campaign, Metro gave out shirts to trend setters like these baristas from a local cafe. Photo courtesy of Metro.

There’s no doubt that LA still has a long way to go to solve its traffic problems. The first day I arrived here was a Wednesday and at 10:30 PM I got snared in a traffic jam on the 101. As a friend who lives here told me, “Traffic just sort of pops up out of nowhere.” Fortunately, Metro is set on increasing transit ridership by doing a number of big projects like the orange line expansion, the now complete gold line expansion, and perhaps even the ambitious “subway to the sea.” And unlike other cities, LA will likely see a greater than normal increase in ridership thanks to its great marketing.

Now, the street is remarkably clean and quiet. It’s a pleasant place to stroll, go shopping, and people watch. I talked with a few pedestrians and merchants whose stores lined the street and they all agreed that Mercaderes was much improved without the car traffic. Some even suggested that more streets in the city should ban cars and become more like Mercaderes.

In fact, the city is planning to do exactly that. Its goal is to connect several of the more important streets in the city’s historic downtown, a UNESCO world heritage site, by making them pedestrian only. It also plans to replace the city’s chaotic transit system of small vans and buses with a bus rapid transit system that has fixed stops and bus-exclusive lanes. If the transit project goes through, it will be a boon for city residents and will dramatically improve the quality of life for people who live in Arequipa.

Through its Project 10 to the 100th, Google is committing $10 million to up to five promising ideas that will help change the world. To make sure that this money goes to “drive innovation in public transport,” vote now by clicking here. Deadline: October 8, 2009.

Also, suggest an organization that you think would be good at implementing the final idea. Google will reach out to relevant organizations to participate in a Request-for-Proposal process. Submit your nominations here. (May we suggest EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport?)

What will your vote help achieve?

Develop new transportation technologies to help move more people with less energy, greater efficiency and fewer casualties. Millions of people still use methods of transportation invented a hundred or more years ago. Even small improvements in speed, safety, cost and environmental efficiency would have a large impact on people’s lives, and on the planet as a whole. With such improvements in mind, transportation-minded users submitted ideas ranging from a hydrogen-powered bicycle to an airship optimized for commuter travel. By aligning with and supporting organizations that share these goals, this proposal aims to drive innovation in this sector and make the best of these ideas a reality.

Some of the suggestions that inspired this big idea include the following, according to Google:

To learn more about Google’s project, watch this video:

Through its Project 10 to the 100th, Google is committing $10 million to up to five promising ideas that will help change the world. To make sure that this money goes to “drive innovation in public transport,” vote now by clicking here. Deadline: October 8, 2009.

Also, suggest an organization that you think would be good at implementing the final idea. Google will reach out to relevant organizations to participate in a Request-for-Proposal process. Submit your nominations here. (May we suggest EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport?)

What will your vote help achieve?

Develop new transportation technologies to help move more people with less energy, greater efficiency and fewer casualties. Millions of people still use methods of transportation invented a hundred or more years ago. Even small improvements in speed, safety, cost and environmental efficiency would have a large impact on people’s lives, and on the planet as a whole. With such improvements in mind, transportation-minded users submitted ideas ranging from a hydrogen-powered bicycle to an airship optimized for commuter travel. By aligning with and supporting organizations that share these goals, this proposal aims to drive innovation in this sector and make the best of these ideas a reality.

Some of the suggestions that inspired this big idea include the following, according to Google:

To learn more about Google’s project, watch this video:

Average temperatures in Dubai reach well over 100 degrees in the summer. But riders of Dubai’s newest metro need not worry. High-tech stations and rail cars boast air conditioning to protect residents from the sweltering the heat. The one problem, however, is that to get to and from metro stations, residents will have to walk fairly long distances in the blistering hot sun, an enormous obstacle for a population that loves its cars.

That’s just one of many problems facing this state-of-the-art rail system. This recession ravaged Emirate has suffered from enormous cost overruns on the project with the final price tag reaching 7.5 billion dollars, more than twice the projected cost. What’s more, only 10 of 29 stations have opened. And that’s just on one line. The other line has been delayed.

A station under construction in Dubai.

Who’s going to ride the new metro? Once the novelty wears off, it’s not hard to imagine that the well to do will simply return to business as usual and commute with their cars. But Dubai also has a large underclass of foreign workers, thousands of immigrants who have moved to Dubai to build the city’s lavish infrastructure projects. Perhaps the metro will serve them well.

System map. Photo by philcampbell.

For a video by Al Jazeera: