Rethinking Infrastructure: Shashi Verma | Transport for London

Rethinking agglomeration: mass transit in the age of new mobility

TfL’s Chief Technology Officer Shashi Verma joins us for the next event in The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management’s 2017-18 keynote lecture series.

Rapidly increasing urbanisation and digitisation of society means that the need for smart, integrated transport is greater than ever. Efficient and sustainable transport infrastructure, seamlessly linked to modern payment and communications systems, are essential to continued economic and social growth and prosperity.
 
How can mass transport infrastructure both benefit from emerging technologies and combine them with effective transport policies? Agglomeration effects have brought about productivity advantages by clustering complementary economic activities, enabled and facilitated by effective transportation networks. How can we rethink the role of mass transit for economies of agglomeration in the age of smart systems and big data?
 
As CTO for Transport for London (TfL), Shashi Verma has led the development of contactless ticketing across TfL’s services, successfully implementing the world’s largest smartcard-based ticketing system in 2012.

The lecture will begin at 18.30 and will be followed by a networking reception from 19.30.

About our speaker

Shashi Verma is Chief Technology Officer and Director of Customer Experience at Transport for London (TfL). He joined TfL in September 2002.

Shashi has overall responsibility for TfL’s Technology and Data Strategy and for its Customer Strategy. Since 2006 Shashi has been responsible for the operation of TfL’s revenue collection system including the Oyster card, the largest smartcard-based ticketing system in the world.

In 2011 he added responsibility for integrating all customer facing activities and for running TfL’s customer service operations. Shashi has led the development of contactless payments since 2007 and implemented this successfully on TfL’s systems starting in 2012. In the process he has developed capability for technology development and globally leading innovation in a public sector organisation.

Shashi established, in 2002, the Corporate Finance team within TfL with responsibility for major projects and for the development of corporate strategy. He led on the development of Crossrail, a £16 billion project to build the next railway line in London, and on other projects such as the East London Line and White City, which resulted in the building of the Westfield shopping centre.