Navigating the Data-Driven Path to Smart Mobility ft. Rob Roemers

Data Strategy Guru's

Welcome to a riveting episode of "Data Strategy Guru's!" In today's episode, our host Yves Mulkers is joined by Rob Roemers, a leader in the data analytics space specializing in public transport operations. Rob provides profound insight into how digital twins are transforming the management of people flow in public transportation, the challenges associated with transitioning to electric buses, and the exciting potential of large language models in data management. He also discusses innovative European initiatives in data management for public transportation and shares his personal journey in the data analytics field. Hit the thumbs up button if you find value in our conversation, and don't forget to subscribe and share the podcast. Let's together drive innovation in industry! Enjoy the show!

Rob Roemers is an influential figure within the Brussels public transport operator, MVBE. Despite the organization's humble beginnings of horse-driven trams, it has evolved to become a modern provider of bus, tram, and metro services. Roemers played a role in significant operations such as scheduling and resource planning, although he doesn't lay claim to introducing data analytics to the company. Core to the organization and Roemers' work ethic is an engineering-driven perspective, which is reflected in their expansive transport system, including their metro construction efforts.

[00:00] Intro
[00:30] Brussels public transport - history, engineering, development.
[04:16] Overcoming engineering-driven culture to embrace data.
[06:12] Debate over cloud storage for vehicle data.
[10:11] Insight-driven company focuses on data utilization.
[12:48] Analyze data, find what's already known.
[18:37] Exploring partnership opportunities, sharing knowledge, and collaboration.
[19:31] Mobib card, consulting for unified public transport data.
[25:48] Ongoing discussion on data and change management.
[28:10] Focused on revenue, delivered value, achieved success.
[30:16] Focused on self-service analytics, streamlining report creation.
[33:23] Used data from different Belgian companies for innovation.
[39:09] Leveraging digital twin technology for urban planning.
[40:48] Monitoring people flow for efficient metro planning.
[45:21] EU pushing for integrated multi-modal transport.
[47:37] Exploring value of data management in chat.
[50:53] Language model companies facing low profit margins.
[55:56] Wrap up and thanks.