Finding purpose at the intersection of tech and transport

Transport for New South Wales was first established in 2011, and since then, the culture of putting customers and communities at the center of everything, and partnering with operational agencies, private operators, and industry to deliver passenger focus services and projects, has been a constant. As a leading advocate, chief innovation and technology officer Kurt Brissett is in charge of the technology and innovation team, and effectively responsible to deliver services for people and goods — whether on roads, trains, busses, ferries, metro, light rail, vehicles on demand, and even walking and cycling — for a population of about 8.5 million.

“We also deliver on the largest investment that New South Wales has made in transport infrastructure in history through our project delivery partners and industry experts,” he says. “My team and I have a vision to optimize the use of all types of technology to offer the best transport experience for our customers, communities, the transport system, and, of course, our workforce, and we ultimately want to use technology to create the safest, fastest, easiest, most reliable and most cost effective transport system in Australia.”

The success of that vision, carried throughout its nearly 30,000 employees, depends on a consistent effort to be laser-focused on applying the best of emerging tech and talent. “We don’t just operate transportation services; we deliver large-scale projects and for that, not only do we need technology roles and more developers, we require more testers and product managers,” says Brissett. “There’s also a raft of other roles that lend themselves to other skills, such as project managers, business analysts, change managers, and cyber security experts. And of course, we have a whole range of frontline staff roles across our various modes.”