Simon Collet

Background

About Simon Collet

As senior expert in the fields of innovative solutions for Public Transport, my amazing team and I drive some challenging transformations as the deployment of Demand Responsive Transit solutions integrated in the network, the support of the BRT projets in major cities, the improvement of intermodality & the roadmap of autonomous mobility. My 15 years experiment in network design & operations management helps me to keep feet on the ground but look towards better solutions. Till may 2022, I have mainly been operations director of the district of Namur for the TEC, the public transport operator in Wallonia, Belgium. I managed a service dedicated to design and monitor the network of 13 million commercial Km, with 4 units of drivers and controllers (480 people with staff). In addition, one third of the network is subcontracted, by historical contracts until 2018 but recently put in competition through a procedure of which I was public officer. As a project manager and operations manager at the Walloon public transport operator for more than 15 years, and through my commitment in new mobility solutions, I have been heavily involved in the dynamics of transforming public transport systems: both in terms of service design, by setting up concepts and business models for services that complement structural bus networks, and in operational terms, by coordinating multidisciplinary teams ranging from mechanical engineers to bus drivers and communication officers. Some projets: experimental innovative ecosystem of last mile mobility in Louvain-la-Neuve, called (autonomous Shuttle & DRT); normalization scenarios for bus operations in the COVID-19 context; network redeployment in collaboration with the transport authority. I also participate in many of the operator's internal developments by representing the operational sphere; this expertise is regularly called upon during professional conferences or workshops focusing on mobility and public transport issues.