Dave Hilson is a Senior Service Network Planner with Auckland Transport. Dave has been at Auckland Transport (and predecessor organisations) for over 23 years in a variety of roles, joining the planning team around six years ago. Prior to this Dave started his career in public transport as a bus driver in Auckland. When Auckland Transport embarked on its New Network, a total revamp of the bus network, the city was broken up into areas for planning, consultation and implementation. Each area had the whole planning team working on them but had a lead planner. Dave was lead planner for North and Pukekohe/Waiuku, both of which have isolated rural/semi-rural areas in them. Dave enjoys the whole planning process from initial planning through consultation, finalisation of the network and implementation. As well as data and feedback received from the public and other organisations, it is invaluable to get out and talk to the public to get a first-hand view from users and potential users of public transport. When planning, Dave enjoys ‘looking outside the square’ to look for solutions. Although Dave enjoys getting right into the details of planning, right down to bus stop level, he derives great satisfaction from Auckland having a true bus network rather than just a number of individual public transport routes and trips. Dave enjoys the communications aspect of his role, both verbal and written, including board reporting, preparation of material for media channels, website writing and customer correspondence. Happy talking one-to-one or addressing a large audience from the public of all ages to local body politicians and Members of Parliament.

Axel has been active as a transport engineer in New Zealand since 1998, with some prior experience in Germany. He specialises in sustainable transport, urban traffic engineering, traffic signals, road safety, intersection modelling and transport planning. He shares his expertise through the delivery of professional training courses and university lectures. He is the instigator of the planning and design training courses for cycling. He has presented 80 papers and remits at conferences and workshops in Australasia. Axel’s skills have been sought for projects with a national scope. He was a member of the Cycling Safety Panel, convened by the NZ Transport Agency to advise the New Zealand government on cycling safety, and was technical advisor to the Ministry of Economic Development for the $50m NZ Cycle Trail project. He was ViaStrada’s team leader for the Cycling Network Guidance project that has given New Zealand its own planning and design guidance. He has undertaken numerous research projects in New Zealand and Australia. Axel is a Director of ViaStrada based in Christchurch.

Danial Jahanshahi is a PhD student in Transport Engineering at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Auckland. He has a M.A in Urban Management from Iran where he worked on transport psychology and management by focusing on the acceptability of bicycle sharing systems in a developing country. He has a B.S in civil engineering with experience in electrical engineering. Before starting university, Danial studied for seven years in NODET (National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents). His PhD research fundamentally deals with bicycle usage behaviour. Danial is drawn to the diversity amongst people's travel behaviour and is interested in analyzing and evaluating these diverse methods of transportation. Danial has various work experiences such as being a human resource consultant, bicycle sharing system planner and executive member, he was also a technical office expert in the green office at his previous university, freelance columnist, bicycle sharing system consultant and supervisor and executive member of numerous projects. Danial is happy to participate in voluntary activities that encourage active transportation. He has participated in national cycling events as well as national and international environmental exhibitions. Danial believes that academics have the responsibility to spread awareness to the public. In this regard, he worked as a freelance columnist and had twenty of his articles published by two newspaper outlets. The purpose of these articles is to raise awareness about a multitude of subjects that include sustainable transportation, transport culture and behaviour, environmentally friendly transportation and citizen participation.

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Melissa has over sixteen years of experience in planning and delivering school bus services. She joined Bay of Plenty Regional Council as a Transport Operations Officer three years ago and is now a Transport Advisor specialising in school transport. Her role is in managing public transport contracts, with a particular focus on public transport technologies including real-time tracking of buses and passenger facing information. Melissa has worked with the schools in Tauranga for many years, developing relationships and striving to create a culture of co-operation between schools, Council and bus operators. Access to education is extremely important, and the journey to and from school is an essential part of the learning experience for students of all ages.

Madie is currently a public transport planner for Auckland Transport working on improving the public transport across the region. She previously worked as a public transport scheduler and network optimisation specialist. Coming from a regional planning and urban design background, she developed a passion for public transport over the years. She practiced as an urban planner and urban designer overseas and in New Zealand.

Fraser has been the Service Performance Manager at Auckland Transport for over 8 years now. He leads a team that is responsible to optimise the operations of Auckland’s bus network. He studied Economics and had worked in the transport sector for 13 years in Auckland prior to his current role with Auckland Transport.