Member Profile: Eric Rago

Eric Rago

Director, Location Partnerships & Strategy at Getaround

“I currently work for Getaround, a leading car-sharing company that operates in over 950 cities worldwide. I lead our public partnerships, private partnerships, strategy, and operations teams. These teams are focused on creating partnerships to grow carshare from a single hotel to entire cities. Prior to joining Getaround, I was one of the first employees for ParkWhiz, a platform that makes it easy to find, book, and pay for parking, where I helped scale the company nationally and launched the NYC market.”

1. What is your favorite YPT-NYC memory?  

I really enjoy all the great panels where we can learn from thought leaders in transportation. I am looking forward to meeting more of the YPT-NYC community in person.  

 
2. If you could snap your fingers and make one change to regional transportation, what would it be?

Increase the utilization of curb space by reserving more for Open Streets, restaurants, loading zones, and shared mobility like carshare, bikeshare, and micromobilty.   

3. What sparked your passion to work in the transportation industry?  

At a young age, I struggled to understand why traffic and congestion couldn’t be solved. This led me to join a startup to help reduce congestion by directing cars to off-street parking. From there I was hooked, now I collect subway cards and look at parking garages wherever I travel. 

4. What are you working on that you’re most excited by? 

Getaround’s vision is to make cities and communities better places to live, which means bringing affordable transportation options to NYC and other cities. Transportation is the second-highest cost for households. Increasing shared mobility in areas that have few accessible transportation options means a more equitable transportation network. I’m proud that Getaround rates are significantly less than other carshare providers and can help extend the reach of fixed-route transit. 

5. What career advice would you give to other YPT’ers interested in your career path?

Find an organization that you are passionate about and find a way to get your foot in the door. Do not focus on the initial title or role, instead put yourself in a position to prove your value and the rest will work itself out. If you’re passionate about reducing traffic and bringing mobility options to cities, our team is growing!

6. What famous celebrity do you think should be given the opportunity to voice a NYCT Subway Announcement?

Mars Blackmon, AKA Spike Lee with a cameo from Michael Jordan. [Ed. This would be sick.]