Technology, as we know it, is rapidly evolving—faster than we can keep up with it. This highlights the growing demand for skilled information professionals who can navigate the vast array of information and data efficiently, creatively and ethically while also understanding the broader societal impacts of our ever-changing information/digital landscape.
As transportation agencies prepare for this evolution in digital products and services, two powerful tools can be deployed to ensure employees, customers and users alike are not left behind: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and user experience design (UXD).
It is imperative as professionals we remain true to our discipline of diversifying talent, ensuring everyone benefits equally from the product and/or service, and being inclusive of other perspectives and experiences. UXD further enables these values, allowing innovative technology to not only accommodate different experiences, but create new ones that all can enjoy.
Austin Bernier and Sophia Currier, RideFlag Technologies’ two lead designers, are at the forefront of digital innovation. While Bernier’s sociological lens emphasises human behaviour, social structures and inclusivity, Currier’s business-oriented mindset focuses on strategy, efficiency and scalability. This interplay of perspectives enables them to challenge, refine and build upon each other’s ideas—diverging in thought to explore possibilities and converging on innovative, user-centred solutions.
Bridging UX and DEI
Throughout his work, Bernier applies an understanding of human behaviour to empathise with users and create meaningful digital solutions. The need for inclusive decision-making has never been more critical. For too long, mobility policies have been shaped without meaningful input from diverse user groups, such as marginalised communities, disabled individuals and lower-income travellers.
Bernier's work in DEI within transportation agencies helps address these gaps, ensuring that policies and technologies reflect the realities of all users, not just the majority. His commitment to equity is particularly evident in his user research, including a successful year-long equity pilot programme assessing
RideFlag’s ability to verify carpool occupants through the user’s smartphone device. The findings from this innovative research not only improved the app’s accuracy and reliability but also enhanced its overall usability.
Looking ahead, Bernier continues to explore new ways to merge DEI with user experience research, leveraging digital transformation to build solutions that are accessible, fair, and human-centred.
Balancing UX through design strategy
Sophia Currier approaches user experience design through a more strategic lens, focusing on identifying and solving the right problems for users: “I find the strategy behind design fascinating. As a designer, I have a duty to advocate and create for the user while also considering the client's needs. That’s where the intersection of strategy and design comes into play, allowing me to find creative solutions that bring the best of both worlds.”
Currier is optimising the user experience to create seamless interactions for users while also meeting the mandates and objectives of client solutions at RideFlag. This strategic approach to design aligns closely with tolling project management, where negotiation, communication, leadership and design thinking are essential skills.
User experience design is often defined as the holistic interaction a user has with a product or service, but Currier sees it as more nuanced. She believes UX extends beyond the moment of interaction, encompassing the emotions, needs and lasting impact a design has on the people it serves.
UX, DEI and the road ahead
Historically, transportation systems have been built with a one-size-fits-all approach, often leaving gaps in accessibility, usability and fairness. However, in an era of increasing reliance on data-driven decision-making, emerging technologies, and real-time mobility services, agencies are realising successful implementation requires being inclusive of human experiences. Deploying a human-centred approach is an effective tool all professionals in the industry can use when innovating, allowing equity to permeate in transportation policy and mobility solutions to help meet the needs of all travellers.
Embedding DEI principles is more than just a moral obligation, it is a strategic advantage. As digital solutions shape the way people interact with the world, designing with all users in mind is essential. DEI-driven innovation ensures that technology is accessible, equitable, and inclusive of diverse identities, backgrounds, and abilities. This approach fosters trust, removes barriers, and ultimately drives broader adoption and long-term success.
RideFlag’s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) verification app exemplifies the integration of DEI with cutting-edge technology. By prioritising inclusivity in both development and testing, RideFlag minimises biases that could disproportionately impact certain demographics. For example, their equity-focused approach ensures a consistent experience across different skin tones and age groups, enhancing both the accuracy and accessibility of the verification process.
User experience design plays a pivotal role in translating DEI principles into tangible product outcomes. Through extensive user research and engagement with diverse communities, UX designers identify barriers and create intuitive, inclusive and accessible experiences. UXD also enhances inclusivity by advocating for features that minimise biases, such as avoiding overly technical language, implementing high-contrast visuals and integrating voice-enabled navigation.
At the intersection of DEI and UXD, technology becomes more equitable and human-centred. Aligning innovation with inclusivity sets a standard for how technology can foster connection and empowerment in an increasingly diverse world.
How IBTTA is involved
Austin Bernier is an active member of IBTTA’s Outreach, Opportunity, & Engagement Committee, which is committed to listening, learning and taking meaningful action toward racial and social justice within the tolling industry and beyond. As a Momentum Leader for the committee’s Enlightenment Working Group, he helps lead initiatives that deepen understanding of diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias. Through safe-space conversations, book discussions, and the Diversity Speaker Series, he supports IBTTA members in recognising inequities and becoming celebrated upstanders in their workplaces and communities.
In February 2025, he presented on ‘code-switching’ at IBTTA’s Leadership Academy. Originally a linguistic term, code-switching in a broader social context extends to adjusting one’s behaviour, appearance or speech to conform to different cultural expectations in various settings. Bernier explored strategies for fostering inclusivity, building rapport, and creating environments where individuals feel comfortable being their authentic selves—ultimately reducing the pressure to code-switch.
Sophia Currier has spoken at multiple IBTTA conferences on the importance of UX design, exploring its intersections with accessibility and sustainability: "It feels good to know you're making an impact on people's daily lives with your product - you do your best to ensures it is a seamless and positive experience."
Her passion for collaboration and leadership has led her to serve on multiple IBTTA councils and working groups, including the Young Professional Council Steering Committee (where she chairs the Career Growth subcommittee), the Women in Tolling Events subcommittee, the Emerging Technology Committee, and the Sustainability & Resilience Task Force.
In her upcoming Tech Talk at the IBTTA Technology Summit, Currier will highlight the ‘grey digital divide’ — the gap in digital accessibility affecting older generations—as the tolling industry accelerates its push toward digital transformation. She will urge agencies and businesses not to overlook a significant elderly customer base, many of whom may not be tech-savvy, yet remain essential stakeholders. A key distinction is that age does not determine ability, a principle that applies not only to digital literacy but to many other aspects of accessibility and inclusion.
IBTTA’s Technical Summit takes place in Dallas on 23-25 March 2025
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sophia Currier is user experience (UX) design & project delivery manager and Austin Bernier is UX designer & researcher; both work for RideFlag Technologies
