About Elliott McFadden
Elliott McFadden is the founder of McFadden Mobility Consulting and is a veteran of the shared-use transportation industry. His career has involved taking on ambitious, visionary plans and helping organizations adapt and move to the next level. He is a nationally recognized leader on shared-use mobility, having been an invited speaker at over a dozen conferences around the country.
Austin B-cycle and OjO Electric
Elliott recently wrapped up a 6-year tenure as the Executive Director of Bike Share of Austin, the 501c3 non-profit that operates the Austin B-cycle bike share system. As the founding CEO of Austin B-cycle, he launched and grew the system from 11 stations to 76 stations with over 1 million customer trips taken, partnering with the City of Austin to secure and implement funding through STP-MM, TAP, city GO bonds, and private sources, and worked to set national ridership records, besting New York City’s bike share program in his first year.
Elliott led the efforts to craft multiple strategic plans for the system, which involved extensive ridership and business modeling as well as leading an internal product development team using Lean Startup/Agile principals and Scrum-style develop cycles. This work led to a expansion UT campus system which enrolled over 15,000 students in Austin B-cycle, the launch of a dockless bike share satellite system at The Domain, Austin’s second downtown, and a product development and management partnership with OjO Electric to launch their first seated-scooter share system in the world in Austin. His innovative leadership also resulted in the deployment of the first pre-paid value-add cash card in the bike share industry, a partnership with RideScout (now Moovel) to pilot the first app based checkout system for BCycle systems, and a complete electric bike development roadmap from customer field interviews to define problem and solution to field piloting and plans to scale.
North American Bike Share Association
While at Austin B-cycle, Elliott co-founded the North American Bike Share Association and was elected as board treasurer by his peers. He led the efforts to create a strategic plan for the organization, represented the industry in Washington at meetings with U.S. DOT and members of Congress, and hosted the 3rd annual member conference in Austin.
Austin CarShare
In 2006, Elliott founded and was first Executive Director of Austin CarShare, the first carsharing system in Texas and precursor to car2go. He recruited the initial board and developed the business plan, negotiated the use of public space, secured the funding, and launched the system in downtown Austin. After launch, he operated the system and laid the groundwork for further expansion with the City of Austin as a major system customer.
Communications Leader
For nearly a decade, Elliott was the managing partner at the communications advocacy firm Ignite Consulting. He provided strategic communications advice for dozens of candidate and issue campaigns and non-profit clients including 2004 Austin Commuter Rail proposal, Travis County Healthcare District initiative and 2008 Hays County Road Bonds. In 2013, he built the strategic plan and led the successful effort to pass a $65 million housing bond in Austin just a year after a similar effort had failed at the ballot box.
Visionary skills
Strategic planning and business modeling
Operational management expertise
Well versed in Lean Startup and Agile product development principles
Two decade veteran of communications tactics and strategies
TRansformative Accomplishments
Founding CEO of Austin-B-cycle
At Austin B-cycle, grew system 7-times launch size, set national records, and innovated in e-bikes, dockless bike and scooter systems, and equity services
Co-founder and board member of North American Bike Share Association
Inaugral member of BCycle Operator Advisory Group
Founder and CEO of Austin Carshare, first carsharing system in Texas
Managing partner at Ignite Consulting, helping dozens of candidate and issue clients win their campaigns