Vir brings advanced analysis and global perspectives to community-oriented transportation solutions, striving to center transit-dependent populations in his work.
Vir Chachra is a transportation planner and data scientist with experience in multi-modal planning across cities, states, and transit agencies. Vir has worked on projects spanning transit network design, service optimization, travel demand modeling, corridor analysis, and national-level transportation policy in the US and internationally. His project work includes the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Bus Network Redesign, where he led the optimization analysis and network design, bringing 25% additional service to the MBTA bus network, as well as the Northeast Corridor’s (NEC) Connect C37 capital plan, modeling $80 billion worth of investment into its future. Vir’s work centers on sustainability, data science, and transportation justice, striving to improve the livelihoods of transit-dependent communities.
Before joining Foursquare ITP, Vir worked on transformational projects as a global planner and researcher. While at MIT, Vir contributed to international transportation policy at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. He worked with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in Mexico to understand travel flows for national transit infrastructure investment. His graduate thesis work took him to Germany, where he analyzed fare policy improvements that could be applied to US contexts. Today, these experiences add global perspectives to Vir’s work, allowing him to pull on precedents worldwide.
Education
Master in City Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BA, Environmental Economics
Middlebury College