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More than 300 transit leaders gathered in Albany from October 16-18 for the New York Public Transit Association's Fall Conference and Expo. The event featured high-profile speakers including John Martin of the Southeastern Institute of Research, Greg Lindsay of the Connected Mobility Initiative, Joe Iaccobucci of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, Scott Bogren of CTAA, Dick White of APTA and more.
The Transit Industry Expo was sold out with more than 50 vendors. Special thanks to the business partners who play a significant role in supporting this important event: Transdev, Nova Bus, Prevost, Ecolane, Gillig, Allison Transmission, MCI, New Flyer, Wendel, Seifert Transit Graphics, BraunAbility, Creighton Manning, Engie Ineo, Lift-U, Matthews Commercial Buses, Stewart & Stevenson and USSC Group.
CDTA was recognized for its recent APTA Award of Best Mid-Size Transit Agency in North America, and eight individuals were graduated from the Public Transit Leadership Institute: Gary Bennett of NFTA, Patricia Cooper of CDTA, Geoff Hoff of Centro, Dan Holdsworth of CDTA, Megan Morsch of RTS, Susan Sherwood of Wendel, Julie Tolar of RTS and Chris Tuff of Centro. Two new Board members were elected at the NYPTA Annual Meeting: Scot Vanderpool, General Manager of TCAT, and John Andoh, Transit Director for Dutchess County.
The Conference was jointly organized by NYPTA, NYSDOT RTAP and FTA. Thank you to all who contributed and attended! If you haven't done so already, please give us your feedback by taking our brief survey.
Regional Transit Service (RTS) today announced that the Reimagine RTS survey is now available on the RTS website at www.myRTS.com/reimagine. The interactive survey is one way that customers and the community can participate in the Reimagine RTS system redesign study. Reimagine RTS is a planning process that RTS recently started to study and explore changes to the RTS fixed-route transit system in Monroe County.
“In order for the Reimagine RTS study to be a success, we need as much participation as possible from the community,” said RTS CEO Bill Carpenter. “If you are a current or former customer, a business partner, or someone who has never taken the bus before, please get involved and help us reimagine public transit in Rochester and Monroe County.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to “move heaven and earth” to install Positive Train Control on the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad, with the goal of preventing accidents.
“The clock is ticking on PTC and the deadline for full installation is fastapproaching, which is why it is shocking to know that the MTA could be in a position for yet another delay on this life-saving, crash-preventing technology,” Schumer said in a news release. “The technology is available and the money has been secured via a billion dollar federal loan I supported, so there’s simply no reason for the MTA to once again miss the upcoming Positive Train Control implementation deadline mandated by Congress.”
The head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said on Thursday that there is little appetite in the lower chamber right now for a hike in the federal gasoline tax.
The administration is considering a 7-cent gas tax increase to pay for President Trump’s long-stalled infrastructure plan, which would be the first federal hike in the fuel tax in more than two decades.
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) reportedly said that though there is little enthusiasm at present, members could get on board with the idea if the White House gets publicly involved on the issue and actively advocates for an increase. He emphasized that the president needs to take the lead on the infrastructure package.
New communications equipment aboard buses in Boise, Idaho, has already ensured stable, accurate, real-time online bus-tracking, on-board Wi-Fi and other features.
The network of new routers and other equipment has also opened the door for mobile-ticketing and additional improvements.
Trapeze Group and Lyft, the fastest growing on-demand transportation service in the U.S., are excited to announce they are working together to enhance demand response service, introducing a unique solution to unify public-private transportation in the U.S.
Currently, transit agencies use Trapeze’s transit enterprise solutions to manage and schedule paratransit service; however, by integrating with Lyft, transit agencies can also schedule paratransit rides on the Lyft platform through the Trapeze software.
BAE Systems has achieved a major milestone with the production of its 8,000th series hybrid electric drive system for transit buses. This milestone signifies a dramatic increase in demand for the company’s electric platforms that save fuel and reduce emissions. In the last two years, BAE Systems has delivered 3,000 systems, double the number the company shipped in the prior four years.
“The continued high demand for these systems is driven by the flexibility of the Series-E product line,” said Bob Lamanna, director of global transit sales and service at BAE Systems. “The line provides the reduced and zero-emission travel that transit agencies are looking for without the infrastructure challenges presented by fully electric solutions.”
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