NEWS HEADLINES

Congress Debates Funding for FY 2011 and 2012

With a government shutdown looming as Passenger Transport went to press, legislators from both houses on Capitol Hill were presenting proposals on budgets for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012. Given the all-around push for reductions in spending, public transportation investment is still very much in flux. [More]

Millar Testifies Before T&I Subcommittee

APTA President William Millar was one of 19 witnesses testifying April 7 before the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, chaired by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA). The subject of the hearing was “Railroad and Hazardous Materials Transportation Programs: Reforms and Improvements to Reduce Regulatory Burdens.” [More]

High-Speed Rail Federal Investment: New Report Details Impact on Job Creation

APTA recently released a report detailing the enormous impact high-speed and intercity passenger rail projects will have in driving job development across America while also rebuilding the nation’s manufacturing sector and generating billions of dollars in business sales. The report, The Case for Business Investment in High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail, focuses on key issues critical to private investors as they consider investments or future expansion into businesses serving the growing passenger rail markets. [More]

Radio Documentary Showcases Public Transportation

Sirius XM satellite radio is launching Passengers, an audio documentary on public transportation, this weekend. APTA sponsored the documentary, which includes interviews with many APTA members. [More]

‘BusPlus’ Brings BRT to the Albany Area

The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) in Albany, NY, launched service April 4 on BusPlus, the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service in upstate New York. The limited-stop bus route operates between Albany and Schenectady along Central Avenue, the region’s busiest traffic corridor. [More]

DOT Reaches Out to Disability Community

As part of an outreach effort to provide better access to transportation services for persons with disabilities, DOT officials met April 1 with representatives from the disability and transportation communities to discuss President Obama’s 2012 budget, answer questions, and get feedback. [More]

GAO: U.S. Seniors Need Transportation Services

A new report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that an estimated 21 percent of U.S. residents age 65 and older are likely to need transportation services due to their inability to drive or lack of access to a vehicle. [More]

Tampa's PBSJ Now Atkins

The PBSJ Corporation of Tampa, FL, and its PBS&J subsidiary company are now known as Atkins, effective April 1. PBSJ has operated as a national business of Atkins in North America following its acquisition in October 2010. [More]

NCAA Champion: Houston METRORail

Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County provided an estimated 148,000 light rail rides to NCAA Final Four college basketball games at Reliant Stadium and related events at other venues during four days. [More]

Purchase the Royal Couple – on an Oyster Card!

Transport for London (TfL) knows what kind of crowds descend upon the city at the time of a royal wedding, and it’s doing its part by offering a limited-edition Oyster farecard commemorating the April 29 marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. [More]

Glines Dies; 40 Years in Transit Signaling

Robert H. Glines, 70, a 40-year employee of General Railway Signal Company (now part of Alstom), died March 26 in Penn Yan, NY. [More]

Barbour Dies; Longtime San Joaquin Board Member

James Barbour, 84, a board member of the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) in Stockton, CA, for more than 30 years, died March 24. [More]

McGlashan Dies; SMART Board Member Since 2005

Charles McGlashan, 49, vice chairman of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Board of Directors, died March 27 of an apparent heart attack during a ski trip to Lake Tahoe. [More]

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

Longtime Commuter Celebrates 22 Years of Laketran Ridership

In 1988, when Patty White began a job at KeyBank (then Ameritrust) in Cleveland, she planned on working downtown for a year, with hopes to relocate to another job closer to home. However, she discovered Laketran, the public transportation agency in Grand River, OH. [More]

Nashville’s MTA, Partners Save Through Fuel Hedging

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, TN (Metro), and its area agency partners—including the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)—report saving more than $1.7 million in fuel purchases because of a fuel-hedging program implemented 19 months ago. [More]

IN DEPTH

Study: Schedule, Map Design Improvements Yield Many Benefits
BY ALASDAIR CAIN, Former Senior Research Associate (2004-2010), Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, and JUDITH LAVELLE, Lavelle Consulting Group, Greeley, CO

The public transportation industry has known that the general public may have problems using transit schedules and maps. When a study conducted by the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida in Tampa found a success rate of only 52.5 percent, researchers realized that the problem was bigger than they thought. [More]

APTA NEWS

Business Networking Breakfast Returns to APTA Bus Conference

APTA business members will have the chance to make new business contacts and establish partnerships at a breakfast session Monday, May 23, as part of the APTA Bus & Paratransit Conference in Memphis, TN. [More]

Award Nominations Due April 22

The nomination deadline for the 2011 APTA Awards is April 22. [More]

Barrington Receives Scholarship

Last month, Glenn Barrington, operations manager at UMass Transit Services in Amherst, MA, received the American Public Transportation Foundation’s Frank Lichtanski Scholarship for 2011. [More]

Submit Multimodal Proposals Now

The APTA Multimodal Operations Planning Subcommittee invites all APTA members to submit abstract proposals by April 19 for presentations at the 2011 Multimodal Operations Planning Workshop, Aug. 15-17 in Seattle. [More]

Amtrak’s Engel Stresses Importance of High-Speed Rail in U.S.
BY SUSAN BERLIN, Senior Editor

“The rest of the world has been investing in high-speed rail, with more than 8,000 miles of high-speed rail globally,” said Albrecht (Al) Engel, vice president, high-speed rail, for Amtrak. “In a global economy, multinational companies will invest where they have the best mobility.” [More]

COMMENTARY

Every Day Should Be Earth Day for the Transit Industry
BY KEVIN DESMOND

 For 40 years, the transit industry has joined with others to celebrate Earth Day. This started long before the word “sustainability” entered our vocabulary. [More]