Passenger Transport - 12/04/2015

CLASSIFIEDS

» The Riverside Transit Agency has an opening for an operations supervisor. [More]

» The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is looking for a transit master scheduler and run cutter. [More]

» The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation seeks proposals for a transit advertising program. [More]

TO PLACE AN AD: E-mail the requested date(s) of publication to: ptads@apta.com. Mailing address is: Passenger Transport, 1300 I Street NW, Suite 1200 East, Washington, DC 20005. Ad copy is not accepted by phone. DEADLINE: 3 p.m. EST, Friday, one week prior to publication date. INFORMATION: Phone (202) 496-4877.

APTA Chair Valarie J. McCall at CUTA Conference, Board Meeting; Says Collaboration Is Key to Success

APTA Chair Valarie J. McCall represented the association and its members at the recent Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) 2015 Fall Conference and Trans-Expo in Montréal, where she stressed the value of collaboration to public transportation.

In her remarks before CUTA Chair Daniel Bergeron and the CUTA board, McCall greeted the attendees in French and then explained why she is focused on collaboration as APTA chair. “Public transportation’s successful future depends on working with groups and individuals outside the world of transit,” she said.

Referring to the value of public sector partnerships, McCall cited the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and the National Association of Regional Councils as groups that can help public transit systems gain support, increase funding and implement innovative ideas. “These organizations are natural allies of our industry,” she said. McCall is chief of government and international affairs for the city of Cleveland.

McCall praised CUTA President and CEO Patrick Leclerc for his efforts to continue the good relationship between CUTA and APTA. (The partnership was a catalyst for the first APTA-CUTA International Practicum on Innovative Transit Funding and Finance involving more than 150 transit professionals and a follow-up study mission to Stockholm, Munich and London last year.) “These types of collaborative successes ought to guide our alliance in the coming year,” she said.

The event attracted more than 750 attendees from North America and Europe, including 120 exhibitors. The trade show, Canada’s largest public transit and bus exhibition, was visited by McCall and other senior industry leaders, public officials and stakeholders. It featured 60,000 square feet of products, vehicles and services displayed by manufacturers and suppliers from around the world.

During the conference, McCall participated in a meeting of CUTA’s communications and public affairs committee, telling the group that its work is vital to the future of public transportation because “it defines how people perceive what we do to connect them to what they need … to what they want … and what they aspire to achieve.”

McCall, a board member of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and former chair of the APTA Transit Board Members Committee, also met with CUTA’s transit board members committee to emphasize the value that diverse public transit board members bring to the industry. “Your input is critical to the vitality of public transit agencies,” she told the committee.

Patrick Scully, chair of the APTA Business Member Board of Governors and executive vice president of sales and marketing at Motor Coach Industries, also attended the event.

McCall underscored Scully’s representation of APTA business members by highlighting examples of collaboration between the public and private sectors, especially on integrated mobility issues, noting that public transit systems partner with manufacturers and on-demand ride businesses, car-sharing and bike-sharing networks and companies like Google.