Passenger Transport Express - 06/16/2017 (Plain Text Version)HEADLINE NEWSRail Conference Focuses on Innovation, Safety, Funding
More than 1,200 people attended APTA's 2017 Rail Conference and related activities, including the International Rail Rodeo and the Products & Services Showcase, in Baltimore, MD, June 11-14. Safety, Security Prior to the conference’s official start, APTA convened two special sessions focused on safety and security challenges in public transportation. The two-day Security and Emergency Management Roundtable, cosponsored with TSA, June 9-10, focused on common challenges facing transit police forces, security directors and emergency managers. Participants discussed such topics as terrorism and security, technology, large events, multiagency policing models and active attackers. It also featured a CEOs panel; a review of technology applications by Robert Pryor, director, intermodal security technology division, TSA; a discussion of recent terrorism incidents and security concerns in Europe by Christine Halvorsen, deputy assistant director, FBI; an update from the FTA Office of Safety Review; and a discussion of recent safety and security incidents with representatives of TriMet in Portland, OR, Denver’s Regional Transportation District and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. In addition, APTA convened the Safety Management System (SMS) Workshop and Safety Seminar on June 10, cosponsored with the Transportation Research Board. The workshop, attended by more than 70 participants, began with a keynote address by Robert Sumwalt, acting chair, National Transportation Safety Board. It featured two panel discussions on SMS—one that provided an industry update with transportation company and agency executives and one that presented a regulatory update with representatives from the FTA, FRA and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board. The workshop also included a roundtable discussion related to setting up and managing an SMS and the challenges transit agencies and others are having with SMS implementation. Safety and Security Excellence Awards APTA announced the winners of its 2017 Rail Safety & Security Excellence Awards June 12 during the Opening General Session of the Rail Conference. The Gold Awards went to Metro Transit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, for safety, light rail/streetcar; Certificates of merit went to San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for safety, light rail/streetcar; Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for security, light rail/streetcar; and Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority for safety, heavy rail. International Rail Rodeo Celebrates Operators, Maintainers Overall Team Achievement for the highest combined score, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Oakland, CA; first place, maintainer team, BART; first place, operator category, Valley Transportation Authority, Santa Clara, CA. Press Conference
At an APTA national press briefing during the conference, industry leaders voiced their opposition to President Trump’s proposed budget cuts to critically important public transit projects, putting an estimated 800,000 jobs at risk nationwide, from light rail in Seattle to the Gateway Project in metropolitan New York. They were: Nuria Fernandez, general manager/CEO, Valley Transportation Authority, San Jose, CA; Mark Fuhrmann, deputy general manager, Metro Transit, Minneapolis, MN; Sharon Greene, senior vice president, Global Head of Finance Practice for HDR; John Porcari, interim executive director, Gateway Program; Peter Rogoff, CEO, Sound Transit, Seattle, WA; and Gary Thomas, president/executive director, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Dallas, TX. APTA Acting President and CEO Richard White also participated and APTA Chair Doran Barnes moderated the event. Watch this one-minute clip. Find more conference coverage in the next issue of Passenger Transport.
Highway Trust Fund Gets Bipartisan Support in House for 'Long-Term Fix'
More than 250 members of the House of Representatives representing both sides of the political aisle signed onto a letter from Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), chair, House Ways & Means Committee, calling for a long-term fix for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Graves is chair of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and Norton is the subcommittee’s ranking member. The subcommittee oversees policy and the Ways & Means Committee oversees funding. “The president has made rebuilding our transportation network a priority, and rightfully so,” Graves said. “But, instead of thinking a one-time, trillion dollar investment would solve our long-term infrastructure problems, my focus is on making sure we’re being responsible in how we plan for and fund projects in the future.” He called the current discussions on tax and infrastructure reform the “perfect opportunity to fix the HTF.” [return to top] Public Transit Helps Define 'Best' Cities
As millennials continue to move to urban areas, Growella, a financial education website, examined data from more than 70 public resources to focus on six key factors that define the best cities for young people.
Two of the factors are related to public transit: “How much time is spent commuting in the city,” and “What’s the public transportation situation like in the city?” The website measured and weighed all the factors and ranked 100 urban areas for people under the age of 35. Find out if your city made the top 25 here. Find additional details about the analysis at www.growella.com. SAVE THE DATE
July 22-25 IN THE MEDIA
Financing’s Uncertain Future: Many public transit projects and the jobs associated with them are increasingly at risk as President Trump’s proposals to boost infrastructure by leveraging private capital and to zero out the Capital Investment Grant program face questions from public transit agencies and Capitol Hill. See the article here. Tools for Reform: What’s the impact of the president’s proposals to reform the infrastructure permitting process? Two U.S. senators—one Republican, one Democrat—and other experts say the proposed reforms replicate current efforts mandated in MAP-21 and the FAST Act. Read more here. That’s a Rap: Want more riders on your buses? Follow the lead of the creative folks at Go Triangle in Raleigh, NC, who put together a fun video that sings the praises of ridership with rhythms and rhymes—just in time for APTA’s National Dump the Pump Day. Watch here. More Dump the Pump: Who’s doing what for Dump the Pump? See this recap of just a few events out of the hundreds that took place at public transit agencies from coast to coast and border to border. [return to top] NOTABLE & QUOTABLE
“The best thing we can do for this country’s transportation infrastructure is bring long-term certainty to the Highway Trust Fund. What we need is a modern, sustainable system that keeps revenues flowing so states are able to invest in projects as they come up, not once it’s too late.” |