On Feb. 16, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released an apportionment notice in the Federal Register concerning FY 2010 funds. [More]

 The first-ever International Practicums on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the United States were held in three U.S. cities the second week of February, bringing together a host of international speakers, representatives from the administration, and state and local officials. [More]

On Feb. 17—the one-year anniversary of enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced the recipients of federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grants for 51 transportation projects across the nation. [More]

The thousands of athletes and visitors attending the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC, are discovering a special public transportation option that can take them between Granville Island and the Canada Line Olympic Village Station: a modern streetcar line. [More]

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and numerous elected and community leaders Feb. 9 to celebrate the beginning of construction on the Central Subway, Phase 2 of the Third Street Light Rail Project. [More]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has nominated former Federal Transit Administrator (FTA) James S. Simpson to the transportation commissioner post and chairman of the New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) Board of Directors. In addition, James Weinstein, a past state transportation commissioner, was named executive director of NJ Transit. [More]

Hampton Roads Transit in Hampton, VA, announced Philip A. Shucet, a former commissioner of Virginia DOT, as its president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Michael Townes, who stepped down from the post. [More]

Tectrans, a transportation and technology firm headquartered in Los Angeles, has named 25-year transportation industry veteran Michael D. Griffus its president and chief executive officer. [More]

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) in Lewisville, TX, has selected Jim Cline as its new president, effective March 1 [More]

The Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) has announced the appointment of Marcia Ferranto as its new executive director. [More]

For the latest on what’s happening politically in Washington, DC, as well as an overview of the upcoming midterm elections, APTA members will not want to miss political commentator Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, who will headline the late afternoon “Welcome to Washington” session March 14 during the 2010 APTA Legislative Conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington.

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo are also speaking at this year’s conference. LaHood will address the March 15 Opening General Session, while Szabo will participate in the “Update from U.S. DOT” session that afternoon. [More]

On Feb. 9, more than three-quarters of voters in Walla Walla, WA, approved a 0.3 percent sales tax increase to support the Walla Walla County Public Transportation Benefit Area. This measure doubles the total transit sales tax rate to 0.6 percent. [More]

In public transportation circles, Bombardier is best known for the rail vehicles it produces. But the Montreal-based company also contributed a different type of technology to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games underway in Vancouver, BC—designing and manufacturing the Olympic torch. [More]

Federal Transit Administrator Peter M. Rogoff came to Denver Feb. 5 to announce federal funding for public transportation projects administered by the Regional Transportation District. [More]

Monique Pegues, 37, director of government relations for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T), died unexpectedly on Jan. 22. [More]

Bob Ellis, 84, the first board chair of Ben Franklin Transit (BFT) in Richland, WA, died Dec. 10, 2009. He served 12 years on the transit agency’s board, six of them as its chair, and 16 years on the Richland City Council, beginning in 1977. [More]

Harold Geissenheimer, 81, a public transportation professional in both the public and private sectors for more than 50 years, died Jan. 7. [More]

More than ever before—and no pun intended—technology drives public transportation. What are the key issues to look for in the year ahead? Here are some suggestions from an array of experts. [More]

Transit Technology refers to focusing on ways to apply existing technology in innovative ways, such as real-time data, customer-developed data applications, and augmented reality. I’d like to highlight some of these new technologies and what we can look for in the future. [More]

A small group of transit visionaries originally conceived the Transit Communications Interface Profiles (TCIP) standard during the “Blizzard of ’96” in Washington, DC, at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). This group designed a standard that would allow transit components and business systems from different sources to exchange information seamlessly. [More]

The use of advanced technologies is moving at such a pace these days that “transport proven” credentials are often hard to come by—because, no sooner does a technology becomes transport proven, it is out of date! This dynamic emphasizes the need for the work of the APTA Communications Subcommittee’s Technical Standards Working Group (TSWG1) in reviewing various types of technology for use in all aspects of public transport. [More]

Increasing numbers of North American public transit agencies are exploring the application of systems engineering. Systems engineering provides the means to create a successful design and deployment of complex systems. It also offers tools to manage the risks arising from increased use and integration of technologies. [More]

Many transit agencies have implemented automatic vehicle location (AVL)/computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems to manage real-time bus operations. Such systems generate large quantities of data, while dispatchers typically do not have sufficient time to digest the data for decision making or recognize patters of operational problems in a normal operating environment. [More]

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

He probably didn’t mean that literally. But a new product being used on public transit buses and paratransit vehicles harnesses a key element of sunlight to keep air-conditioning units cleaner, offering a healthier environment for both passengers and operators and saving transit systems time and money. [More]

The need—and benefits—for North American public transit authorities to deploy Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are becoming more and more appealing as the technologies mature. [More]

The vision here at the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is to promote safety and security on our multi-modal fleet. We have embarked on a state-of-the-art mobile video monitoring (MVM) program to provide video file downloads and real-time viewing on the fleet. [More]

“Writ large, the FTA [Federal Transit Administration] budget request [for Fiscal Year 2011] is $10.8 billion—a little larger than last year, but it is a tight budget in terms of everything we’d like to do and given the status of [federal transportation] authorization.”

That’s the news FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff gave, via conference call, to public transportation executives participating in the recent APTA Transit CEOs Seminar in Stuart, FL. [More]

APTA Chair M.P. Carter invited members of the Business Member Board of Governors (BMBG) to tell their stories and to take advantage of their APTA membership when she addressed the recent BMBG Annual Meeting in Hawaii. She also spoke about governance, workforce development, and the APTA Strategic Plan, which she described as the vehicle that will take the association to the next level. [More]

The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has set June 15 as the deadline for receiving problem statements for the Fiscal Year 2011 program. These submittals identify research needs for TCRP and form the basis for selection of the annual TCRP research program. [More]

Last year, the APTA Human Resources (HR) Committee, in collaboration with APTA’s Workforce Development Blue Ribbon Panel, launched a student outreach initiative—“9000 in ’09”—with a goal of telling 9,000 students about the many job and career opportunities available in the public transportation industry. APTA’s members and partner organizations helped the HR Committee exceed its goal by engaging almost 15,000 students. [More]

Dr. Catherine Ross, director of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, will address the April 11 General Luncheon during APTA’s 2010 Transportation and University Communities Conference in Athens, GA. [More]

Recently, a co-worker approached me with a confession. “I started taking the bus to work and I love it,” he said.

This person once told me, “My feet will never touch public transportation,” and he meant exactly what he said. [More]

WASHINGTON—Most everyone agrees that efficient roads, rails and air service are vital for our economy and our quality of life. Most of us see that without them, America will have a hard time competing against rising powers worldwide. [More]

Passenger Transport announces the following hirings and promotions in public transportation agencies and suppliers. Items appear in People on the Move in the order they are received. [More]