In a unanimous vote Nov. 17, the APTA Board of Directors named Paul P. Skoutelas to serve as the association’s next president and chief executive officer. Skoutelas has spent his entire career in public transportation, leading transit systems in Pittsburgh and Orlando, and as a senior vice president with WSP USA. [More]

NEWS HEADLINES

Congressional Outlook for Tax Reform

House and Senate Republicans have been working to pass tax reform legislation by the end of this year. The House passed its proposed tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), on Nov. 16. [More]

Metra Completes Upgrades to McCormick Place Station

Metra commuter rail in Chicago joined the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) recently to unveil an upgrade to the station at McCormick Place. [More]

Broward County Transit Selected as a Model for Operations in Barbados

Six Ohio Agencies Receive State EPA Emissions Grants

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded a total of $10.4 million in ­Diesel Emission Reduction Grants to six public transit agencies in the state for the replacement of older buses with newer, alternatively fueled or cleaner vehicles. [More]

DBEs Receive More than $1 Billion Through RTD's FasTracks

Denver’s Regional Transportation District has disbursed more than $1 billion to small businesses—including women- and minority-owned and disadvantaged companies—over the past 12 years through the voter-approved FasTracks initiative to strengthen the region’s public transit infrastructure and boost the local economy. [More]

Senate Approves Kan as DOT Under Secretary

METRO Celebrates the Astros' Victory

As hundreds of thousands of Astros fans gathered in downtown Houston for the parade celebrating the team’s first World Series win, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) joined in. [More]

New CEO Named: Eagan Kelleman, Port Authority of Allegheny County

Pittsburgh’s Port Authority of Allegheny County has named ­Katharine Eagan Kelleman its new chief executive ­officer, effective January 2018. [More]

In Memoriam: Baer, Past CEO, St. Louis Metro

Robert J. Baer, 80, president and chief executive officer of Metro in St. Louis from 1974-77 and again from 2007 until his retirement in 2010, died Nov. 12. [More]

APTA NEWS

APTA to Host 4th Annual High-Speed Rail Policy Forum

APTA will host its Fourth Annual High-Speed Rail Policy Forum, “Getting to a Tipping Point for High-Performance Intercity Passenger Rail,” Nov. 29 at the APTA offices in Washington, DC. [More]

2017 Mid-Year Safety Seminar Focuses on Rules and Regulations

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

FTA Schedules Webinars

FTA has announced two upcoming webinars: on Transit Asset Management internal coordination, Nov. 30, and FTA’s Strategic Transit Automation Research plan, Dec. 6. [More]

SMART Reaches Out to Sonoma County Fire Victims

Chilean Bus Program Seeks U.S. Commercial Proposals

The U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, seeks proposals for a bus renovation program in progress at Transantiago, the public transit system in Santiago, Chile. [More]

Foothill Transit Introduces Long Range Electric Bus

Foothill Transit in West Covina, CA, introduced the nation’s first-ever long-range electric bus to service Nov. 3 on a 22-mile round trip route. [More]

Clara White Mission Operates Cafe for JTA Employees

COMMENTARY

Access to Jobs by Public Transit Increases in Many U.S. Metropolitan Areas

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Who's Doing What in the Industry

Passenger Transport announces the following hirings and promotions in public transportation agencies and business members. Items appear in People on the Move as space permits. [More]