Passenger Transport August 2017 Vol 75 No 15 - 28

Keolis Contracts with Foothill
Transit - Keolis has entered into an
eight-year operations and maintenance
contract with Foothill Transit, West
Covina, CA. The contract covers local
fixed and express route transit services,
including maintenance of a 139-vehicle
fleet.

People On The Move
city. The project ultimately will provide
3.1 megawatts of installed capacity,
increasing the city's total capacity by
more than 30 percent.

SANDAG Plan Earns National
Honor - San Diego Forward: The

Area Rapid Transit District (BART) Board
of Directors recently approved a Wholesale Electricity Portfolio Policy that will
guide future energy purchases. Under
this policy, BART's electricity portfolio
must come from at least 50 percent
eligible renewable sources and at least
90 percent low and zero carbon sources
by 2025 and 100 percent from zero carbon sources by 2035.

Regional Plan, presented by the San
Diego Association of Governments
(SANDAG), recently received the top
honor, "Best of the Best," in the 2017
Transportation Planning Excellence
Awards presented biennially by FHWA
and the American Planning Association. To be selected, San Diego Forward
had to meet several criteria, including a
holistic approach to transportation planning, an innovative view of a critical
issue, significant benefits to transportation users and a commitment to collaborating with partners and stakeholders.

Website Improvements in Little
Rock - Rock Region Metro, North

EMBARK Selects Herzog as
Streetcar Operator - EMBARK in

Little Rock, AR, recently implemented
user-friendly updates to its website,
rrmetro.org. A new "mega-menu" makes
navigation easier throughout the site
and includes seasonal messaging to
highlight specific campaigns.

Oklahoma City has awarded a six-year
contract to Herzog Transit Services Inc.
for the startup, operation and maintenance of the seven-vehicle Oklahoma
City Streetcar system expected to enter
service in late 2018. The $131 million
MAPS 3 project started construction in
January. The contract provides for turnkey operations, vehicle maintenance
and facility maintenance for the streetcar system.

BART Prepares for Clean Power
Portfolio - The San Francisco Bay

JTA Partners with Beachside
Buggies - The Jacksonville (FL)
Transportation Authority has become
an official sponsor of Beachside Buggies, a private organization that provides
year-round complimentary, on-demand
transportation in beach communities
with zero-emission electric carts and
14-passenger vans.

Riders Share 'MyCaltrain' Stories -
Caltrain recently launched its "#MyCaltrain Testimonial" ad campaign with a
30-second commercial spot focusing on
its riders' experiences and needs. Riders
share what they like best about the service, such as avoiding freeway traffic,
comfort, reliability and the ability to be
productive while commuting.
Valley Metro Delivers Books to
Schools - Employees of Valley Metro
in Phoenix and its service provider, First
Transit, collected and donated more than
2,000 books to three schools in Tempe,
AZ, through the agency's Driving for
Books initiative. The donation idea
began with Jermaine Bethea, a Valley
Metro operator who formerly drove a
school bus in Tempe.

SARTA Upgrades Its Website

-
The Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA), Canton, OH, has redesigned
its website to make all information more
accessible to mobile users. Improvements
include improved access to the trip
planner, an easier-to-use fare purchasing
feature and a SARTA and community
events calendar.

SEPTA Maintenance Shops Going
Solar - Philadelphia's Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
approved the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at four bus and rail
maintenance shops-the agency's largest solar initiative and, when complete,
one of the largest installations in the

28 | Passenger Transport

Proterra Joins Global Charging
Standards Group - Proterra recently
became the first North American manufacturer of electric buses to join the
Charging Interface Initiative, a Berlinbased international organization developing and establishing a standard for
charging battery-powered electric vehicles of all kinds.

Riverside's 'Beach Bus' in Season -
The Riverside (CA) Transit Agency (RTA)
provides express service from southwest
Riverside County to the Oceanside
beaches until the end of August, operating seven days a week. The one-hour
ride to and from the beach also offers
access to free Wi-Fi, USB charging ports,
comfortable seating and luggage racks-
including room for a surfboard.
INIT Implements Sacramento Area
Farecard - INIT Innovations in Transportation Inc. recently implemented
operation of the regional Connect Card
fare collection system for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments
(SACOG). The system incorporates nine
public transit agencies in six counties
with more than 500 buses and approximately 80 light rail stations, serving a
population of 2.5 million.

LBT's Summer Service to
Museums - Long Beach (CA) Transit
(LBT) riders can access cultural destinations including the Griffith Park Observatory, Getty Center, Norton Simon
Museum and Los Angeles Arboretum
with a single $10 fare on the Museum
Express bus, which operates Thursday
through Sunday until Labor Day.

Watson to Retire from Capital Metro
AUSTIN, TX-Linda Watson, president and chief executive
officer of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
(Capital Metro) since 2010, has announced her retirement
effective Dec. 31.
Watson has nearly 35 years of experience in the public
Watson
transit industry, including more than 20 years as a CEO.
Before joining Capital Metro, she was CEO of LYNX in Orlando, FL, and the
Corpus Christi (TX) Regional Transportation Authority and deputy CEO of the
Fort Worth Transportation Authority.
She is a member of numerous APTA committees and served from 2002-2005
as vice chair-human resources on the Executive Committee.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR-

tive Officer & General
Manager Dwight
A. Ferrell has been
appointed to the
board of directors of
the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,
an internationally
Ferrell
acclaimed orchestra with a history dating back more than 120 years.

Jarod Varner, executive director of Rock
Region Metro for the
past four years, has
announced that he is
stepping down effective Aug. 18 to take
a regional leadership
role with First Transit.
He is a graduate of
Varner
the Leadership APTA
Class of 2009 and a member of the
APTA Board of Directors and numerous
committees.

WASHINGTON, DC-U.S. DOT has
appointed David B. Horner and Steve
McMillin as federal representatives to the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority (WMATA) Board of Directors.
Horner is a partner at Hunton & Williams law firm in Washington, focusing
on P3s and development of transportation infrastructure. From 2005-2009,
he was DOT deputy assistant secretary
for transportation policy and FTA chief
counsel.
McMillin, a partner at U.S. Policy
Metrics in Washington, has more than
20 years of policy experience, including
serving as deputy director of the White
House Office of Management and Budget from 2006-2009.
They succeed Carol Carmody, former vice chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board, and David
Strickland, former administrator of
the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
LOS ANGELES-Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti has begun
a new term as chair
of the Los Angeles
Metro Board of Directors, succeeding John
Fasana, mayor pro
tem of Duarte. This is
Garcetti's second term Garcetti
as board chair.
CINCINNATI-Cincinnati Metro
announced the promotion of Brandy
Jones to external
affairs director after
serving in posts
including internal
communications coordinator, public relations manager and,
most recently, external
Jones
affairs manager. Earlier
she was an account coordinator at the
Kevin Wilson Public Relations Agency.
Also, Cincinnati Metro Chief Execu-

ANN ARBOR, MI-Chris White, an
Photo by Doug Coombe

Industry Briefs

employee of the Ann
Arbor Area Transportation Authority
(TheRide) since 1980,
has retired. He joined
the agency as planning coordinator and
was manager of service
White
development from
1985 until his retirement. During his
37-year tenure with TheRide, he helped
launch specialized services including
A-Ride demand-response for older riders and riders with disabilities, and
helped establish park-and-ride locations
throughout the community.

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA-David
(DL) Hammingh has
joined New Flyer
Industries Inc. as
transit bus regional
sales manager for
midwest U.S., based in
Rockford, MI. He has
extensive sales experi- Hammingh
ence with component
suppliers in original equipment manufacturer and aftermarket.
NEW YORK CITY-WSP USA has
announced the following appointments.
Barbara Arens, an employee since
1994, has been named
central region business
manager of the firm's
transportation and
infrastructure sector,
based in Detroit. Since
joining the firm, she
has served as national
Arens
project operations
manager, chief of staff and operations
manager for the region. She also managed WSP's national traffic engineering
technical resource center and served as a
project manager and lead transportation
engineer on various projects throughout
the midwest.
Axel Nitschke, based in Washington,
DC, has been named a tunnel practice

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

http://www.rrmetro.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Passenger Transport August 2017 Vol 75 No 15