Passenger Transport August 2017 Vol 75 No 15 - 4

Around The Industry
Photo by Jose Reyes

Operation Lifesaver's First National
Rail Safety Week, Sept. 24-30
WITH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people traveling on public

Board Members, Support Staff Meet in Chicago
Opening session speakers at the recent Transit Board Members & Board Support Seminar in
Chicago, from left: Kirk W. Dillard, chairman of the board, Regional Transportation Authority;
Dorval R. Carter Jr., president, Chicago Transit Authority, and a member of the APTA Executive
Committee; APTA Chair Doran J. Barnes, executive director, Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA;
David M. Stackrow Sr., chair, Transit Board Members Committee, chairman, Capital District
Transportation Authority, Albany, NY, and a member of the APTA Executive Committee;
Roberta Boomer, chair, Transit Board Members Board Support Subcommittee, board secretary,
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and a member of the APTA Board of
Directors; and APTA Acting President & CEO Richard A. White. Governing board members and
administrative support staff learned about APTA's recent international study mission to Asia,
building improved communication with CEOs and each other and their governance roles and
responsibilities.

APTA Chair Addresses COMTO;
Encourages 'Culture of Inclusion'
APTA CHAIR Doran J. Barnes recently

Transit, West Covina, CA. "And public
delivered remarks at the opening plenary
transportation is all about connecting
session of the 2017 COMTO National
people-to jobs, health care, civic activiMeeting and Training Conference in
ties and life-changing opportunities."
Detroit by calling attention to the
At the event, Barnes also noted the
importance of increasing diversity in the
strong 20-year partnership between APTA
industry's next generation of workers.
and COMTO and cited examples of sucBarnes recounted his
cessful collaboration
work as APTA chair to
on such issues as career
update and expand the
development programs,
association's diversity
policy positions on legpolicy, noting that the
islation and promotion
industry's focus should
of each organization's
be more on fostering a
events.
culture of inclusion and
Approximately
less on prescribing spe700 transit profescific goals.
sionals and stake"Our message is loud
holders attended the
and clear: Diversity
conference, "Smart
and inclusion make
Transportation-The
organizations stronger
Next Frontier," which
and more successful by
featured more than
APTA Chair Doran J. Barnes provided
embracing differences
50 workshops, forums,
opening remarks at the recent COMTO
and connecting peosymposiums, panel disconference, which also included
ple," said Barnes, execu- promotion for the 2017 APTA Annual
cussions and technical
tive director, Foothill
tours.
Meeting & EXPO.

PROTERRA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
study found our electric buses were eight
times more energy efficient than CNG
buses on the same route, which validates
our commitment."
According to Proterra, the 100,000square-foot facility in the San Gabriel
Valley, east of Los Angeles, will employ
more than 60 employees this year and
increase to approximately 100 employees by the end of 2018. Proterra has an
existing battery manufacturing facility
in Silicon Valley and its East Coast
vehicle production facility in Greenville, SC.
In related news, Popple announced
in a July 31 blog that Proterra is providing electric buses to Bryce Canyon and
Zion national parks to help the parks
meet their sustainability goals by transporting guests, freeing up roads from
car congestion and reducing diesel bus
exhaust emissions.

4 | Passenger Transport

"Surprisingly, just like our big cities,
our national parks are dependent on
transportation infrastructure. And they
have similar pollution problems due
to fossil fuel vehicles," he said, adding
that Proterra is "especially excited to be
working with Bryce Canyon and Zion
national parks to provide electric buses
that will help them meet their sustainability goals."
"Green Our Rides," one of 10 strategic goals in the 2015 National Parks Service (NPS) Green Parks Plan, encourages
"greener transportation methods" in the
nation's parks with an aim to "reduce
the fleetwide average GHG [greenhouse
gas] emissions per mile traveled by
vehicles in the NPS fleet by 30 percent by 2025 from the 2014 baseline."
Find the blog at www.proterra.com/
news-resources.

transit systems each day, agencies are
on the front lines when it comes to rail
safety.
Whether from pedestrians,
bicyclists on tracks or vehicle
collisions at crossings, the
potential for a devastating
incident is always present,
but also highly preventable.
Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI),
the nation's rail safety education organization, partners with public transit agencies across the country to educate riders
and nonriders about staying safe around
rail transit.
To broaden the reach of these messages, OLI is coordinating the first U.S.
Rail Safety Week, Sept. 24-30, to raise
awareness of the need for caution near
rail property. In partnership with DOT,
APTA and other sponsors, OLI will conduct educational events and enforcement activities, run national advertising
and carry out social media campaigns to
reach critical audiences.
"When a person or vehicle is hit by
a train every three hours in the United
States, more needs to be done to prevent
these tragedies from occurring to our
nation's families and communities,"
said Bonnie Murphy, OLI president and
chief executive officer. "We are proud to

partner with FTA, APTA and many agencies to focus on transit safety during our
upcoming Rail Safety Week as we work
to put an end to deaths and injuries on
the tracks."
One key element of the
week-long initiative is "Transit
Safety Thursday" on Sept. 28
with focused activities that
include a digital ad campaign
featuring new safety graphics funded by FTA. These
graphics and messages will highlight the
dangers of distraction, the importance of
looking and listening for a train before
crossing the street and tips for sharing
the road with rail transit.
OLI encourages agencies around the
country to participate in Rail Safety
Week by:
n Using the new graphics (available
at www.oli.org/RSWtransit);
n Organizing station events on Transit Safety Thursday or any other
day during Rail Safety Week;
n Submitting an op-ed to a newspaper
on rail safety;
n Holding a press conference with
local law enforcement to raise
awareness; and
n Becoming a sponsor to broaden rail
safety awareness in your service area.
For more information, visit http://bit.
ly/USRSW17 or email sponsor@oli.org.

NPRM on FTA Rule to Streamline P3s
FTA IS ACCEPTING comments
through Sept. 29 on its newly proposed
Private Investment Project Procedures
(PIPP) for public transportation capital
projects, designed to facilitate P3s in
public transportation.
"This proposal will help us better
understand the ways that unnecessary
procedures may get in the way of building the best projects possible at the lowest cost to the public," said DOT Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
As detailed in a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRM) published July 31
in the Federal Register, the PIPP system
would allow recipients of federal public

transportation funds to identify specific
FTA regulations, practices, procedures or
guidance documents that may impede
P3s or private investments in a project.
It also would allow recipients to
request a modification or waiver of
those requirements, which the FTA
administrator could grant if certain criteria are met. PIPP would not apply to
the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) or any other provision of federal
statute.
Submit comments to www.regulations.
gov and include either docket number (FTA-2016-0008) or RIN number
(2132-AB27).

NEW CEOs NAMED CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
Foye and Hakim, New York MTA
PATRICK FOYE has joined the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) as president following six years as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and
president of Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation.
Veronique Hakim, MTA interim executive director since January,
was named managing director. Foye and Hakim will serve in the
newly-created Office of the Chairman with responsibility for managing the agency on a day-to-day basis.
Before joining the Port Authority, Foye was deputy secretary for
economic development for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a
mergers and acquisitions partner at Skadden Arps. He served on the
MTA board from 2010-2012.
Hakim was named president of MTA New York City Transit in
2015, returning to the MTA after an earlier 23-year career. She also
was executive director of New Jersey Transit Corporation.

Patrick Foye

Veronique Hakim

http://www.oli.org/RSWtransit http://bit.ly/usrsw17 http://bit.ly/usrsw17 http://www.proterra.com/news-resources http://www.proterra.com/news-resources

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