News
Courthouse Trolley Station Opens in San Diego
The Courthouse Station is the new downtown terminus for the Orange Line, which runs from El Cajon to downtown San Diego and serves approximately nine million passengers annually. The Orange Line previously terminated a few blocks west at Santa Fe Depot and for a brief time at America Plaza. The Courthouse Station is needed to accommodate future growth of the Trolley system when the Mid-Coast Trolley extension begins operations in 2021.
Memphis Main Street Trolley Rail Line Back In Service
After nearly four years, the Memphis Area Transit Authority restored passenger operations to the Main Street Trolley rail line after the conclusion of a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included citizens and elected officials. The Main Street Trolley line will operate from the William Hudson Transit Center to the Butler Station.
Flint MTA Opens New Your Ride Center
Flint’s Mass Transportation Authority opened the Davison Your Ride service center, which will accommodate the city of Davison, Davison Township, Richfield Township, Otisville and Forest Township. The garage will hold 21 El Dorado vehicles. The facility has two tanks, one for propane and one for unleaded gas. It also has lightening protection and a backup IT server room and generator.
Volocopter Presents Air Taxi Services at Scale
Volocopter has presented its air taxi infrastructure for cities. The vision integrates air taxis into existing transportation systems and provides additional mobility for up to 10,000 passengers per day with a single point-to-point connection. Co-founder Alex Zosel expects the first full Volocopter air taxi systems with dozens of Volo-Hubs and Volo-Ports to be in place within the next 10 years.
TransLink Launches New Electric Bus Trial
TransLink is partnering with Natural Resources Canada, Metro Vancouver and BC Hydro to bring four fast-charging electric-battery buses to the region starting in 2019. This two-and-a-half year integration trial is part of a pan-Canadian initiative led by the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium. This will allow TransLink to explore another way to reduce carbon emissions while providing efficient travel for customers.
MTA NYC Transit Unveils Comprehensive Plan to Reimagine Bus System
MTA New York City Transit unveiled a comprehensive plan to reimagine New York’s entire public bus system and deliver service with immediate and long-term improvements. The NYC Transit Bus Plan is the result of an expansive review of the system commissioned by NYC Transit President Andy Byford, who declared improving bus service as one of his top four priorities on his first day in office in January.
News Briefs
CalACT named the city of San Luis Obispo Transit Division, SLO Transit, the Outstanding Transportation Agency for 2018. The award honors an agency that has demonstrated achievement in efficiency, effectiveness and customer service.
Nova Bus announced it has been awarded a five-year contract to supply replacement public transit buses for use in Monroe County, New York by Regional Transit Service.
RATP Dev USA launched Orbyt, a technology platform that keeps passengers in motion, adapting to the different demands and disruption of the transit industry.
The Sacramento Regional Transit District was the ecipient of two grants worth more than $84 million, which will help purchase 20 new low-floor light rail vehicles to replace others that are more than 30 years old.
The California State Transportation Agency announced a $164.5 million investment from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program to support Caltrain service improvements including the replacement of Caltrain’s diesel fleet with high-performance electric trains, the addition of Wi-Fi service onboard the system’s new electric fleet, and enhanced bicycle facilities at Caltrain stations.
The Charlotte Area Transit System's LYNX Blue Line light rail service experienced a 48 percent increase in ridership with the opening of the Blue Line Extension.
MV Transportation announced it has been awarded a contract to provide paratransit services by the Baton Rouge Capital Area Transit System beginning Sunday, May 6, 2018.
Rabbittransit announced it will launch a mobile ticketing application pilot in partnership with Token Transit that gives customers a new and cashless fare payment choice.
Keolis has announced it has been awarded a contract to operate the Orange County Transportation Authority’s first on-demand microtransit pilot — OC Flex.
The first regional account-based virtual transit farecard has reached full launch status for riders for TriMet, C-TRAN and Portland Streetcar passengers. TriMet, INIT, and moovel worked to enable this final development with Google Pay.
VIA Metropolitan Transit recently dedicated its new compressed natural gas fueling station – the largest in North America -- at the regional transit agency’s San Antonio campus.
Greater Portland METRO unveiled new, 40-foot low floor buses with modern, friendly features reflecting the agency’s vision of a more sustainable future.
People in the News
Connie Raya
Omnitrans
Connie Raya joined Omnitrans as director of Maintenance. Raya has more than two decades of experience in public transit maintenance gained while working at the Orange County Transportation Authority. She will oversee a department of 108 employees responsible for maintaining a fleet of 188 buses and 25 support vehicles as well as multiple agency facilities. In recent years, Raya took on various special assignments including the management of the facilities group assigned to maintain five operating bases and seven transit centers.
Inessa Vitko
C-TRAN
C-TRAN hired Inessa Vitko to serve as its next chief operations officer. As chief operations officer, she will lead the agency’s largest department, which includes all of its fixed-route and paratransit operators. Vitko comes to C-TRAN after 12 years at TriMet in Portland, Oregon, where she served in multiple roles, including work in budgeting and grants, operations and customer communications. She holds a master’s of public administration and a bachelor’s of science in mathematics and statistics, both from Portland State University.
Helene Kornblatt
HNTB Corp.
Helene Kornblatt joined HNTB Corp. as senior environmental sciences and planning director and Southern California practice leader. She also is an associate vice president of the firm. She brings 30 years of experience in transportation and public transit. In this position, she is responsible for project delivery and business development for the firm’s growing environmental practice throughout California. She has worked on transit projects in Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego. Most recently, she directed a contract for Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority supporting the rail and bus capital construction program.
Stephen Kambol
WSP USA
Stephen Kambol has been named a senior project manager in the Seattle office of WSP USA. In his new position, Kambol will be responsible for management, design and delivery of large-scale rail projects. He has nearly four decades of experience, serving in progressively responsible positions in engineering, management, business development and client service. A transportation engineering specialist, his background has been largely focused on highway and rail projects. Prior to joining WSP, Kambol was the Pacific Northwest rail/transit department manager for an international engineering firm.
Michael Booth
HNTB Corp.
Michael Booth, AICP, joined HNTB Corp. as transit planning group director and associate vice president, based in the firm’s Chicago office. He brings more than 33 years of industry expertise, with a focus on major transportation, transit and infrastructure capital projects, including experience in project management for the Chicago Transit Authority and other transit agencies. In his new role at HNTB, Booth leads HNTB’s Chicago transit planning practice, focusing on service and delivery for key transit and rail clients throughout the region in addition to serving as a project and program manager for various transit projects.
