Excitement is buzzing around the opening night of the American Public Transportation Association’s Annual meeting as a record number of attendees and exhibitors have shown up in Chicago.
According to APTA sources, more than 1,500 people have registered to attend the conference and more than 100 exhibitors have set up for Monday’s trade show exhibition.
The massive number of attendees were well noted by conference goers during Sunday’s reception as a crowd crammed into a hall of the Hilton where the trade show will take place. Many familiar names and faces were in the crowd along with plenty of new ones.
Attendees are buzzing about some of the exhibits on hand, such as Xerox’s demonstration of its open fare system being implemented on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Meanwhile, Cubic Transportation Systems is showing off its open fare Ventra system, which is being ramped up in the Chicago Transportation Authority and Pace Suburban Bus.
Monday brings more excitement as Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will address attendees. It was also announced late Sunday that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will also show up to the conference Monday.
Monday Morning Mayor Emanuel discussed how investments into CTA's rail system has led in part to 21 corporate headquarters moving into the system, 7,000 people have been put to work, McCormick Place had moved to the 2nd best venue in the convention industry and areas where investments have taken place have seen property values jump by 50 percent.
For the exclusive interview with Administrator Rogoff, visit http://www.masstransitmag.com/11182106
Joe Petrie | Associate Editor
I came to Mass Transit in 2013 after spending seven years on the daily newsbeat in southeastern Wisconsin.
Based in Milwaukee, I worked as a daily newspaper reporter with the Waukesha Freeman from 2006-2011, where I covered education, county and state government. I went on to cover courts for Patch.com, where I was the main courts reporter in the Metro Milwaukee cluster of websites.
I’ve won multiple awards during the course of my career and have covered some of the biggest political events in the past decade and have appeared on national programs.
Having covered local government and social issues, I discovered the importance of transit and the impact it can have on communities when implemented, supported and funded.
