Aaron Moore
Consolidated Transportation Services Agency Director
Victor Valley Transit Authority (VVTA)
- Alma Mater California State University, San Bernardino and Fuller Theological Seminary
- Fun fact: Moore went to a seminary to study to be a pastor
- Favorite book: "Book of Romans," New Testament
- Favorite TV show: "The Big Bang Theory"
- Favorite movie: "Old Fashioned"
- Favorite hobbies: Painting and drawing
When Aaron Moore was attending graduate school at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, he was studying to be a pastor, when his work helping the less fortunate there showed there were other opportunities to help the community.
Moore was working the food bank where a lot of impoverished and homeless people would come to get food and he noticed how many of them mentioned how hard it was to get there and friends of theirs who couldn’t get there because they didn’t have a ride.
The revelation opened a new career path for Moore, who now works as the mobility manager for the Victor Valley Transit Authority VVTA), in Hesperia, California. The mobility manager was a new position when Moore came to VVTA in 2012, but he undertook the creation of the agency’s first mobility management plan to meet unmet transportation needs within its service district.
Moore piloted a local vanpool program, which grew to about 200 vanpools in less than two years of service.
He also developed a travel training program to assist riders who were new to transit by taking a retired bus and using it for training purposes.
Moore created a train-the-trainer program to expand accessibility of transit and the program has reduced ADA mobility costs for VVTA by $187,000.
Moore developed a relationship with a local college to build the RAM Pass program, which provides free rides to students. In the pilot year alone, students made 228,181 trips using the pass. Ridership is more than 252,000 since January and the RAM Pass now creates more than $140,000 in passenger revenues and accounts for more than 20 percent of overall system ridership.
Moore is also helping local non-profits set up transportation programs by providing guidance on compliance and reporting requirements, finding startup funding and developing a program with VVTA to donate retired ADA accessible vehicles to the organizations.
“For me, my favorite part is helping people and seeing the positive effects of the programs I created are having on improving the quality of life for people."
“To be honest, one of the most fundamental and necessary things public transportation can do, one of the fundamental or key elements, is getting people access to key services. You can’t get healthcare if you can’t get to the doctor.”
“Even though most of those served are from the vulnerable demographics, public transit has the potential to be a benefit to everyone in the community and also to the environment. You know, if it’s underfunded, of course you can’t utilize it to its fullest.”
