In our cover story in this issue about the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), Mioshi Moses, president and CEO of the organization, mentions how the transit industry is big, yet close-knit. There are a lot of transit systems in North America moving a lot of people each day. And it takes a lot of transportation workers to make sure all those buses, trains, ferries, rideshares, vanpools, bikeshares, streetcars, park-and-rides and other forms of multimodal systems moving.
Being relatively new to the complete public transportation industry, I agree. Everyone is welcoming and seems to know each other. I also noticed that once someone enters the industry, they tend to stick around for decades.
I wanted to see how big the industry is, so I looked at the APTA 2014 Public Transportation Fact Book. In report year 2012, there were:
• Employees, operating: 388,880
• Employees, Vehicle Operations: 252,061
• Employees, Vehicle Maintenance: 61,993
• Employees, Non-Vehicle Maintenance: 35,707
• Employees, General Administration: 39,119
• Employees, Capital: 12,050
• Transit Systems: 7,118
• Unlinked Passenger Trips: 10,584,000
• Passenger Miles: 57,117,000
Although it’s a big industry, Moses mentions how friendly and helpful everyone is in the industry. She talks about the City Intern Program and how most interns end up getting a full-time job in the transportation industry. It’s good to see young and talented people gravitating to the industry. It’s important to keep the positive culture going to ensure this trend continues so we can strengthen transportation leadership for decades to come.
It’s something I’m glad to see as I continue to meet people in the industry. As I look over the conference schedule, I’m looking forward to meeting more people next year and seeing more of the latest technologies and innovations that will be hitting the streets and improving service for customers in all communities.
Adding to this excitement is the positive news that Congress agreed on the FAST Act transportation bill giving $48 billion to the transit industry during the next five years. While it’s not a perfect bill, it’s the first time in more than a decade the industry will see legislation providing stable funding for multiple years. It also provides funds to make much needed improvements on our national rail system. It establishes a plan to address infrastructure needs in the Northeast Corridor and gets the ball rolling on restoration of passenger rail service between Orlando and New Orleans with the establishment of a Gulf Coast Working Group. This is great news to end the year on and begin a strong 2016.
The staff at Mass Transit wishes you a safe and happy holiday season filled with family and friends!
