People on the Move
Metro Bus
Jim Perez
Metro Bus appointed Jim Perez as chief operating officer. Perez has served in various transit operations, management and leadership roles throughout the country, including more than two decades with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Other leadership roles include working for the Kansas Department of Transportation, Central Maryland Regional Transit, and the Metropolitan Transit System in Billings, Montana, before joining Metro Bus. In addition to his transit experience of working in both small and large agencies, he has a master’s degree in business management.
WSP USA
Denise Turner Roth
Denise Turner Roth, former administrator of the General Services Administration, has been appointed chief development officer of WSP USA. In her new role, Roth will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the firm’s strategy and long-range planning in the United States. She will work closely with the chief executive officer and senior managers to lead innovation and support strategic growth. Most recently Roth served as a senior advisor to WSP’s US advisory services team.
Rockford Mass Transit District
Michael Stubbe
The Rockford Mass Transit District Board of Trustees announced Michael Stubbe is the new executive director for RMTD. Stubbe joins RMTD with more than 22 years of public transit experience working in transit operations management, safety and transit planning. He has spent the last 11 years at the Chicago Transit Authority where he recently served as Interim vice president of safety, compliance and risk management and was responsible for the overall management of the CTA’s safety program.
Omnitrans
Erin Rogers
Erin Rogers joined Omnitrans to fill the newly created position of deputy general manager. Rogers brings nearly three decades of experience in the transit industry to her leadership role at Omnitrans, including 16 years at the Orange County Transportation Authority. She held the position of assistant general manager at OCTA for 10 years and was responsible for oversight and management of all fixed-route bus and paratransit operations. In the year prior to joining Omnitrans, Rogers worked for MV Transportation, Inc. as a regional vice president.
Gannett Fleming Inc.
Bryan Mulqueen
Gannett Fleming Inc. elected Bryan P. Mulqueen, P.E., to its board of directors effective. Based in the firm’s Raleigh, North Carolina, office, Mulqueen is an executive vice president and Transit & Rail Global Business Line director. During his tenure with Gannett Fleming, he has overseen multiple projects, including his current role on the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit project in North Carolina, the Caltrain Modernization Program Management Services project in California, the Metrolinx project in Toronto, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority On-Call Services project in Washington, D.C.
Featured News
Brookville Awarded Contract to Supply Liberty LRVs for Tacoma Link Extension
Sound Transit and Brookville Equipment Corp. recently agreed to terms on a $26.5 million plus tax order for the design and build of five Liberty light rail vehicles, which will support a 2.4-mile extension of the agency’s 1.6-mile Tacoma Link line.
In addition to the five vehicle base order, the contract includes five option vehicles for Sound Transit and five option vehicles for the city of Portland, Oregon.
The Sound Transit Tacoma Link LRVs will include an 8-foot-wide carbody with seating for up to 34 passengers and the ability to comfortably transport more than 100 passengers. The new fleet will be ADA compliant with deployable bridge plates for easy boarding and more than 70 percent low-floor available standing area.
Hop Fastpass Becomes First Fare Card Available within Android Pay
TriMet and Google are teaming up for a first – making Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay starting early next year, which also marks the first mobile wallet partnership for TriMet. Beta testing for this integration will start later this month.
Android Pay works with Android phones running Kit Kat (4.4) or higher. To make in-store or transit payments, your phone also needs to support NFC (Near Field Communication) and HCE (Host Card Emulation). To check for NFC, look for it in your phone’s Settings app. You can make in-app payments even if your phone does not have HCE.
San Joaquin RTD Launches 22 New Hopper Buses
San Joaquin Regional Transit District has placed 22 brand new Hopper buses into service in January. Hopper buses run regular fixed routes but will deviate from them up to 3/4 of a mile for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-certified guests who make an advance reservation. These new buses serve 9 Hopper routes in the city of Stockton and 4 more that reach out across San Joaquin County.
CTA Unveils New Look for Ventra Cards
The Chicago Transit Authority has announced the Ventra card is getting a makeover. The Ventra card’s new design is inspired by the Ventra "V", featuring a repetition of geometric triangles to create a pattern in varied hues of blue, a nod to Lake Michigan.
The CTA has also begun a customer education outreach effort on the replacement of expiring cards. The first Ventra cards, issued in 2013 when the Ventra fare payment system was initially launched, are now nearing expiration and will need to be replaced.
Mobile Ticketing Comes to Anchorage
Municipality of Anchorage Public Transportation Department, announced the launch of mobile ticketing for People Mover bus service, enabling riders to purchase and display tickets on their smartphones anytime, anywhere. Passengers can now download the free People Mover mTicket app for Android or Apple, and turn their smartphones into both ticket machine and ticket.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the start of a three-year pilot program for 10 all-electric buses with the goal of reducing emissions and modernizing the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus fleet.
The Cherokee Nation provided six vans to four Northeast Oklahoma transit service companies that help provide rides for thousands of Cherokee Nation citizens and employees each year.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the 19 finalists in “The MTA Genius Transit Challenge,” an international competition launched in May 2017 that seeks to identify innovative solutions to increase the capacity and improve the reliability of New York City's subway service.
Progress Rail has acquired ECM S.p.A., an international provider of signal solutions and technologies devoted to the safety, control and enhancement of railway infrastructure.
Cubic Transportation Systems announced it was awarded a contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to deliver an integrated mobile app in support of the TAP regional contactless fare system.
The Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District announced its Metro downtown Rock Island, Illinois, District Station achieved LEED Gold status for sustainability achievement.
New Flyer Industries Canada ULC announced that Grand River Transit awarded New Flyer with a contract for 39 Xcelsior clean-diesel 40-foot, heavy-duty transit buses, and nine Xcelsior clean-diesel 40-foot, bus rapid transit style heavy-duty transit buses.
Transit Holdings Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc. announced that it has acquired 100 percent of the equity interests in ARBOC Specialty Vehicles LLC.
DemandTrans and the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority have signed an agreement to provide technology and support to improve and convert existing MTA vehicles to a real‐time, demand‐responsive service model.
