Center Helps Kentucky Agency Register Transit Coach Operator Apprenticeship Program
From right to left: Tia Brown - Program Manager, Sean Legacy - Trainer, Stephen Brown - Training Instructor, Larry Holland - Transit Coach Operator, Mathias Hamilton - ATU Local 1447 President.
February 20th, Tia Brown, Program Manager participated in a joint apprenticeship committee meeting with labor and management representatives from the Transit Authority of River City (TARC). In February, TARC officially registered their transit coach operator apprenticeship program with the Kentucky Office of Apprenticeship. Their transit coach operator apprenticeship program is only the second in the U.S. to be registered with an apprenticeship office, after Valley Transit Authority in San Jose, CA.
TARC has been participating in the Center's American Apprenticeship Initiative program through the Transit Coach Operator Apprenticeship Technical Committee since October 2015. This Committee is a joint labor/management committee that is devoted to reshaping the culture of transit in America. Their goal is the promotion and advancement of professional Coach Operators through the development and implementation of quality training and apprenticeship programs. The Center is providing technical assistance with the development and implementation of their transit coach operator apprenticeship program.
For more information regarding the development and implementation of apprenticeship programs at your location and/or the Center's American Apprenticeship program, contact Tia Brown attbrown@transportcenter.org.
Traffic congestion cost American drivers more than $295 billion in 2016, a new study finds, as a recovering economy and sustained low gas prices put more drivers on the roads. At the same time, federal transportation data shows the number of Americans using mass transit systems is falling in most of the nation's major cities, contributing to jammed roadways as motorists decide to drive themselves.
A documentary which asks the question, "Is access to public transportation a simple civil right?" will have its Columbus premiere on Wednesday. "Free to Ride," created by Ohio State's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, follows conflicts involving the community of Dayton, Ohio's public transportation system.
The new ride services, known as transportation network companies, or TNC's, last year caused a net increase of 600 million vehicle miles traveled in the five boroughs - a 3 to 4 percent jump in citywide traffic, Schaller found. This trend marks a troubling inflection point - for the first time in many years, car-based services, not transit, account for most growth in travel.
It's a simple equation. Whenever we privatize or outsource public services, we as a state and as taxpayers lose control. Case after case has shown that when we hand over control of core services like vehicle repair, it does not serve the interests of the public in the long-term.
CATS announced Monday a seven-month delay for the opening of the light rail Blue Line Extension from uptown to UNC-Charlotte. The line is now scheduled to open next March. The completion will wrap up more than a decade of work on the light rail line.
IndyGo says the additional tax will generate at least $54.4 million annually starting in 2018. Money will be used to implement the Marion County Transit Plan, which calls for adding buses, adding drivers and building three rapid-transit bus lines.
SafeTrack surges in the past months have highlighted one of the D.C. Metrorail system's largest demand crunches: the Rosslyn tunnel bottleneck, where the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines converge to head east into downtown. This capacity issue has been exacerbated by the 2014 Silver line opening, and more recently by the current Blue line shutdown surge.
A few years ago, when the CEO of the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) compared maps of Columbus' original bus system from the 1970s to the system today, he noticed something striking. "Not much had changed in the bus routes, while a lot had changed in the Columbus Ohio region," says Josh Sikich, COTA's transit system redesign project manager.
The authority board voted Friday to extend Ms. McLean's expired contract until June 1 while officials launch a national search for the next CEO. While Ms. McLean is credited with stabilizing the Port Authority, Mr. Fitzgerald wants her successor to be a more dynamic leader who can move the agency forward in exciting ways.
The Alaska Maritime Apprenticeship Program has comprehensive training for a range of occupations: deckhand training to train workers in the Able Body Seaman occupation; engine room training to train workers to become Qualified Members of the Engine Department (QMED); and culinary training, so workers on larger vessels can both work in and ultimately manage large, complex galleys.
A cornerstone of the Recovery Act was the $48.1 billion in funding for transportation infrastructure, which supported needed repairs and long-term transformative investments in communities across every state. As Congress and the president initiate a new debate around a major infrastructure package, the Recovery Act can help us see what nearly $50 billion in incremental infrastructure spending looks like in practice.
GOP sources told Axios on Thursday that a new "backup plan" is developing that would push off a massive infrastructure bill until next year, when vulnerable Democrats may be more willing to work with Trump on delivering transportation investments to their districts before the midterm elections.
During AASHTO's annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C., state departments of transportation leaders will attempt to drive home their concern that the federal Highway Trust Fund is "broken" and will run out of money after its current funding law expires in 2020, the AASHTO Journal reported.
Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced $32.4 million in funding to support public transportation in rural areas such as Greene and Columbia counties. Cuomo made the announcement about the funding, which will be provided through the Formula Grants for Rural Areas program, on Feb. 22.
Governor Cuomo's proposed budget slashes $65 million from the state's general fund contribution to the MTA, breaking a promise he made five years ago. Now 65 Albany legislators are calling for those funds to be restored in the final budget.
