Center Update
Center Delivers Train-the-Trainer Course in Cleveland

May 2-6, 2016, Center consultant Amri Joyner delivered the Center-developed  Train-the-Trainer  course to eight current and future maintenance trainers from GCRTA and NFTA. This course was developed and piloted as part of the National Signals Training Consortium. Class participants represented five work areas: signals maintenance, rail vehicle, rail operations, bus maintenance, and electronic repair.
Feedback from the week included comments such as "[The most important thing I learned from this course are] the suggestions, techniques and feedback received from the practice training, specifically how to keep the participants engaged." "[It is] hard to rate anything 'least' to be honest; everything had great value." "I feel confident with the materials." "This [training] was much better than expected and I learned why the [Center] structures the modules they way they do."

This train-the-trainer session was unique, as it was aimed at developing current and potential instructors in rail maintenance as well as instructors who will pilot Transit Core Competencies Curriculum (TC3) at GCRTA later in May 2016. TC3 is an orientation and outreach program aimed at diverse audiences of young people and adults from the communities transit serves who are interested in a career in public transportation, providing knowledge and skills that will help them be successful in the job application process and initial training and apprenticeship programs.
 
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Public Transportation News
Passenger Transport express - May 6, 2016
In preparation for the upcoming Bus & Paratransit Conference and International Bus Roadeo, an APTA staff team travelled to Charlotte, NC, this week to meet with groups that share our association's views on diversity and inclusion. Representatives of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority and Westin Hotel & Charlotte Convention Center expressed gratitude that we are holding the event in their city and assured APTA that they are prepared for our members' arrival. Equality North Carolina and the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce discussed with the APTA staff a variety of ways in which we could inform our members about the impact of the HB2 law, not just on the LGBT community but also for other groups such as veterans and people with disabilities. 
Sacramentans and visitors to Sactown alike can now ride the rails - or the bus - with complete navigational confidence, as Apple has brought Sacramento Regional Transit integration to Apple Maps. Available conveyances include Sacramento's wide-reaching bus network as well as the city's light rail service. The now-hilariously-named Yolobus, which serves Sacramento International Airport, is also included. Apple has been slowly but steadily expanding the reach of its transit routing network. Last month alone, the company added support for Portland, Oregon; Montreal, Canada; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
International Transportation News
Progressive Railroading - May 10, 2016
VIA Rail Canada Inc.'s 2015 revenue increased 6.2 percent to $297 million (in Canadian dollars) compared with the previous year, while total passenger-miles nudged up 1.7 percent year over year, the railroad announced late last week. Last year marked the first time in seven years that the railroad logged increases in both ridership and revenue, VIA Rail officials said in a press release.  Additionally, VIA Rail earned net income of $44 million last year, compared with a net loss of $59 million in the previous year, according to the railroad's 2015 annual report.
Transit System/Partners
NJ Transit has lost it's second-in-command after Deputy Executive Director Neil Yellin left the agency on Friday, making him the fourth executive to leave in less than a year. NJ Transit officials said that Yellin, who was hired by NJ Transit's board in September 2014 for $199,000, decided to retire from the post.  "Neil Yellin retired after many years in public transit," said Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman for the agency.
A steering committee has picked light rail to link downtown Portland and Tigard, and opted to ditch a plan that would have called for a tunnel to serve Portland Community College's Sylvania campus. The selection follows a likeminded recommendation earlier this month from planners at the Metro regional government. The planners said light rail would cost less and cause less congestion because it could operate with fewer vehicles than the high-capacity bus service they had also considered. And in the long term, the bus service couldn't keep up with anticipated growth, the planners said.
Building Transportation Infrastructure
The proposed BRT system, the county's first, would run down the median of Richmond Highway, with plans of linking the Huntington Metro Station to Fort Belvoir. ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Fairfax County is reaching out to the community in hopes of getting residents on board with a bus rapid transit system planned for a busy U.S. 1. A public meeting for the Embark Richmond Highway project drew residents to an auditorium at Walt Whitman Middle School in Alexandria to hear from project planners and local lawmakers about the project's progress.
Inside Indiana Business - May 10, 2016
Marion County voters will decide on a tax hike to help pay for expanded mass transit. The City-County Council in Indianapolis approved Proposal 145 by a vote of 18-6 last night, clearing the way for a public referendum in November on a 0.25 percent income tax increase. If the November ballot initiative is approved, the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation IndyGo would get to work on its Marion County Transit Plan. The plan includes more frequent service, additional hours of operation and launching three rapid transit lines. Opponents say supporters and elected officials are not detailing the full scope of what the expansion will cost.
Labor News
BusinessWorld - May 9, 2016
PHILIPPINES - The silencing of unions is apparently part of Duterte's promise of a "change that is coming." The notion that unions hinder economic development, however, is not new. Growth without labor unions has been the norm all over the world since the 1980s, so, Duterte's model of growth is not new. The current, outgoing administration, in fact, has held a similar view: unions are bad for the economy. Very early into his Presidency, President Aquino was confronted with the Philippine Airlines workers' strike. The President then declared that the strike was an act of "economic sabotage." In a number of State-of-the-Nation Addresses after that, the President would point out, in a celebratory tone, that there were very few (practically no more) strikes in the country. Using the lens of labor rights, both Duterte and PNoy can be proven wrong on at least three grounds.
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