Last week, 50 brilliant high school students across the country came together in Washington DC for the 4th Biennial APTA Youth Summit, to explore how public transportation can build better communities and a healthy environment. Deputy Director, Xinge Wang and Project Manager, Tia Brown from the Transportation Learning Center, a sponsor of the event, hosted an interactive session to familiarize students with the mission critical transit frontline workforce. More than 80 percent of public transportation employees work on the front line and over 400,000 frontline career opportunities with good pay and benefits are expected to open up in the next decade. Students showed great interest in exploring the various jobs that keep buses, trains, elevators, escalators and stations running. Through role play and other fun exercises, they learned to appreciate the responsibilities and challenges of frontline jobs. At the end of the session, students had a much better understanding of the skills and qualifications required.  They came to understand career pathways for these transit operations and maintenance jobs - knowledge that will be helpful for their future selection of career and studies.  

With no long-term solution in place - or even in sight - for the sputtering federal Highway Trust Fund, state and local governments are significantly increasing their own transportation spending. This shift is giving more control to local governments and allowing them to explore alternate transportation modes, not only as a means of reducing traffic congestion but also as a way to attract younger professionals who don't see the automobile as the only choice for mobility. 

The federal government says cash is still on the table for Metro Vancouver transit projects.  Transport Minister Lisa Raitt says despite a no vote in the transit plebiscite, federal funding is available to expand the transit system as the region copes with a growing population.

LONDON (AP) - Britons paused in silence and walked in solidarity Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of suicide bomb attacks on London's transit system.  Four British men inspired by al-Qaida blew themselves up on three London subway trains and a bus during the morning rush hour on July 7, 2005, killing 52 commuters and injuring more than 700.

After six months with no permanent leader at the helm, the Charlotte Area Transit System has a new top executive lined up.  John Lewis Jr., CEO of the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority's bus system - coincidentally called Lynx, the same name given to Charlotte's light-rail line - sent a letter of resignation to Teresa Jacobs, mayor of Florida's Orange County, on Monday, stating that he has accepted the top job with CATS. His last day on the current job will be Aug. 3.

Teens in Boston and three other cities now have the chance to sign up for a monthly "youth pass" courtesy of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.  As part of the year-long pilot program launched Wednesday, up to 1,500 young people - who must be between the ages of 12 and 21, and living in Boston, Somerville, Chelsea and Malden -- will receive the monthly passes.

The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) earlier this week announced the recipients of $224 million in grants for public transportation projects that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The recipients and grant amounts include: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), $38.5 million for the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station and Blue Line light-rail operational improvement projects; Sacramento Regional Transit, $6.4 million for the project to refurbish seven light-rail vehicles;  and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, $41.2 million to expand the agency's light-rail fleet.

Last month's Amtrak derailment on the Northeast Corridor has led to a growing list of repercussions that, so far, include a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) emergency order requiring Amtrak to slow train speed in the corridor; lawmaker demands for additional passenger-rail protections; calls for increasing (as well as decreasing) federal investments in Amtrak; and political pressure on the railroad industry to accelerate positive train control implementation.

Metrobus drivers transport an average of 465,000 passengers a day in the Washington region, and increasingly, officials say, a number of those riders are taking out their frustrations on bus operators. 

Mass Transit Magazine - July 2, 2015

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore lawmakers and other city leaders vowed Monday to find a way to revive the $2.9 billion Red Line that has been flatly rejected by Gov. Larry Hogan.  After a closed-door meeting that included business representatives, city leaders said they would immediately seek a meeting with Hogan. Lawmakers also said they would call for a hearing at which they can quiz administration officials about why they scrapped what was considered the crown jewel in the city's plan for a better transit system.

TINewsdaily - Jully 6, 2015

Throughout fiscal 2013, the state departments invest $16.3 billion, while the federal government invested $10.1 billion in public-transit systems. The state departments of transportation have been significantly boosting transit investments. In 2012, the departments invested $14.2 billion. Between 2012 and 2013, the departments' investments increased by approximately $2.1 billion, reaching $16.3 billion in 2013.