The Bus Maintenance Training Standards Committee met in Atlanta, October 23-24, to continue their work to develop and update a series of Recommended Practices (RPs) that define the learning objectives and curriculum for a wide range of bus maintenance subjects.  The Committee, consisting of subject matter experts (SMEs) from both labor and management, updated several bus maintenance training RPs previously submitted to APTA for approval including:
*    Engine
*    Drivetrain
*    Brakes
*    Electrical/Electronics
*    HVAC
*    Emissions
*    Hybrid

Committee SMEs also continued their work to develop bus training RPs not yet submitted that include PMI, Diesel Engine Diagnostics, Steering/Suspension, Fan Drives, CNG, and Doors/Interlocks.  Center staff presented Committee members with a working prototype of the Center's new Transit Training Network (TTN), a website designed to communicate training developments as they relate to front-line workers, as well as serving as a platform to share bus and rail training courseware. The Center will develop a subscription proposal for the TTN website and present it to the Committee at its next meeting in January. For more information about the website contact the Center Project Associate Tia Brown. Information pertaining to courseware sharing and the Bus Training Committee can be obtained from John Schiavone.   

As the East Coast surveys the damage from Hurricane Sandy, cities are still struggling to get their transit systems back up and running.  In New York City, there is no firm timetable for restoring subway service after train tunnels were flooded with a surge of saltwater, in what New York MTA Chair Joe Lhota has called the most devastating event to ever strike the subway system.

In a landmark ruling that overturns conventional traffic engineering approaches, the Delhi High Court last week advanced the idea that transportation facilities are for moving people, not cars, and should favor all users, not just the minority fortunate enough to use private cars. In addition, it advocated introducing measures that move people out of cars and into public transportation.

While Presidential Candidates debate the pros and cons of the current
administration's green energy policies American high speed rail has slid under the radar. Currently high speed rail is, well, chugging along in America. Congress has appropriated $10 billion to the high speed rail effort in the past three years. Thirty-two states and DC are moving ahead on high speed rail projects. Public opinion on high speed rail is high, about 62% of American's say they would use high speed rail if they had access to it according to the American Public Transportation Association.

LOS ANGELES - "Make metro cool." That was Michael Lejeune's task 10 years ago when he was hired as the first creative director of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  The brief was difficult, given this city's deeply rooted car culture, but Mr. Lejeune, a native of Los Angeles, said he relished the task of making over the image of the third-largest mass-transit system in the United States.

I moved to Philadelphia from Michigan for a three-month summer internship with just what I could fit in my silver Chevy Malibu. That was over a year ago. And I don't think I'll leave, because I fell hopelessly in love with the city.  As much as I enjoyed exploring Philadelphia, I realized that something was keeping me from completely knowing, loving and learning about this wondrous place: public transit - or lack thereof.

Two unions that represent airline and transit workers in the United States and Australia said on Wednesday they have formed an alliance in a bid to coordinate activities globally.  The Transport Workers Union of America, which represents more than 200,000 workers at U.S. airlines such as AMR Corp's American and Southwest Airlines as well as public transit systems, is teaming up with the Transport Workers' Union of Australia to set up the Trans-Pacific Transport Unions Alliance.

Except for one quick swipe at teachers unions by Mitt Romney on Monday, neither of the major-party presidential candidates-nor their running mates-mentioned workers' rights, collective bargaining or organized labor during any of the four presidential-campaign debates.

Some lucky billionaire is about to get an early Christmas present if the board of directors of MARTA follows through on proposed plans to privatize a public transit system that belongs to the taxpayers.  The billionaire might be from the French-based Veolia Transportation or the Scotland-based First Transit, so we know one thing for sure: The fares we pay will not be returned to help the economy of Atlanta. They will be shipped overseas while transit users get less service - especially night and
weekend service - and see corners cut on safety.

Last week, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), local and regional officials marked the recently completed underground subway portion of the BART Warm Springs extension project.  The subway tunnel, which runs longer than the equivalent of 15 football fields and required 70,000 cubic yards of poured reinforced concrete, took three years to complete. It runs under Lake Elizabeth and was designed to preserve the integrity of Central Park in Fremont, Calif., BART officials said in a prepared statement.

The much-anticipated Red Line transit project, the proposed 14-mile, east-west, light rail system, took another step forward today.  The Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Wednesday with the Maryland Transit Administration outlining the City's commitment to the project, according to a statement from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office. An estimated $2.1 billion project, the proposed light rail line will connect Woodlawn through downtown Baltimore to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced yesterday that it issued a bid advertisement for construction of the stations, track and operating systems for the Central Subway project.  The contract will be worth $720 million to $750 million, and will cover construction of three subway stations, one surface-level station, tracks and other components of the T Third Line extension through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown, SFMTA officials said in a prepared statement.