The following items are excerpted or summarized from news releases issued by the California Transit Association members. If you are a member of the Association and would like to submit an item to be considered for inclusion in the Member News Library, please email your press releases to Managing Editor Jacob Herson (jake@caltransit.org). Photos and cutline information with your news release submissions, when possible, are encouraged.
Santa Cruz METRO Partners to Protect Monterey Bay, Grow Ridership
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) is launching ‘One Ride at a Time,’ a campaign to showcase the environmental benefits of transit, encourage bus ridership, and protect Santa Cruz County’s extraordinary natural resources. Beginning in January, every ride on a METRO bus donates to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Bay of Life Fund.
“METRO’s mission is to provide environmentally sustainable transportation to Santa Cruz County,” said Larry Pageler, METRO Board Chair. “With ‘One Ride at a Time,’ we aim to increase ridership and solidify METRO as the region’s environmentally smart transportation choice while supporting organizations making a difference in our community.”
‘One Ride at a Time’ is made possible by a partnership between METRO, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC), Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Bay of Life Fund, and renowned photographer-writer team Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom.
To promote the campaign, METRO will release pairs of buses wrapped with Lanting’s iconic images of the Monterey Bay from the Bay of Life Project. By the end of 2024, about 30 wrapped buses will be traveling throughout Santa Cruz County and featuring inspiring images of whales, sea otters, mountain lions, redwoods, and more.
The first pair of bus wraps will be unveiled January 21, coinciding with the opening weekend of Lanting and Eckstrom’s Bay of Life Exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.
“We are delighted to collaborate with METRO and to put our images from Bay of Life to work protecting our precious Monterey Bay environment one ride at a time,” Lanting and Eckstrom said.
To participate, bus riders must create an account on the online ridesharing portal administered by SCCRTC’s GO Santa Cruz County program, or through the Commute Tracker app. Once enrolled, riders will use the portal to log their bus trips, earning 10 points for each trip with a maximum of two rides per day that count towards point accruals. When a rider reaches 250 points, or 25 rides, they can use the portal to select a nonprofit partner to receive a $10 donation. Riders can also see the greenhouse gas emissions reductions they’ve made by riding public transit and compete against each other to see who can make the biggest impact.
To heighten the campaign and emphasize the importance of protecting the Monterey Bay, METRO will inform the community about the conservation and education efforts of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Bay of Life Fund are making to promote protection of the species and landscapes pictured on the buses. Transit center displays, interior bus signage, and interactive content on its website will teach riders about the programs their donations support.
“This project has been a labor of love for METRO and our partners, and we are excited to unveil it to our community,” said METRO Marketing & Communications Director Danielle Glagola. “Our goal is to increase environmental awareness and remind the public that using public transit over personal vehicles, even one ride at a time, reduces omissions. Now, through this program and with our partners’ help, riders can also donate to our local environmental nonprofits, doubling their impact, with one simple action of riding METRO.”
Pippin Dew Joins WETA Board of Directors
Pippin Dew has joined the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) Board of Directors after being appointed by Governor Newsom. Ms. Dew replaces Anthony Intintoli on the Board of Directors. She served on the Vallejo City Council from 2014 through 2022.
“We are so excited to welcome Director Dew to the Board,” said Jim Wunderman, Chair of WETA’s Board of Directors. “Her experience in government, community service, and the private sector makes her an excellent addition and ensures that the Board will continue to have strong representation from Vallejo, one of the principal communities that WETA serves.”
“Ferry service has always been such an integral part of the Vallejo community and the expansion of the system has brought those same benefits to residents and businesses throughout the region,” said Director Dew. “I’m looking forward to furthering that progress, and working with my colleagues to help the system evolve as our regional transportation needs continue to adapt to changing travel patterns.”
Ms. Dew is a realtor serving the North and East Bay Areas for the last 16 years. She is currently President of Vallejo Main Street, President Elect of the Solano Association of Realtors, and serves on the Executive Board for the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce as their Government Affairs Committee Chair. She served as a Councilmember with the City of Vallejo for nine years, first elected in 2013. She is Past President of the North Bay Division for the League of California Cities, and served the League as Chair of the Transportation, Communications and Public Works Policy Committee, Chair of the Public Safety Task Force, the Governance Task Force, Chair of the Public Safety Policy Committee, as a member of the Governance Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors. She is a proud mother of three girls.
The WETA Board of Directors is a five-member body. Three members, including the chair and vice chair, are appointed by the governor. One member is appointed by the Senate Rules Committee. One member is appointed by the Assembly Speaker. Ms. Dew joins Chair Jim Wunderman, Vice Chair Monique Moyer, Director Jessica Alba, and Director Jeff DelBono on the WETA Board.
GILLIG Battery Electric Bus Receives Highest Ever Altoona Score
GILLIG announced that they received the highest-ever score for a battery electric bus tested at Altoona, with a total score of 89.5. The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Bus Test Program, conducted by the Larson Transportation Institute's Bus Research and Testing Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania, evaluates how well vehicles perform under conditions that simulate the rigorous duty cycles required of transit buses.
To be eligible for purchase with federal grant funding, such as the recently awarded $1.66 billion in FTA grants, all buses must demonstrate that they meet or exceed performance minimums. The comprehensive testing assesses key performance areas, such as maintainability, reliability, safety, structural integrity, noise, fuel economy, and emissions. The FTA introduced a 100-point scoring system in 2016 to better inform buyers by offering an unbiased, standardized assessment of vehicle durability, safety, and performance.
With an overall score of 89.5 out of 100, GILLIG's battery electric bus far exceeds the Altoona minimum standards and passed all pass/fail performance tests, qualifying for purchase with federal funding (as all GILLIG buses are). Performing beyond Altoona's requirements, GILLIG’s 40-foot bus scored exceptionally well in all evaluated categories and broke the previous highest records for reliability and safety performance.
Altoona evaluates reliability, in part, through measuring in a range of 0 to 125 hours of unscheduled maintenance throughout the testing process, with higher scores going to those with fewer required repairs. During more than 15,000 miles of testing, the GILLIG battery electric bus required only 15.2 repair hours of unscheduled maintenance. Comparatively, other battery electric buses tested at Altoona over the last seven years have each needed, on average, 72.3 hours of repair time to complete their testing.
The GILLIG bus also received the highest score ever in the critical braking test, stopping, on average, over 30 feet — or over two car lengths — earlier than other manufacturers' comparable electric buses.
"We talk a lot about 'quality without compromise' here at GILLIG," said Ben Grunat, VP of Product Planning and Strategy, GILLIG. "These scores demonstrate exactly what that means; our product being the safest and most reliable Zero-Emission Bus on the market is not our goal. Rather, it's GILLIG's standard."