The following items are excerpted from news releases issued by 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 Stephanie Jordan (sjordan@freelancecomm.com). Photos and cutline information with your news release submissions, when possible, are encouraged.
INDUSTRY NEWS
SamTrans Launches New Anti-Racism Artwork on Buses and Shelters in Support of AAPI Community
In a continued effort to show its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, SamTrans has partnered with the Millbrae Anti-Racist Coalition, and three Asian-American artists, to launch a series of artwork that will be displayed on select buses and shelters beginning this month.
The artwork, which depicts diverse images of people spreading the message to “Love our Communities,” will be showcased throughout San Mateo County until mid-July 2021. The decision to share this message through art follows the SamTrans Board of Directors decision last month to adopt a resolution in support of diversity, equity, inclusivity, and anti-racism.
“SamTrans serves a diverse population that continues to experience bias, discrimination, and unequal outcomes and treatment,” said SamTrans Board Chair Charles Stone. “SamTrans, as an agency, believes in tolerance and inclusivity. We condemn the increasing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) including harassment, bullying, and violent acts. We believe every person should be valued and respected, and we support and stand with the AAPI communities in San Mateo County and across the nation.”
To learn more about the art buses and the artists, please visit www.samtrans.com/againsthate.
Metrolink Launches Emotional, Multi-Platform Rail Safety Advertising Campaign Asking People to Keep Clear, Stay Alive
Metrolink this month launched a multi-faceted advertising and public safety campaign appealing to pedestrians and motorists to stay safe around tracks and crossings. At the center of the multichannel campaign is an emotional video series that depicts real-life, potentially tragic results of unsafe behaviors that occur every day around the region’s railroad tracks.
The advertising is complemented with community outreach and direct intervention resources through a partnership with the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center.
“It is our top priority to keep people safe on our trains and near our railroad tracks,” said Metrolink Board Chair and Glendale City Councilmember Ara Najarian. “Metrolink has engineered the best possible safety measures at our railroad crossings, and law enforcement works hard to prevent life-threatening situations. We’ve found, however, that most incidents regarding trains can be avoided, if pedestrians and motorists remain aware at all times.”
The campaign’s bilingual video series, produced by Los Angeles experiential agency DSRPTR, is designed to illustrate how Metrolink’s relationship with riders and the communities it serves is rooted in its stature as an essential service and that safety is a commitment for all.
The videos include:
- Distracted Driver in which a mother who is approaching a rail crossing is distracted by her young child in the back seat of her car with tragic consequences.
- Trespasser depicting a young skateboarder listening to music on headphones who uses railroad tracks as a short cut with a potentially deadly result.
- Jogger showing a person so focused on his activity that he loses situational awareness at a railroad crossing.
The Metrolink Safety Campaign videos will be featured on Metrolink social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter as well as in the digital advertising using the hashtag #StaySafe. The advertising campaign is targeted specifically to reach people who are most vulnerable to accidents along the tracks and rail crossings. Additionally, shorter versions of the videos will be shown in selected Southern California Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Arleta, Santa Ana, and Rancho Cucamonga.
The Metrolink safety campaign also addresses the existence of homeless encampments that sometimes develop on or near railroad rights of way. Research indicates that when people in despair perceive that a method of ending their lives is close at hand, they might use it. In the case of railroad rights of way, a train can become a life-ending method. The effort utilizes the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services 24-hour crisis hotline 1-800-273-8255, to provide necessary resources. The Didi Hirsch 24-hour crisis hotline is displayed on Metrolink electronic message boards at train platforms.
“The past year’s unprecedented suffering, stress, and untreated mental health needs can each lead people to consider ending their own lives,” said Didi Hirsch Mental Health CEO Jonathan Goldfinger, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Our 24/7 crisis lines in English and Spanish have prevented an untold number of suicides. We’re proud to partner with Metrolink so everyone who feels hopeless or suicidal, or knows someone who does, can call without hesitation.”
Metrolink works with federal and state funding partners, such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and the California State Transportation Agency to develop efforts that improve conditions near tracks. An October 2018 Federal Railroad Administration study found that from November 2013 through October 2017, Los Angeles County had the most railroad trespasser fatalities in the nation with San Bernardino County ranking third and Riverside County rating seventh. Metrolink’s safety campaign renews and refocuses outreach with community groups along with colleges and universities in those areas to continue educating people about how to help prevent future incidents.
“Our campaign stresses the importance of the ‘Three E's’: engineering to develop new ways to keep grade crossings safe, education that leads to safe behaviors, and enforcement of laws by direct action to stop unsafe actions where streets and railroads meet,” said Darrell Fizer, Interim Chief of Safety, Security, and Compliance.
On the Road to Zero: Omnitrans Launches New 100% Electric Buses
While things slowed down over the last year, the Omnitrans Maintenance team seized the opportunity to improve the agency’s bus fleet and converted over half of its buses to near-zero emissions engines, reducing smog-producing emissions to .02 grams per brake horsepower hour and underscoring a commitment to cleaner air in its communities.
This month, Omnitrans released its first four 100 percent electric buses into the wild. Due to COVID, the agency was unable to host an event, but it still celebrated with customers with a fun “spot the electric bus” photo contest.
Participation was easy:
- Spot the bus out in the wild (aka on the street).
- Take a photo of the bus. Being a rider was not required.
- Post the photo on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, with the tag @omnitrans.
Five randomly chosen submissions were selected the week of June 21 to win an Omnitrans swag bag, including a $10 Bakers Drive-Thru gift card.
Omnitrans new zero-emission buses are fully battery-operated, aligning with the agency’s long-term goal to provide eco-friendly public transportation to its region. By adding these buses to its fleet, along with near-zero emission buses, Omnitrans is well on its way to further reducing environmental impact and contributing to blue skies and cleaner air in San Bernardino County for generations to come.
NCTD Board of Directors Approves Rail Operations and Facilities Maintenance Business Model
This month North County Transit District (NCTD) announced its Board of Directors, at a meeting on April 22, voted to support staff’s recommendations for a new rail operations and facilities maintenance business model that will improve accountability, performance, and efficiency. Under the new model, NCTD will directly hire and manage COASTER engineers, conductors, and maintenance of equipment personnel, SPRINTER train operators, train attendants, and maintenance of equipment personnel, and certain facilities maintenance staffing.
“This new business model is a significant step in the continued improvement of our operations and our focus on providing a positive experience for our riders,” said Tony Kranz, NCTD Board Chair and Encinitas Deputy Mayor. “As we look toward the future of rail operations and facilities maintenance, we are incorporating lessons learned from past and current agreements that align with core principles, while retaining our workforce and maximizing return on investment.”
To support the new business model, NCTD will be adding approximately 145 full-time personnel over the next 24 months. The first phase of the transition will be completed by June 30, 2022 with NCTD assuming direct responsibility for COASTER and SPRINTER train operations and maintenance of equipment. The second transition phase to in-source certain functions of facilities maintenance and procure specialized contracts will be completed by June 30, 2023.
Key considerations, which played a critical role in the Board’s approval of the new business model, included a focus on strengthening the District’s safety culture, fostering workforce development and supporting NCTD’s Zero Delay Program, an initiative with the goal of eliminating delays on all services, which has become a core principle of NCTD’s operations, maintenance, safety, and training functions.
“Ownership and control of the railroad makes NCTD more accountable to our customers and this new plan helps to ensure that we can meet our goals and preserve the long-term financial health of our District without compromise to the customer experience. We look forward to a successful transition with our partners,” said Kranz.
Metro Board Approves Going Forward With Development of Fareless Test Program
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors recently approved going forward with the development of a fareless pilot program to benefit students and low-income riders and to determine whether fareless transit could be expanded to more riders.
In approving a motion with a friendly amendment by a 12 to 0 vote, Metro Board made clear that several conditions must be met before a fareless test program can be launched. Among those: the completion of a final funding plan and assurances that the pilot program would not impact Metro's service or ability to keep its transit system in a State of Good Repair.
For now, there is no official start date for the fareless program.
When the test program goes forward, Metro will likely be the largest transit agency in the world to put such a large test program into action. In the Los Angeles region, the impetus for the program is glaring: about 70 percent of Metro’s riders are considered low-income (meaning their annual income is less than $35,000) and the fareless program would help fulfill the agency’s pledge to put equity at the forefront of its mission to improve mobility for all in our region. The fareless program would also directly benefit many of the people most economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and who most depend on Metro to get around. During the pandemic, Metro retained a higher percentage of riders than many other large transit agencies.
A team of Metro staffers has been studying fareless transit since last September and has found abundant evidence that putting money back into peoples’ pockets matters — a lot. In addition to the bleak household incomes for many Metro riders, an estimated 69 percent of K-12 Students in L.A. County are low-income. Surveys suggest that about 75 percent of the county’s community college students who ride transit are also low-income. Introducing students to transit could also help students connect with educational, cultural and recreational opportunities.
The overall goal of the test program is to determine whether it’s possible for Metro to go fully fareless in the future. The test program would provide data and other insights needed to make that decision. The Board has the discretion to terminate the program at the conclusion of the pilot, if long-term Federal or State funding commitments are not secured.
Not surprisingly, the Metro Board focused on the issue of how to pay for a fareless test program. Metro staff had earlier estimated that a 23-month pilot program could cost about $321 million including local and municipal operators — a number many on the Board found concerning.
As a result, Metro staff will continue to explore funding scenarios, including state and federal grants (Congress is considering new legislation to support fareless transit initiatives around the country) and contributions from schools, sponsors and/or stakeholders. Another big issue that needs to be worked out: how the other local bus agencies in L.A. County could participate in a fareless program and exactly how that would be funded.
Some other important details:
- Current Metro daily ridership is about half of the 1.2 million daily boarding Metro served in 2019. As the pandemic eases, ridership is expected to grow but there will still be ample capacity for returning and new riders when the pilot program launches.
- Vaccinations are now widely available to anyone 12 or older and Metro requires all riders to wear masks. The agency stresses that getting vaccinated and wearing a mask makes riding transit extremely safe.
- Since Metro launched its fareless study last summer, it heard from plenty of riders and stakeholders — a survey earlier this year received 46,400 responses with 86 percent of Metro riders supporting fareless and 80 percent of non-riders also supporting it.
- Stakeholders definitely have concerns, namely impacts of going fareless on safety, operations, cleanliness and — in particular — the number of homeless riding the system.
Metro takes those concerns very seriously and the agency has a number of initiatives underway as part of its recently released Customer Experience Plan. These include increasing Metro staff presence at facilities and on Metro vehicles, elevator attendants at stations, adding blue light call boxes and continued efforts to connect homeless people to social services and shelters.
Former Metro CEO Phil Washington first called for staff to begin developing a fareless plan last August. Many observers said the fareless study is a testament to Washington's work at Metro over the past six years to expand access to opportunity for riders and residents.
OCTA Fulfilling Measure M Promises for 30 Years Straight
An independent committee has determined for the 30th consecutive year that the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is successfully delivering on its promises made to voters through Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements.
The Taxpayer Oversight Committee held its annual Measure M, also known as OC Go, hearing via teleconference on June 8, and unanimously found that OCTA is once again proceeding in accordance with the ordinances that were first approved by voters in 1990 and renewed by 70 percent of voters in 2006.
The independent, 11-member committee was formed to monitor OCTA’s use of Measure M funding, which sets a course for delivering transit, street and freeway improvements, while protecting the environment, through 2041. The committee approves all changes to the Measure M plan and holds annual public hearings on the expenditure of funds generated by the half-cent sales tax entrusted to OCTA.
“I’m extremely proud the committee has determined OCTA continues delivering on our promises, all of which result in tangible transportation benefits for every person in Orange County,” said OCTA Chairman Andrew Do, also the county’s First District Supervisor. “Independent validation of OCTA’s work consistently for 30 straight years is a remarkable accomplishment and I appreciate all the committee members’ contributions, which have helped ensure OCTA remains a transparent, innovative, and responsive public agency.”
The current Measure M (2011 – 2041) is committed to delivering a balanced and sustainable transportation system in Orange County. The plan supports two environmental programs and allocates 43 percent of funding to freeways, 32 percent to streets and 25 percent to transit.
The original Measure M (1990 – 2010) made possible more than $4 billion of transportation improvements, including improvements to freeways, widened streets, synchronized signals, and intersections. It also provided the means for Orange County’s Metrolink commuter-rail service, which continues to be funded by OC Go today.
For more information on the Taxpayers Oversight Committee, visit octa.net/TOC.
TRANSIT PEOPLE AND HAPPENINGS
Culver CityBus Website Wins Award
The newly redesigned Culver CityBus website recently won the 2020 Horizon Interactive Silver Award under the category “Websites for Towns & Municipalities”. The award recognizes “excellence in interactive media productions.”
For nearly 20 years, the Horizon Interactive Awards competition has been recognizing, promoting and awarding the best websites, videos, online advertising, print media, and mobile applications. Each year, the competition receives thousands of entries from all over the world and a volunteer panel of industry professionals, from diverse multi- media, graphic design, advertising and marketing backgrounds, review the entries to determine the work that is to be recognized.
In December 2020, OpenCities, Culver CityBus’ website vendor, submitted the website for this award. The competition included over 600 international entries that showcased websites with interactive media solutions. Highlights of the new Culver CityBus website include features like “in the news,” “safety tips,” a photo gallery, and video library and quick links to Rider Alerts and nextccbus.
The Culver CityBus website was designed in partnership with OpenCities, Transportation Department staff, and the City’s Webmaster to explore and implement new and innovative techniques.
40 High Schoolers Win New Laptops as Part of MTS & Reyes Coca-Cola Essay Contest
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) announced last month the 40 winners of the annual MTS and Reyes Coca-Cola Laptop Scholarship Essay Contest, which awards top-scoring students with brand new laptop computers. The winning students came from 33 different high schools in San Diego County, and were awarded a Lenovo - Ideapad 3.
Due to the pandemic the laptops are coming at a crucial time for students who had already been working through issues with technology at home for over a year. Students shared stories about the struggles of distance learning, including borrowing or sharing laptops, old laptops not working, and challenging Wi-Fi connections.
“It’s been a very challenging year for these students. They all faced an unprecedented learning experience,” said Nathan Fletcher, MTS Board Chair, and Chair, San Diego County Board of Supervisors. “I am very proud of them. It is encouraging to see that this up-and-coming generation has a lot of talent, resolve, and perseverance.”
Students in grades 9-12 were asked to explore PRONTO, the new fare collection system MTS passengers will being using this summer, and write about how its new capabilities will help improve access to transit in San Diego, with features such as fare-capping, instant money deposit, multi-card family options, online balance tracking, and much more.
“The last year has shown very clearly the impact technology can have on students’ access to education,” said Dr. Paul Gothold, San Diego County Superintendent of Schools. “And while many students have returned to school campuses, they still need computers. I am proud of the students who participated and thankful to MTS and the Reyes Coca Cola Bottling Company for their support.”
The laptop scholarship essay contest is a long-standing event partnership between MTS, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and the San Diego County Office of Education. To be eligible to win, students had to be San Diego County residents and enrolled in a San Diego County high school.