Jud Smith, Co-President, Dallas Smith Corporation

Dallas Smith Corporation Co-President Jud Smith joins the CT Podcast to discuss his company's work in the low-floor bus industry. Dallas Smith's low-floor Friendly Bus and Friendship Bus were developed with the company's advanced low-floor, axle-less technologies that it first crafted for its automobile trailer business. It wasn't until company leaders, on an airport shuttle bus, witnessed the loading of a passenger with a disability in a wheelchair that they were inspired to enter the bus field. Smith sees plenty of growth opportunities in the transit field, and also spotlights his thoughts on where bus technology and population demographics are leading the industry.

Listen Here (26:22)

Patrick McKinney, GM, Bluefield Area Transit, Bluefield, WV

Yesterday, we focused on Hurricane Sandy's impact across New Jersey. Several hundred miles away from the Atlantic coast, the storm had an entirely different effect — dropping significant amounts of wet snow. In southern West Virginia, Bluefield and its environs saw up to two feet. In this edition of the CTPodcast, Bluefield Area Transit General Manager Patrick McKinney talks about how his system prepared for the storm, and dealt with its aftermath. Service is back underway in Bluefield, but McKinney is quick to note that four other West Virginia operators are still closed due to downed trees, power outages and impassable road conditions. Providing transit service in West Virginia's hills is always challenging — Hurricane Sandy just made it even more difficult.

Listen Here (13:13)