Jason Jordan, Center for Transportation Excellence

Jason Jordan, director of the Center for Transportation Excellence, joins the CTPodcast to discuss the 2012 election season's transportation ballot initiatives — and transit's success at the polls. Jordan, whose organization follows all transportation initiatives, says there were 62 total ballot initiatives in 18 states in 2012, of which 47 passed (a 76% approval rate). This success, according to Jordan, can be attributed to presenting the public with specific plans so they understand what they're buying; accountability and transparency; coalition building and community outreach; good messaging; and timing.

Listen Here (23:11)

Mark L. Burton, University of Tennessee's Center for Transportation Research

Professor Mark Burton, Ph.D., Director of Transportation Economics at the University of Tennessee's Center for Transportation Research, discusses the role of rural public transportation in local economic development, with an emphasis on increasing regionalism, rural demographics and infrastructure investment. Additionally, the conversation turns to the impact of jurisdictional boundaries and the value of a mobile workforce. "Transportation is essential to any and all parts of the rural econom — it's fundamental," says Burton. 

Listen Here: (17:17)

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.

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Michael Vieira, President New Jersey Council on Special Transportation

Michael Vieira, President of the New Jersey Council on Special Transportation — which represents each of the state's 21 county-coordinated community transit operations, as well as more than 100 additional community-based transit providers — talks with the CT Podcast about community transportation's response to Hurricane Sandy. From evacuations prior to the storm's arrival to providing life-sustaining dialysis and chemotherapy trips in the aftermath, Vieira discusses the kind of public service currently ongoing across New Jersey of  which we can all be proud.

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David Johnson, KC Streetcar Authority Board Member

David Johnson, Board Member with the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, joins the CT Podcast to discuss the campaign to finance and build a two-mile modern streetcar line connecting KC's River Market area with the Central Business District and its burgeoning arts district. A true public-private partnership, the fare-free system hopes to move more than 2,700 daily riders once construction is complete in 2015. Johnson, who blogs on the issue here, knows that a more vibrant community with additional street traffic is one key outcome from the proposed streetcar's arrival.

Listen here (20:47)

Elena Wilken, Co-Director, Colorado Association of Transit Agencies

Elena Wilken, co-director of the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies (CASTA) joins the CT Podcast to discuss her transit advocacy work on behalf of Colorado's 70 public and community transit agencies. Stressing simple ideas that are both people-based and that leverage the work of local and state partners, Wilken understands that the right message is tailored to the audience with an emphasis on people and the impact of effective transit.

Listen here (18:17)

Carl Sedoryk, GM & CEO, Monterey-Salinas Transit

The CTPodcast returns with an expansive discussion with Monterey-Salinas Transit General Manager and CEO Carl Sedoryk. Having just (Oct. 1) celebrated MST's 40th birthday, Sedoryk provides an overview of the wide variety of services MST provides, including fixed-routes, regional connections, a taxi voucher program, military commuter services and a soon to be completed JAZZ BRT line. MST is truly a full-service mobility provider for a region the size of some states.

Listen Here (21:50)

Mike Davis, Manager, Atomic City Transit

Mike Davis, Transit Manager for Atomic City Transit in Los Alamos, New Mexico joins the CTpodcast to discuss the burgeoning five-year old, completely fare-free transit system in the north-central part of the state. In a recent community survey, Atomic City Transit found that more than a third of local residents were aware of the system and that more than a quarter had used it. With strong ridership from local students and commuters at Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as a supportive city council, Davis  sees a future where the system builds upon its innovations and continues to thrive.

This podcast accompanies the Summer 2012 DigitalCT Magazine edition focusing on transit across New Mexico.

Listen here: (11:42)

Kevin Coggin, Coast Transit Authority, Gulfport Mississippi

Coast Transit Authority Executive Director Kevin Coggin provides insight into his agency's preparations and response to the approaching Hurricane Isaac. With the bulk of local evacuations completed, Coggin covers all that the system undertakes as a storm approaches, and Coast Transit's role in local hurricane preparation and planning. "Clear communications between responders and with the public is really critical," says Coggin. "We do this often enough and have a good plan and experienced staff."

Listen here (8:45)

Larry Harman, Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI)

Larry Harman, co-director of the geograhics lab at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Mass., talks about his work with Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) grantees and the positive impact these projects are having on both the transit and the veterans fields. He's excited about the commitment of the grantees, as well as the Federal Transit Administration, to improving transit services for veterans and how these innovative grants represent "real" projects with a "can-do" approach that he believes will prove successful.

Listen Here (16:05)

Commuter Rail Evolves: The RAIL #30 Editorial Discussion

RAIL Magazine Editors Scott Bogren and Rich Sampson — along with Brent Riddle, Senior Program Officer for Urban and Regional Policy at the German Marshall Fund — discuss the editorial development of the latest edition of RAIL, and the commuter rail themes that emerged as the edition progressed. Don't miss this discussion of New Mexico's Rail Runner, Orlando's SunRail, Denver's FrontRunner and Minneapolis-St. Paul's NorthStar, among others.

Listen Here (16:23)

Burgess Everett, Politico Transportation Reporter

With much of the capitol press corps turning its attention in late June to the surface transportation bill, Burgess Everett's coverage of the surface transportation reauthorization process for Politico provided the latest breaking news from Capitol Hill. In this edition of the CT Podcast, Everett provides insight into how the conference committee suddenly gained traction and how Congressional leadership looked to the key negotiators and said, "Get this done." He talks about the surprising addition of a second year of funding and reveals how important suburban legislators were in keeping transit in the trust fund. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the making of MAP-21 that you won't want to miss.

Listen here (15:22)

Transportation Lobbyist Jason Pavluchuk

Jason Pavluchuk, principal with Pavluchuk and Associates, discusses the passage of MAP-21 and its implications. Who won and who lost in MAP-21? What exactly happened that took the conference committee from being mired in seeming stalemate to overwhelmingly bi-partisan vote totals? What were the big issues that MAP-21 leaves to another day? Take a listen to an insider's perspective on the new surface transportation law that broke a 1,000 day SAFETEA-LU extension

Listen here (21:50 minutes)

Americans For Transit's Andrew Austin

Just two weeks young, Americans For Transit (A4T) is dedicated to organizing and mobilizing transit riders. According to A4T Executive Director Andrew Austin, the organization hopes to build rider and community engagement on key transit issues, particularly funding and ballot initiatives. In this conversation, Andrew and CT Podcast host Scott Bogren talk mobilizing strategies and the potential impact organized transit riders can have on local, state and federal transit investment, as well as the need for flexible transit operating assistance to combat fare increases and service cuts.

Listen Here (16:25)

National Roadeo Driver of the Year Ron Stewart

Community and public transportation drivers are the face of the transit industry. In this podcast, Scott Bogren talks with Ron Stewart, a driver with the Baldwin Rural Area Transit System in Robertsdale, Ala., and winner of the 2012 National Community Transportation Roadeo's Otis Reed Jr. Driver of the Year. Stewart discusses how competing in the roadeo prepares him for his job, getting to know his passengers and the special care that must be taken with seniors, people with disabilities and dialysis patients.


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The NRC's Chris Zeilinger and Sheryl Gross-Glaser

CTAA has long been advocate for the virtues of coordination, cooperation, collaboration and partnership in the community and public transit field. This discussion with the National Resource Center on Human Service Transportation Coordination's (NRC) Director Chris Zeilinger and Coordination Specialist Sheryl Gross-Glaser focuses on Performance Measures in coordination. How can we measure -- both quantitatively and qualitatively -- the real impact of successful coordination endeavors. Here, we cover results, outcomes and tangible benefits. To visit the Performance Measures webinars discussed in this podcast, click here. For a list of United We Ride Coordination Ambassadors, click here.

Listen Here (17:55)

Reconnecting America's Sasha Forbes

Two weeks ago, Reconnecting America released an excellent report, Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America: How Smaller Cities and Rural Places are Using Transit. Sasha Forbes, a Policy Associate at Reconnecting America, is one of the co-authors of the report and she joined CT Podcast host Scott Bogren to discuss its findings, the key takeaways and how the report has been received. From risk taking to community development challenges to the need for additional resources, Sasha offers a wide range of insight.

Listen Here (13:12)

Treasure Valley Transit's Terri Lindenberg

CTAA's 2012 Rural Community Transportation System of the Year is Treasure Valley Transit, an 8-county transit system serving Southwest Idaho. Joining the CT Podcast today is Treasure Valley Transit's Executive Director Terri Lindenberg, where we discuss passengers as advocates, the meaning of true coordination, key mobility challenges in areas like Idaho and even Medicaid non-emergency transit.

Listen Here (17:39)

Jarrett Walker, Author, Human Transit

Jarrett Walker, author of the book, Human Transit, as well as the Human Transit blog, takes some time out of his travel schedule to talk with Scott Bogren about the re-emerging human elements in transit service design and implementation, and extols the truth in the geometry of transit. We discuss Portland's confluence of leadership and strong, clear decision about public transit 30 years ago -- and where the next Portland might be found. Any conversation with someone who describes their core professional pleasure as, "seeing transit working well in the real world," is bound to be a fascinating conversation. Jarrett Walker did not disappoint.

Listen here (24:36)

Larry Ehl on Federal Transportation Policy

Larry Ehl is the editor of the Transportation Issues Daily blog, examining all facets of transportation policy in kitchen-table English. In this conversation, he discusses transportation funding issues.

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Brittany Perrin on the Tiger Transit Movement

Brittany Perrin is not only a second-year graduate student at the University of Missouri, she's also chair of the Tiger Transit Movement -- an effort to ensure students have a say in the operation and design of local transit services on campus. She describes all the members of the Movement as pro-transit, and is, herself, an avid bus rider.

Listen here (10:10)

Mike Noel on Transit Customer Service

In this edition of the CT Podcast, host Scott Bogren sits down with Lazaro-Noel's Mike Noel to discuss the importance of customer service in the community and public transportation field. Mike has directly trained more than 10,000 community and public transportation managers and personnel on issues as wide-ranging as safety and security to leadership and accountability. He has more than 30 years in the transit field, including direct transit management prior to co-founding Lazaro-Noel.

Listen Here (12:48)