Transit Unplugged Weekly News Minute with Julie Gates

Welcome to September and your Transit Unplugged News Minute, where we cover the biggest headlines in the transit industry. Most transit systems will be operating on a holiday schedule today due to Labor Day in the United States and Canada. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration expects this will be the busiest Labor Day travel period on record. Source: TSA Congratulations to Los Ange...

Ohio's Stark Area Regional Transit Authority is going all-in with hydrogen fuel. SARTA will use federal grant funds to build an electrolyzer facility that will make fuel for their 23 hydrogen vehicles and for private companies in the area. Source: SARTA It’s back-to-school season, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is implementing an enhanced safety plan for students who us...

APTA wants Congress to honor their funding agreement. Source: APTA Bay Area schedules get in sync. Source: BART Old railcars get a second life as coral reefs. Sources: MARTA and YouTube

This week: CUTA presses for funding Miami-Dade is building a first-of-its-kind facility for electric buses More students are riding free Congrats to SWTA Spotlight Award winners (including us!)

The Olympic Games kicked off in Paris on Friday, and in advance of the 2028 California games L.A. METRO was granted $77 million dollars in federal funds to buy electric buses to ensure it’s a “transit-first games.”  Source: LA Times After six years of hard work, the new Gordie Howe International Bridge has been connected in the middle over the Detroit River. This bridge connects Canada and th...

With the largest public transit investment in Canadian history, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new Canada Public Transit Fund of $30 billion. Keolis North America released a study sharing the top priorities of transit executives, with 78 percent saying decarbonization is their focus for the next five years. Since the Chicago Transit Authority launched a new chatbot, riders have issued...

Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. There is so much going on right now. Let's kick it off with happy 60th birthday to the U.S. Federal Transportation Administration. The FTA was born in 1964 and is still going strong. Last week, the FTA announced 1. 5 billion in bus grants, helping 47 states to replace old buses with zero and low emission solutions. And speaking of anniversaries, congr...

Expect this to be a busy holiday travel week with Canada Day on Monday and the U.S. Independence Day on Thursday. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute.

Toronto's CEO is stepping down, Chicago brings average weekday ridership up to 1 million, and MBTA is a world record holder, but not for what you think. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute.

New York is still leading transit news headlines this week due to the indefinite pause of the congestion pricing program in Manhattan. Welcome to this week's Transit Unplugged News Minute.

New York congestion pricing gets canceled before it even gets started, and transit celebrates dads as we approach Father's Day. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute.

It's complicated to expand Rome's subway underneath the Coliseum. LA Metro will have law enforcement onboard vehicles, and Pride Month kicks off with colorful transit vehicles. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. Sources:  https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/05/24/work-on-metro-line-under-romes-landmarks-enters-crucial-phase   https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-metro-t...

The DOT needs your feedback about the future of AI in transportation. The first hydrogen fueled ferry in the United States is about to start service, and one of our Canadian transit leaders lost his Stanley Cup wager. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. It's worth noting the series went to game 7 with both teams playing excellent hockey.

Utah offers unlimited summer rides for youth. A Discord server updates Bay Area riders and it's graduation season for brand new transit leaders. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. Sources: https://www.rideuta.com/Rider-Info/Riders-License https://www.caltrain.com/news/caltrain-launches-bay-area-transit-discord-server   https://vatransit.com/VTLI

MTA steps up security efforts. Brightline could deliver service to Tampa. Hawaii provides autonomous airport shuttles. And Stanley Cup playoffs are serious business for Canadian transit. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. Sources: https://new.mta.info/press-release/photos-mta-police-officers-graduate-nypd-academy-0 https://ridebeep.com/press-releases/beep-launches-at-honolulus-internat...

Big collaboration news in the US capital region the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments launched a historic initiative, creating comprehensive regional transit planning for Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Congratulations to the winners of the APTA Bus Safety, Security, and Emergency Management Awards. Winners include Cap...

The BBC reports an autonomous transit bus is being tested in Seoul, South Korea, the first of its kind in the world. The self-driving Night Bus still requires a safety driver at this time while testing is underway. Anaheim Transportation Network opened a new electric bus charging facility. As one of the first all-electric bus fleets in California, the new facility will manage the charging of over...

Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. Brightline breaks ground in Vegas… Broward County Transit addresses homelessness with a compassionate approach… and Earth Day Canada is giving away year-long transit passes. Sources: https://www.brightlinewest.com/media/press-releases   https://www.broward.org/BCT/Pages/default.aspx   https://earthday.ca/april-22/campaign/leg-day/

An innovative trespassing system will be tested on passenger rail tracks in California… a new report says public transit is good for the environment… and a new group of graduates is ready to work on the California high speed rail project. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. Southern California’s passenger rail, MetroLink, was awarded a DOT grant to develop a first-of-its kind intruder d...

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority successfully completed its five year tunnel drilling project to expand the D Line subway and connect downtown and West L.A. One of the engineering challenges included The program included drilling through prehistoric tar sands near the La Brea Tar Pits. Source:  LA Metro Las Vegas is starting a pilot program to use artificial intelligen...

The IBTTA extends support to Baltimore, New York is one step closer to congestion pricing, and the ThinkTransit Conference wraps up in Tucson. Welcome to your Transit Unplugged News Minute. In response to the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association has offered its support, saying we stand in solidarity with...

are evasion enforcement is heating up and the MBTA is celebrating transit driver appreciation month. With a fiscal cliff coming for many transit agencies who are nearing the end of COVID relief subsidies, farebox revenue is becoming increasingly important and now there are efforts to step up fare enforcement. Last year, the Toronto Transit Commission lost nearly $124 million dollars to fare evasio...

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded over $3 billion dollars in federal funding through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity grant programs. This funding will reconnect communities that were divided by transportation infrastructure decades ago. Source:  U.S. DOT A one-year multi-modal pilot is underway in Vancouver, BC. The RideLink smartphon...

At the inaugural Public Transit Conference this May, cybersecurity will be at the top of the agenda. Cyberattacks have become an industry hot topic and have impacted many transit agencies, including San Francisco and St. Louis. The conference is being hosted by METRO Magazine. Source:  METRO Magazine . North Carolina’s GoDurham has a new way for riders to alert the agency about trash at bus s...

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, has achieved an important milestone. It has been seven years since it has had a traffic death. They credit the success to their Vision Zero program, which has created dedicated spaces for different transportation modes, and added curb extensions to help pedestrians cross the street faster. Source:  City of Hoboken . The U.S Federal Transit Administration annou...