SEPTEMBER 2008

COVER STORY
 
Ridership, Fuel Cost Hikes Force Top 100 to Adjust
By Alex Roman, Senior Editor

Nearly 72.5 percent of agencies listed find it difficult to balance service demands with higher fuel costs. Raising fares, adjusting routes and extending service life of vehicles are some fixes being employed.



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Features

Contractors Expound on New Opportunities, Services, Technology

As paratransit market growth continues, contractors make inroads with rail service. METRO sits down with three of the top contractors in the industry to discuss the benefits and the logistics of running contracted services and what the future holds for their businesses.



Proactive Programs Key To Rail Safety

Visionaries in the rail industry are working to change the mindset and culture of rail work and safe performance. Preventive measures, such as removing barriers to safety and ensuring thorough training, are rapidly reducing safety risks and injuries.



Prepared for the Worst: Securing Motorcoach Passengers

Understanding the nature of threats is a good first step. Information sharing -- formally and informally -- loss and incident data collection, and analysis of past experience all play a role in determining what should be done to protect passengers.



Alstom Reaches its High-Speed Destiny with New Train

The company's new AGV train, which recently completed testing in the Czech Republic, can reach speeds up to 225 mph.

Women in Transportation

This year we profile the achievements of 10 women who have used skills in finance, construction, civic involvement, contract negotiations, planning, social activism and entrepreneurship to make their mark on the industry.



10 Great Transit Systems to Work For

Open-door policies, a family atmosphere, and opportunities for growth and advancement help to keep transit employees happy. But each of the 10 transit systems profiled in this article has its own special way of making sure that employee satisfaction is part of its mission.



Enhanced Customer Service Key to Improving Transit Systems

Transit operations are using new applications to streamline their customer service systems, resulting in improved productivity and reduced costs. Feedback from customers is also being elicited to help improve transit services.



CompoBus: Reviving a Radical Idea

What looked like another buried public transportation research project that died in its commercial cradle, the CompoBus has now received new life. What it means for the industry.

DEPARTMENTS

Altoona to add brake, emissions testing

Altoona's Bus Research and Testing Center, which features a durability test track, will begin analyzing emissions in chassis-based performance of vehicles.



Monterey Salinas Transit harvest mustard seeds for bio conversion

After planting, mustard seed requires little to no irrigation or tending, in contrast to other higher-maintenance biofuel crops such as corn.



Small Starts revisions rebuff rail

It is now unlikely that streetcar systems will get much traditional transit funding, regardless of their appeal to local communities and national sustainability objectives.

Public transportation can afford to be much bolder

Now is the time to seize the momentum.



Transit key to fighting climate change

David Gardener is president of Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm David Gardiner & Associates LLC.

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METRO Magazine - February/March 2008

In This Issue:
On the Road to Funding Transportation’s Future, John Catoe: Driving D.C. to be the Nation’s ‘Best Ride’, UMA Expo Brings ‘Green’ Message to San Francisco and much more…