Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

During the past quarter-century, the manufacturer has sustained hundreds of jobs, while producing more than 2,500 railcars at its plant, which sits in the heart of the Northeast Corridor. Kawasaki is currently working on the next generation of the 7 line subway cars that will be supplied to New York City Transit.

To celebrate, President/CEO Joe Boardman released a statement lauding the rail service's success.

The agency started with 35 staffers. Today, it takes 191 full- and part-time employees to help operate regional bus, vanpool, paratransit, planning, customer service, marketing, public affairs and sustainable transportation services. Ridership for the first year averaged 500 daily compared with 7,000 daily last month.

Launched in 2008, the SPRINTER has become the backbone of east/west public transit in North County, serving 15 stations along a 22-mile route from Escondido to Oceanside. The rail line has seen record-breaking ridership in recent months, with averages of over 10,000 passengers per weekday.

In 2012, the agency achieved 96.4% on-time performance, breaking the previous record of 96.2% set in 1995. This was achieved even while operating nearly 23% more trains than the former record calendar year. Meanwhile, the agency’s rail operation is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Started as a small family-owned radio shop and has grown into a global manufacturer of commercial transportation electronics for the motorcoach, transit, shuttle, school and agriculture markets.

Boasts a consistent on-time performance of better than 97%, a customer satisfaction rating of 93% and annual ridership of about 84 million. In 1983 system-wide on-time performance was hovering at 80.5% and annual ridership was 42 million and dropping.

Veolia has operated fixed route service under contract to the RTC without interruption since 1992 when the transit system inaugurated new service. Thirty-two employees who started with the company in 1992 are still with Veolia in Las Vegas.

Agency leaders highlighted two decades of progress and improvements to the RTC transit system that carries nearly 60 million passengers throughout the valley annually.

The agency originally initially projected 9,100 people would ride the light rail line every day. The line currently averages 15,500 riders daily.