Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Will begin serving in his new role as CEO of both transit agencies on March 1, 2012.

The ridership spike was achieved by weekday commuters and special events that included home games for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona State University football.

For the launch, several notable people in the valley will identify their favorite light rail stops and join riders, local first fans, and others to ride and explore their community.

Staffing constraints due to budget issues have made it challenging for police to attain passenger inspection goals set by Metro, according to police officials. The other two cities the system runs through — Mesa and Tempe — already use private security companies.

Has carried nearly 24 million riders over its first two years of operation.

In addition to streetcar, a study calls for a BRT line on Rural Road, connecting the cities of Tempe and Chandler. Streetcar will advance first as local funding is available from Proposition 400, a countywide, half-cent transportation sales tax renewed by voters in 2004.

With FTA approval, preliminary engineering work can begin and will be conducted by Jacobs Engineering.

In June 2010, when ridership usually slumps as a result of the summer heat, Metro saw a 15 percent increase from 815,566 in 2009 to 942,154 in 2010.

Served more than 1,2 million total riders in April 2010, resulting in an average weekday ridership of 44,932, average Saturday ridership of 34,533, and average Sunday and holiday ridership of 20,573.

Steve Banta, who has more than 23 years in the transit industry, has worked in progressively important management roles for several public transit agencies including in his current role as Portland, Ore. TriMet's executive director of operations.