Vancouver, Wash.-based C-TRAN has been named the 2019 national mid-sized Transit System of the Year by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

The honor was officially announced this month as part of the annual APTA Awards, which recognizes transit systems across North America. As winner of the Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award for mid-sized agencies, C-TRAN was judged among other systems with a total ridership between four million and 20 million trips per year. C-TRAN tallied about 6.2 million total trips in 2018.

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The award encompasses C-TRAN’s achievements during the past three years in 12 core areas: safety, operations, maintenance, access, customer service, financial management, sustainability, workforce development, attendance and employee costs, minority and women advancement, marketing, and community relations.

C-TRAN marked several important achievements that were factored in the award selection:

• Increased total ridership by 4.63% during the past two years, among the national leaders in changing ridership trends.

• Launched The Vine, the Portland-Vancouver region’s first and only bus rapid transit system.

• Partnered with TriMet and Portland Streetcar to introduce Hop Fastpass, a state-of-the-art regional electronic fare system, and the only one in the U.S. with “fare capping."

• Received a finding of “no deficiencies” from the Federal Transit Administration’s triennial review, a rare feat achieved by only 7% of agencies reviewed from 2015 to 2017 (the same period as C-TRAN’s most recent review). All U.S. transit systems must periodically undergo a triennial review.

• Raised the number of hybrid-electric buses in service to 62, representing more than half of our fixed-route fleet.

• Continued to operate as a financially healthy, debt-free agency.

“This incredible honor exemplifies the hard work being accomplished by our world-class employees,” said C-TRAN CEO Shawn M. Donaghy. “We’re humbled to receive such a prestigious honor from APTA, and we take pride in serving our community each and every day.”

The APTA Awards highlight the best of public transportation in North America each year. C-TRAN and the rest of this year’s award winners will be honored at the APTA Annual Meeting in October.