The Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA), a nonprofit corporation established in 2012, is seeking its first Executive Director who will be charged with overseeing the operations and maintenance of the entire system through a third-party operator, and ensuring stakeholder and neighborhood involvement.

When becomes operational in late 2015, the two-mile north-south streetcar route (approximately 4 miles round trip) will operate on City streets and efforts are currently underway to study opportunities and gain support for future expansion projects.

Without question, this position represents a tremendous opportunity for a dynamic leader to have a significant impact in a city focused on downtown revitalization. Given that Kansas City Streetcar initiatives are in their development stages, it will be necessary for the Executive Director to demonstrate flexibility, maturity and an ability to “scale” within a dynamic, expanding entity.

We are seeking candidates who possess:

·         At least five years of demonstrated experience in an externally focused leadership position is required.

·         A solid base of experience in administrative skills, project management, budget oversight and contract/vendor management is necessary.

·         Given complexities associated with federal funding, candidates with previous experience resulting in positive relationships with the FTA will be viewed favorably.

While ideal candidates will have experience in public transit (e.g., streetcars/light rail, urban transit, bus systems, heavy rail), individuals with applicable skills in government/stakeholder relations, urban redevelopment, urban planning and/or community outreach are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information or make a referral, please contact Nancy Huckaba at 913.234.1570 or nhuckaba@eflassociates.com.

(via YPTransportation)

(Source: USA Jobs)

Dedicated to delivering results that matter to the American people, the FTA supports, improves, and promotes effective public transportation, the Nation’s fastest growing mode of travel. Through the administration, management, and oversight of a $10 billion annual grant program, FTA supports the development and construction of subway, light rail, and bus systems to help communities provide travel choices; improve access to jobs and health care; drive economic growth; and protect the environment.

This position is located in the Office of Transit Programs of the Office of Program Management (TPM). The Office is responsible for the development and management of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) formula and discretionary grant programs, oversight of regional office capital and formula grant making processes, and management of FTA’s electronic grant making system as business process owner.

You will serve as the director of the Office of Transit Programs and will be personally responsible for the supervision, management, and execution of all activities of the Office. You also will represent and negotiate for FTA in meetings in Washington and the field with top level representatives of Federal, State, regional and local agencies, organizations, and transit operators.

This position is ideal for a Senior Level, professional transportation program specialist who has excellent communication skills, analytical skills, and leadership skills.

Click here for additional information and to apply.

(Source: USAJOBS)

Job Description

Dedicated to delivering results that matter to the American people, the FTA supports, improves, and promotes effective public transportation, the Nation’s fastest growing mode of travel. Through the administration, management, and oversight of a $10 billion annual grant program, FTA supports the development and construction of subway, light rail, and bus systems to help communities provide travel choices; improve access to jobs and health care; drive economic growth; and protect the environment.

You will serve as Director, Office of Transit Safety and Security (TPM-30) within the Office of Program Management.

You will carry out the duties and responsibilities outlined in this position description and reports to the FTA Associate Administrator of Program Management and Deputy Associate Administrator of Program Management. The duties and responsibilities include functioning as advisor in safety security matters to the FTA Administrator, and Deputy Administrator. You will serve as Director of the TPM-30 leadership team, which includes team leaders for security and safety. As a senior FTA expert in safety and security, you will represent FTA in promoting transit safety and security and is a focal point for all related programs and issues. You will also serve as a key liaison for FTA with other elements of the Department and other Federal agencies for transit safety and security matters.

You will be responsible for establishing the framework for coordinated and cooperative safety and security activities within FTA, with relevant DOT agencies, with other Federal agencies, and with concerned national organizations and State agencies. Ensures that safety and security is a priority with FTA grantees and contractors, the transit industry, and concerned interest groups. Responsible for directing, coordinating, controlling, and ensuring the adequacy of short- and long-range FT A plans and programs on all transit safety and security matters as they relate to the FTA strategic plan, its missions, programs, and objectives. Keep the FTA Administrator, and Deputy Administrator informed of emerging and controversial issues.

This position is ideal for a Senior Level professional with a broad range of transit safety and security matters and functioning as an advisor in such matters.

Click here for more information and to apply

The Washington Post’s Coverage: A federal investigation has identified pervasive flaws in rail safety at Metro and severe inadequacies in the agency responsible for oversight. Findings released Thursday call for widespread changes in how the nation’s second-busiest subway system is supervised and managed.

The sternly worded report, prepared by the Federal Transit Administration and presented Thursday to Washington area members of Congress, was the first in-depth look at Metro’s safety program, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff said. It revealed deep-rooted deficiencies at the transit agency and its independent oversight committee, highlighting vulnerabilities in the systems that are supposed to safeguard passengers and workers, he said.

Rogoff said the safety performance of the Washington system was worse than others of similar size. He said the findings were a symptom of a much deeper problem, extending from executive leadership down to the most junior employee, and he urged the incoming Metro general manager to use the report as a “road map” for the “overarching safety problem.” Click here to read the Washington Post article.

The FTA’s audit resulted in 21 findings and recommendations: 11 findings and recommendations for TOC and 10 findings and recommendations to WMATA.

I have to agree with this excerpt from a post by David Alpert on one of my favorite local blogs – Greater Greater Washington:

The most disappointing piece to me is why it took press attention and FTA oversight to identify, explain, and fix these issues. WMATA could have formulated and publicized its own report explaining how the safety structure was deficient and suggesting ways it would fix them on its own. It didn’t. After the Post discovered and publicized the lapses, WMATA’s statements instead nitpicked specific wording from TOC Chair Eric Madison to try to claim there wasn’t a problem at all.

WMATA needs to own up to these things, not just respond to the FTA’s report and have meetings but actually start coming clean to riders. There are undoubtedly some points the FTA missed; WMATA should proactively suggest those as well. As for the TOC, they have a solemn responsibility to ensure safety, and should take whatever steps necessary without regret, whether that’s breaking procedure and going directly to top managers or the Board, or talking to the press and shouting from the rooftops when something is wrong.

Summary List of Findings and Recommendations

Findings to the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TOC):

1. Assess the level of resources necessary from each jurisdiction (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) to meet TOC’s responsibilities. Use the results of this assessment to establish resource commitments from each jurisdiction to TOC for the next three calendar years. Resources should be committed and onboard before the beginning of the next Federal audit cycle.
2. Evaluate the technical and professional skills that TOC representatives need to effectively carry out their oversight duties.  To the extent that TOC representatives do not currently possess these skills, ensure training is provided as soon as practicable to each TOC member.
3. Determine the best method to respond quickly and professionally, as WMATA safety situations arise and require coordinated action.  Consider whether full-time TOC positions can be vested with decision-making authority to act in specific safety situations with WMATA.
4. Identify and formalize a mechanism to ensure that critical unresolved WMATA safety concerns identified by TOC members are elevated to the highest levels of each TOC jurisdictional agency and WMATA for immediate action.
5. Require WMATA to complete a timely, thorough, and competent review and update of WMATA’s Safety Rules and Procedures Manual.  This review and update must reflect actual current practices and needed improvements identified by TOC and by FTA in this audit report.
6. Require WMATA to develop (and TOC to review and approve) an internal WMATA safety audit recovery plan for calendar year 2010 and calendar year 2011. Before WMATA develops this plan, TOC should sponsor a meeting with WMATA’s Safety Department, Quality Department, and Executive Leadership Team to explain the internal safety audit program requirements and TOC’s expectations regarding WMATA’s internal safety audit recovery plan.
7. Require WMATA to develop a recovery plan to complete all open accident investigations following procedures established in TOC’s Program Standard, WMATA’s System Safety Program Plan and WMATA’s Accident Investigation Procedures.
8. Document the Corrective Action Plan Technical Review process in TOC’s Program Standard and Procedures and WMATA’s System Safety Program Plan.
9. Work with WMATA to ensure that there is a process in place for evaluating Corrective Action Plans (CAP) alternatives that may be necessary as a result of capital and operating program resource limitations.
10. Require WMATA to develop and implement a comprehensive and system-wide hazard management program (as required by 49 CFR Part 659.31).
11. Require WMATA to strictly adhere to the annual certification of compliance with its System Safety Program Plan (as specified in 49 CFR 659.43), including identifying areas where WMATA is not in compliance with its System Safety Program Plan as well as specific actions WMATA is taking to achieve compliance.

Recommendations to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA):

1. Conduct an assessment to identify the resources and expertise necessary for the Safety Department to carry out the activities specified in WMATA’s System Safety Program Plan and Safety Rules and Procedures Manual.
2. Use the results of the assessment to ensure adequate staffing levels and expertise within the Safety Department.
3. Increase the Safety Department’s access to operating and maintenance information and reports to ensure that this information is being analyzed for potential impacts on the safety of WMATA.
4. Develop an internal process to require the communication of safety-related information across all WMATA departments, including the impacts of budget reductions and resource constraints on the performance of safety-related maintenance activities and requirements.
5. Define and implement the process for the top Safety Department position to communicate safety priorities to the General Manager in a timely and consistent manner.
6. Identify the technical skills required to perform system-wide hazard analysis (as required in 49 CFR Part 659 and TOC’s Program Standard). To the extent that WMATA Safety Department staff does not currently possess the needed skills, provide training as soon as practicable.
7. Update the WMATA System Safety Program Plan (specifically Procedure #2.1/0 and Section 6) to develop a hazard management process that ensures that all WMATA departments participate in an on-going manner.
8. Institute a process to ensure that changes in operating rules are analyzed for safety impacts before system-wide implementation. For example, WMATA engineering bulletins are “field tested” before full implementation.
9. Finalize the right-of-way protection rules, develop training to implement the new rules and ensure all right-of-way employees and contractors receive this training before accessing the right-of-way.
10. Implement the configuration management program described in the WMATA System Safety Program Plan.

You can read the oral statement of the FTA Administrator to the congress here.  Below is a copy of the report, which is also available for download at the FTA website.

(Source: Government Accountability Office)

Why GAO Did This Study

The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. FTA has acted recently to streamline the process. This report discusses:

1. The time it has generally taken for projects to move through the New Starts process and what Congress and FTA have done to expedite the process and
2. Options that exist to expedite the process.

In response to a legislative mandate, GAO reviewed statutes, FTA guidance and regulations, and project data. GAO also interviewed Department of Transportation (DOT) officials, projects sponsors, and industry stakeholders.

Image Courtesy: FTA

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOT consider options to expedite project development and continue to improve its data collection efforts. DOT agreed with the first recommendation but not the second, which GAO revised to better reflect FTA’s efforts to date and the ongoing need for complete and reliable data to help strengthen the program.

What GAO Found

Insufficient data are available to describe the time it has taken for all projects to move through the New Starts process. Nevertheless, 9 of 40 projects that have received full funding grant agreements since 1997, and had complete data available, had milestone dates that ranged from about 4 to 14 years to complete the project development phases. However, the data from these 9 projects are not generalizeable to the 40 New Starts projects.

FTA has not historically retained all milestone data for every project, such as the dates that project sponsors apply to enter preliminary engineering and FTA’s subsequent approval. Although not required by its records retention policy, FTA has retained milestone data from some projects longer than 2 years. However, GAO was unable to obtain complete and reliable project milestone data from FTA.

FTA officials acknowledged that, while not historically perfect, the agency has retained sufficient milestone data to help manage the New Starts program. Nevertheless, recognizing the importance of having complete milestone data, FTA has taken several steps in recent years to more consistently collect and retain such data. In addition, GAO found that project sponsors do not consistently retain milestone data for projects that have completed the New Starts process.

Congress and FTA have taken action to expedite projects through the New Starts process. For example, legislative action created the Public-Private Partnership Pilot Program (Penta-P) to study the benefits of using public-private partnerships for certain new fixed-guideway capital projects, such as accelerating project delivery. In addition, FTA has implemented administrative changes to expedite the New Starts process. For example, FTA has developed and offered training workshops for project sponsors and has introduced project delivery tools. These tools include checklists for project sponsors to improve their understanding of the requirements of each phase of the New Starts process.

Project sponsors and industry stakeholders GAO interviewed identified options to help expedite project development within the New Starts program. These options include tailoring the New Starts evaluation process to risks posed by the projects, using letters of intent more frequently, and applying policy and guidance changes only to future projects. Each option has advantages and disadvantages to consider.

In addition, FTA must also strike the appropriate balance between expediting project delivery and maintaining the accountability of the program. For example, by signaling early federal support of projects, letters of intent could help project sponsors use potentially less costly and time-consuming alternative project delivery methods, such as design-build. However, such early support poses some risk.

It is possible that with more frequent use of letters of intent, FTA’s commitment authority could be depleted earlier than expected, which could affect the anticipated funding stream for future projects. Furthermore, some options, like combining one or more statutorily required project development phases, would require legislative action.

Click here to download/read the entire report (in PDF).

The Federal Transit Administration’s Office of Mobility Innovation is holding a web conference on June 24, 2009 from 2:00-4:00pm to elicit discussion on the vision and direction for transit ITS research for the next five years and beyond.

Specifically, FTA seeks input and insights into a proposed set of goals and research areas. FTA is also interested in exploring new opportunities for research and development, technology transfer, and evaluation of next generation transit ITS technologies. The web conference is designed to present the results-to-date of the strategic planning effort and to invite discussion from the public. All feedback will be captured and incorporated into FTA’s ITS strategic planning effort. Using this input, the FTA’s Office of Mobility Innovation expects to be able to program a robust agenda for research and deployment assistance that reflects the current and future needs of the transit industry.

If interested in attending, please RSVP to:  Charlene.Wilder@dot.gov or   Robert.Marville@dot.gov.

Please note the connection instructions below on your calendar.  There will be no confirmation or reminder Emails sent in response to your RSVP.

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Instructions for Connecting to the Webinar:

Webinar Date:  June 24, 2009; 2:00 – 4:00 PM ET

First:  Connect to the web meeting at: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join/

Conference number: PW4373046

Audience passcode: STRATEGIC

Second:  Dial into the web meeting teleconference:

Toll Free Number: 888-677-1341

Participant passcode (verbal): STRATEGIC

Please connect to the webinar 15 – 20 minutes before the start time to facilitate the processing of attendees by the webinar operator.

Cut and paste links into your browser’s address bar if they do not open automatically.

IMPORTANT:  As of September 2008,  Live Meeting 2007 net conferencing software. You must download Live Meeting 2007 to join this Webinars. There is no upgrade from Live Meeting 2005 to the 2007 version.  Instructions are here:  http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/t3/info_requirements.asp.  If link does not open automatically, cut and paste it into your browser’s address bar.

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(Source: CNN)

• Tunnel will link New Jersey with New York, doubles commuter rail capacity
• Part of project financed by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
• ARC, Access to the Region’s Core, expected to create 6,000 jobs

Image Courtesy: Arctunnel.com

The new tunnel, said to be the largest commitment to any transportation project anywhere in the United States in the history of the Department of Transportation, according to administrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transportation Administration, will link New Jersey with New York and eventually will double capacity on the nation’s busiest rail corridor, running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, officials said.

Officials participated in the groundbreaking for the $8.7 billion project as commuter trains passed behind them in North Bergen, New Jersey, before entering the existing train tunnel, which went into operation in 1908.

“As we start digging this tunnel, I think that what really it means, we are digging our way out of an economic crisis,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey. “As we’re getting under way, we’re seeing the dividends of the Recovery Act being paid right now.”

The project — known as ARC, for Access to the Region’s Core — is expected to create 6,000 design and construction jobs.New Jersey Transit says 170,000 passengers now travel through the existing train tunnel beneath the Hudson River to New York each day. When completed, the second tunnel will enable that figure to increase to 255,000 passenger trips. The additional passengers will disembark at a new concourse to be built at Penn Station in New York, 150 feet below street level.

(Source: Government Accontability Office)

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. As required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) must prioritize transit projects for funding by evaluating, rating, and recommending projects on the basis of specific financial commitment and project justification criteria, such as cost-effectiveness, economic development effects, land use, and environmental benefits. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. Using the statutorily identified criteria, FTA evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program.

This testimony discusses the:

(1) key challenges associated with the New Starts program and

(2) options that could help expedite project development in the New Starts program.

This testimony is based on GAO’s extensive body of work on the New Starts program and ongoing work–as directed by Congress. For this work, GAO reviewed FTA documents and interviewed FTA officials, sponsors of New Starts projects, and representatives from industry associations. The FTA reviewed the information in this testimony and provided technical comments.

Previous GAO work has identified three key challenges associated with the New Starts program. First, frequent changes to the New Starts program have sometimes led to confusion and delays. Numerous changes have been made to the New Starts Program over the last decade, such as revising and adding new evaluation criteria and requiring project sponsors to collect new data and complete new analyses. Although FTA officials told GAO that changes were generally intended to make the process more rigorous, systematic, and transparent, project sponsors said the frequent changes sometimes caused confusion and rework, resulting in delays in advancing projects.

Second, the current New Starts evaluation process measures do not capture all project benefits. For example, FTA’s cost-effectiveness measure does not account for highway travel time savings and may not capture all economic development benefits. FTA officials have acknowledged these limitations, but noted that improvements in local travel models are needed to resolve some of these issues. FTA is also conducting research on ways to improve certain evaluation measures.

Third, striking the appropriate balance between maintaining a robust evaluation and minimizing a complex process is challenging. Experts and some project sponsors GAO spoke with generally support FTA’s quantitatively rigorous process for evaluating proposed transit projects but are concerned that the process has become too burdensome and complex.

In response to such concerns, FTA has tried to simplify the evaluation process in several ways, including hiring a consulting firm to identify opportunities to streamline or simplify the process. As part of ongoing work, GAO has preliminarily identified options to help expedite project development within the New Starts program. These options include tailoring the New Starts evaluation process to risks posed by the projects, using letters of intent more frequently, and applying regulatory and administrative changes only to future projects.

While each option could help expedite project development in the New Starts process, each option has advantages and disadvantages to consider. For example, by signaling early federal support of projects, letters of intent and early systems work agreements could help project sponsors use potentially less costly and time-consuming alternative project delivery methods, such as design-build. However, such early support poses some risk, as projects may stumble in later project development phases. Furthermore, some options, like combining one or more statutorily required project development phases, would require legislative action.

Click here to download the entire report.

(Source: The Infrastructurist)

Our friends at The Infrastructurist compiled the national results from that study and compare them with the demographics of transit systems in three U.S. cities: Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco (well, the Bay Area). The snapshot offers an intriguing insight into which Americans choose not to drive to work.

If FTA can spend a bunch of money on such a compilation for the entire US,  that would greatly benefit many of our professionals engaged in transportation planning & policy research.  An analysis on the issue of social equity and its underpinning to transportation alternatives would be very helpful to say the least as the country’s demographics has undergone a signficiant shift in the past decade or two.