BART earns top award at APTA's 2019 International Rail Rodeo

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) won the Rail Transit Team Achievement Award at the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) International Rail Rodeo, which was held June 21-22 in conjunction with the association’s 2019 Rail Conference in Toronto.

The award is given to the system with the highest rail operator and maintainer team combined score. The winning team members were Joshua Vining, Justin Strong, Gary Crandall, Steven Dore and Erroll Luciano.

Earning second-place honors was the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) team. Third place recognition went to  the Regional Transportation District (RTD) team from Denver.

"All our competitors put hard work into being the best public transportation providers they can be. The recognition they have received this weekend are the result of years of hard work and training," said APTA President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas in a press release.

Meanwhile, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) won the Operators Competition, which measures professional skills, such as train operation, knowledge of safety regulations, train equipment, and track right-of-way rules and procedures. UTA’s team members were Logan Packer and Michelle Smith.

BART took second place in the Operators Competition with team members Vining and Strong, and the Maryland Transportation Authority took third with team members Earleke Kidd and Eugene Metts.

BART also won the Maintainer Competition, which evaluates participants on their ability to troubleshoot maintenance problems. BART team members were Crandall, Dore and Luciano.

The LA Metro team of Marcos Martinez, Parker Rounds and Calvin Wong placed second. The RTD maintainer team of Michael Hubbard, Randall Lovegrove and George Sweeney won third place.