APTA honors transit leaders, agencies for excellence

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) yesterday recognized individuals and transit agencies for excellence and leadership in public transportation in North America.

The honorees were winners of this year's APTA Awards, which were presented at the association's annual meeting being held this week in Nashville, Tennessee.

"The 2018 APTA Award winners are the 'best of the best' of the public transportation industry in North America," said APTA President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas in a press release.

Agencies that were honored included King County Metro, which received the 2018 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award in the category for agencies that provide 20 million or more annual passenger trips. The agency carried a record 122 million passenger trips in 2017 — a majority of the record-high 155 million trips overall in King County, Washington.

Individuals receiving the 2018 APTA Hall of Fame awards were:
• the Rev. Jerry Moore and Harold Williams, who were recognized for their work as co-founders of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) and visionary "drum majors for industry diversity and inclusion," APTA officials said.
• Fred Gilliam, who had a five-decade career managing and operating public and private transit systems in cities including Denver; New Orleans; Houston and Austin, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Memphis, Tennessee.
• Thomas Hock, who was honored for "forging effective management/labor relations and solutions for more than 40 years."
• Jack Leary, who started his 48-year public transit career in 1966 as a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) streetcar operator, while pursuing a business degree at Northeastern University. He gradually took on significant new responsibilities, eventually being promoted to the position of deputy general manager of operations at the MBTA. He later became the executive director and CEO of the Bi-State Development Agency, which oversees Metro Transit-St. Louis.

Also recognized for service to the transit industry was Ron Roberts, a county supervisor in San Diego, California, who received the Local Distinguished Service Award, which is given to an individual who has made significant contributions at the local level to public transportation through policy, legislative initiative and leadership. Roberts was recognized for his service as a member of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's (MTS) board.

"Roberts was instrumental in making sure that the MTS light-rail extension under construction went forward and he played an important role to ensure that funding was prioritized for MTS' first bus rapid transit lines," APTA officials said.

APTA also recognized Frederick Daniels Jr., treasurer of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's board, who received the Outstanding Public Transportation Board Member Award; and Thomas Lambert, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County in Houston, who received the Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award.

More information on the APTA Awards and this year's winners is available here.