Partners Address Industry Issues at State & Tribal Public Transportation Partnerships Conference

APTA, FTA, AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials), and CTAA (Community Transportation Association of America) joined forces in Fort Worth, TX, July 28-30 to host the State & Tribal Public Transportation Partnerships Conference, a biannual event that convenes state DOTs, public transit agencies, and partnering organizations for a series of general sessions and breakout meetings.

The conference traditionally piggybacks onto a meeting of a state transit association. This year, the program combined with the summer meeting of the South West Transit Association (SWTA). More than 260 people attended to examine and discuss a variety of state-level topics and issues. Art Guzzetti, APTA’s vice president of policy and mobility, served as a panel moderator and speaker.

Following a welcome from Trinity Metro President & CEO Richard Andreski and introductory remarks from SWTA Chair Kendra McGeady and Texas Transit Association President Vince Huerta, attendees explored such topics as state and local funding, trends in ridership recovery, Flex funding, non-emergency medical transportation, and research projects sponsored by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). In addition, there was an opportunity to take part in a tour of Trinity Metro’s Fort Worth Central and Grapevine stations.

Andreski noted that Fort Worth is now the 12^th largest city in the U.S. and is trending to reach the top 10. In response, Mayor Mattie Parker has appointed an Urban Rail Committee to develop recommendations within the next six months on ways to expand the Trinity Metro system.

States are often identified as the laboratories of new policy ideas. That was certainly in evidence throughout the week. The FTA Region VI office is in Fort Worth and the entire FTA Regional Office was involved in various parts of the meeting. In addition, Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool; Paul Kincaid, associate administrator for communications and congressional affairs; John Bodnar, director, office of transit programs; and Matthew Lange, program analyst, were among those participating from FTA headquarters.