PEOPLE & PLACES THE LASTEST INDUSTRY NEWS
A RENDERING of a future station along Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link
light-rail extension.
Joe Lhota Nick
Promponas
10 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019
Sound Transit
IMG Members Visit the MCI and New
Flyer Vehicle Innovation Center
▶ Motor Coach Industries knows when it
comes to innovation in the motor coach
industry, seeing is believing. And from October
16-18, members of the International
Motorcoach Group saw the future during
a visit to the Vehicle Innovation Center
(VIC), collaboration between MCI and New
Flyer. Located on New Flyer of America’s
manufacturing campus in Anniston, Alabama,
the VIC features a lab and education
center dedicated to exploring developments
in propulsion, vehicle connectivity
and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
(ADAS), and design for future buses and
coaches. IMG members are the fi rst private
sector transportation operators to visit the
VIC which opened last October.
The three-day exploration covered
MCI’s deployment of ADAS systems,
vehicle connectivity through telematics
and the battery-electric platform coming
to MCI models in 2020.
MassTransitmag.com/12436401
MCI
New DART Natural Gas Deal Boosts
Sustainability, Bottom Line
▶ Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has
signed a new agreement with Element
Markets Renewable Energy to provide
renewable natural gas (RNG) for DARTs
fl eet of 650 CNG powered buses.
The fi ve-year agreement begins
January 1 and has one, two-year option.
It monetizes Renewable Identifi cation
Number credits that have the potential to
generate up to $11,000,000 in revenue
for DART over the life of the contract.
“RNG is another way we’re powering
transit with clean fuels,” DART President/
Executive Director Gary Thomas said.
“We are also excited about the fi nancial
benefi ts of converting to clean fuels.”
DART is adding 41 new CNG-fueled
buses in 2019 to expand bus service and
improve schedules and frequency.
MassTransitmag.com/12437288
FTA submits $1.2 Billion Grant For
Lynnwood Link To Congress For Approval
An agreement fi nalizing $1.2 billion in federal funding for Sound Transit’s
Lynnwood Link light-rail extension is expected shortly following the Federal
Transit Administration’s (FTA) submission of the full funding grant
agreement (FFGA) for congressional approval.
By submitting the agreement to Congress, a 30-day review period begins
and is the fi nal step before FTA can sign and execute the agreement. Congress
has already allocated a total of $200 million in funding for the project
through the Capital Investment Grants program in FY 2017 and FY 2018.
A signed FFGA would allow Sound Transit to begin drawing down on the
previously allocated amount.
MassTransitmag.com/12437285
MCI AND IMG members gather the
Vehicle Innovation Center (VIC), the
industry’s only tech-lab.
People in the News
Metropolitan
Transit Authority
The chairman of the
MTA, Joe Lhota, has
resigned his post.
Lhota, 64, led the
agency through Hurricane
Sandy and started his second round
at the MTA in June 2017. Fernando Ferrer,
the vice chair of the MTA Board, will serve
as acting chairman. MTA credited Lhota
with launching the Subway Action Plan
and reinvigorating the MTA. The agency
said his focus on delivering better daily
service for customers and prioritizing cost
containment and procurement reform
initiatives while working to create longterm
sustainable funding sources were the
hallmarks of his time leading the board.
MassTransitmag.com/12436392
First Transit
First Transit
announced that
Nick Promponas
has taken over the
role of senior vice
president for the
transit management
services (TMS) division
in North America.
Promponas assumes the role from Rick
Dunning, who will stay on in an advisory
role until his retirement on December 31.
Promponas has managed several First
Transit divisions including transit management
services, call centers and transit
contracting. Since 2002, he served as
senior vice president for transit contracting
in the west region.
MassTransitmag.com/12436057
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