Fact:
When Romero is
not working you
will find him on
a baseball field
coaching his
kids or cheering
them on.
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46 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
designer for over 700 bus shelters located
throughout San Diego County that
showcase four unique designs for San
Diego Metropolitan Transit District
(MTS). He also produced engineering
packages for Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s
bus rapid transit service , a shelter
project for the University of Southern
California (USC).
Recently Romero worked on a
unique project for Omnitrans that
required an integrated data system
attached to an advertising kiosk.
ERNEST ROMERO JR. IS NO STRANGer
to public transit. He grew up in
Ontario, California, and fondly remembers
sitting at bus stops under
the shade of a shelter waiting for the
bus to take him to school and around
town. Now Romero designs those very
bus shelters.
After high school, Romero attended
ITT Technical Institute where he
achieved the honor of class valedictorian.
He then went on to further
his mechanical engineering studies
at California State Polytechnic University,
Pomona. He began his career
at Tolar Manufacturing Company in
2011 as an engineering assistant. He
embraced the company’s engineering
and manufacturing software, quickly
advancing his skills and becoming a
UL 48 Electric Sign certified senior design
engineer. He now leads the company’s
most complex and prestigious
design projects with his innovative
designs being used by public transit
consumers across North America.
Among Romero’s notable accomplishments
include being the lead
“The best advice I can give to up-and-coming design
engineers for the public transit industry is to always stick with
your gut feeling. I am continually faced with short time frames
and deadlines; it’s the nature of the business. Do not take short
cuts to the detriment of your work and always give each project
your full attention, down to every last detail. Ask questions and
take help when it is offered. Most importantly, stay humble.
Always remember that the projects you are designing will be
fabricated into real-world products placed in communities
throughout the country, maybe even the world. People will
be directly impacted by your work. Never forget that.”
Ernest Romero Jr.
Senior Design
Engineer
Tolar
Manufacturing
Company Inc.
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