Take a trip on an OCTA zero-emission fuel-cell electric bus and tour OCTA’s Hydrogen Fueling Facility and Battery-Electric Bus Charging Depot. As part of the plan to convert the OC Bus fleet to 100 percent zero-emission technology by 2040, OCTA is piloting both battery-electric buses and hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses. The tour consists of visiting two OCTA bus bases deploying different zero-emission technologies. First, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Santa Ana bus base which houses the Hydrogen Fueling Facility. Attendees will receive a guided walk-through of OCTA’s bus operations building, maintenance shops, and hydrogen fueling station. Next, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Garden Grove bus base and walk-through the Central Communications Center, electric operator relief vehicles, and electric-bus charging station depot. The tour offers a firsthand look into the advanced technologies employed to support the zero-emission bus fleet. The tour requires moderate walking. Please wear comfortable and closed toe shoes.

Capacity Limit: 30 participants

Please note: There's only one tour given at three different times. To sign up for this time slot only, click the following link: https://www.research.net/r/C8FJKQN

MUST sign up to participate. Participants will receive an email one week from the tour date with a reminder of the time they registered for, the requirement to wear closed toe shoes, and pick up instructions.

Take a trip on an OCTA zero-emission fuel-cell electric bus and tour OCTA’s Hydrogen Fueling Facility and Battery-Electric Bus Charging Depot. As part of the plan to convert the OC Bus fleet to 100 percent zero-emission technology by 2040, OCTA is piloting both battery-electric buses and hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses. The tour consists of visiting two OCTA bus bases deploying different zero-emission technologies. First, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Santa Ana bus base which houses the Hydrogen Fueling Facility. Attendees will receive a guided walk-through of OCTA’s bus operations building, maintenance shops, and hydrogen fueling station. Next, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Garden Grove bus base and walk-through the Central Communications Center, electric operator relief vehicles, and electric-bus charging station depot. The tour offers a firsthand look into the advanced technologies employed to support the zero-emission bus fleet. The tour requires moderate walking. Please wear comfortable and closed toe shoes.

Capacity Limit: 30 participants

Please note: There's only one tour given at three different times. To sign up for this time slot only, click the following link: https://www.research.net/r/ZSGH5QK

MUST sign up to participate. Participants will receive an email one week from the tour date with a reminder of the time they registered for, the requirement to wear closed toe shoes, and pick up instructions.

Kick off the Sustainability/Operations Planning and Scheduling workshop with a full-day multimodal transit tour of the Orange County and Los Angeles region, featuring OCTA’s Bravo BRT, LBT’s Long Beach Transit Center, and LA Metro’s Rail Operations Center, new Crenshaw line, and new Regional Connector light rail subway in Downtown Los Angeles. The day will be capped with a group dinner at Traxx Restaurant at Los Angeles Union Station, with the return to Anaheim by way of the Pacific Surfliner train to the Anaheim Regional Transit Intermodal Center and a quick trip home on OCTA.

 

Participants should be prepared for a full day riding transit in revenue service and will be expected to follow all pre-tour instructions on fare prepayment. Several fast food and fast casual options will be available for lunch. Dinner will be $30 plus any drinks or tips. Tour is at capacity. Registered conference participants can now join the waitlist by emailing James Drake at jdrake@sacrt.com .

Take a trip on an OCTA zero-emission fuel-cell electric bus and tour OCTA’s Hydrogen Fueling Facility and Battery-Electric Bus Charging Depot. As part of the plan to convert the OC Bus fleet to 100 percent zero-emission technology by 2040, OCTA is piloting both battery-electric buses and hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses. The tour consists of visiting two OCTA bus bases deploying different zero-emission technologies. First, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Santa Ana bus base which houses the Hydrogen Fueling Facility. Attendees will receive a guided walk-through of OCTA’s bus operations building, maintenance shops, and hydrogen fueling station. Next, participants will be transported to OCTA’s Garden Grove bus base and walk-through the Central Communications Center, electric operator relief vehicles, and electric-bus charging station depot. The tour offers a firsthand look into the advanced technologies employed to support the zero-emission bus fleet. The tour requires moderate walking. Please wear comfortable and closed toe shoes.

Capacity Limit: 30 participants

Please note: There's only one tour given at three different times. To sign up for this time slot only, click the following link: https://www.research.net/r/C8BTW5R

MUST sign up to participate. Participants will receive an email one week from the tour date with a reminder of the time they registered for, the requirement to wear closed toe shoes, and pick up instructions.

From launching a new transit hub project and performing a TOD study for a BRT corridor to developing a multimodal transit plan ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, come hear about great instances of cross-agency coordination and thoughtful outreach strategies to enhance equity and ridership experience.

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

Sustainability data provides a trove of valuable information for transit agencies – if you know where to look. From using sustainability data as a management tool for efficiency to creating meaningful community investments and understanding how mode shift can reduce GHG emissions, this panel offers a snapshot of the myriad ways that data can be used to uncover new approaches to developing sustainability initiatives.

Discover sustainable rail practices from Metrolink, California High-Speed Rail and East Japan Railway Company. Panelists will shared lessons learned around sustainable construction practice, renewable diesel, hydrogen rail technology, and energy conserving rail stations. 

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

As the climate changes, transit agencies are challenged to provide service during and after extreme weather events. This session offers lessons learned and resilience tools from California transit agencies, Maryland’s state department of transportation and FTA to ensure that transit providers can withstand the impacts from an increasingly hard to predict climate.

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

Get a birds’ eye view of the challenges of decarbonization from industry experts who provide an overview of industry best practices and the newly developed Infrastructure 2050 challenge to develop carbon free designs. Then dive deep to learn how a transit agency kicking off new capital expansion projects and a legacy agency with historic facilities are making infrastructure decarbonization a reality. 

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

An environmental management system (EMS) can help agencies to achieve sustainability goals and track progress in a comprehensive and systematic approach. This session will explain how an EMS provides a tool to plan, do, check and course correct sustainability strategies. Panelists will share lessons learned on implementing and maintaining environmental management systems.

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

Connecting Battery Electric Buses (BEBs) to the grid may be one of the central challenges of planning an electrified transportation future. Learn from transit agencies, bus manufacturers and industry experts how to integrate utility considerations into service planning and how to collaborate effectively with utility partners to maximize cost-effective, reliable operations for new bus networks.

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

Join your industry peers as we kick-off the APTA Sustainability/Operations Planning and Scheduling Workshop co-locating with the APTAtech Conference in Anaheim.  Hear from APTA leadership and our host, Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), as they share all the exciting and relevant information you will learn and see over the next three days.

You will learn about navigating a career path in public transit. The panel will share their personal stories and insights about their current role and how they got there. 

Collaboration and partnerships are key ingredients for transit agencies when improving bus stops or implementing transit priority street improvements. This session includes three examples of how agencies have worked with local jurisdictions to make improvements and integrate better bus service into the overall transportation system. In addition, this session features a presentation about the potential benefits of a more standardized approach to transit signage and information across the country.

•    Taking a Backseat: Accomplish Goals with Other Agencies in the Lead, Denver-RTD
•    The Concept of a Manual of Uniform Transit Signs and Information (MUTSI), SFMTA
•    Building the Foundation for Transit Speed & Reliability Investments in North San Diego County, NCTD & WSP
•    Bus Speed & Reliability, Translink

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

This session will cover all stages of the network design process from initial planning to implementation. Learn about timely considerations for undertaking and implementing redesigns with a greater emphasis on equity and which address current industry challenges including operator shortages, shifting travel patterns, emerging technologies, and reduced availability of layover space.
•    Data, Equity and a Network Redesign, New Orleans RTA, 
•    Your Bus Network Redesign is Complete, Now What?, Nelson\Nygaard
•    Transit Changes in 2024 and Beyond, Community Transit
•    Going to the End of the Line in Philadelphia, Huitt-Zollars 

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

This session provides a comprehensive overview of our host agency, OCTA. The panel will present on the agency’s structure; sustainability program and the Making Better Connections Study; ZEB program and hydrogen fueling station; and OC streetcar project. 

Brian D. Taylor, PhD, FAICP is a Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA.  Professor Taylor studies travel behavior and transportation equity, finance, history, and politics.  His recent research examines shifting public transit ridership, how public finance shaped the American freeway system, the socio-economic dimensions of travel behavior, the rise of local option sales taxes for transportation, the economic effects of traffic congestion, and the transit and travel behavior implications of the SARS-Cov-2 global pandemic.

The session will open with remarks from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation followed by a panel discussion on zero emission fleet transition. Agencies at different stages of the transition will share their lessons learned in the face of rapidly changing technology, emphasizing the importance of working with electric utilities and learning from the electrification of other modes and sectors. The integral role transit plays in meeting regional sustainability and climate goals and serving communities will be discussed. 

Transit agencies are working in a data-rich environment that offers new possibilities (and potential pitfalls) in many areas. This session explores the use of real-time data in performance reporting and on-street operations management. Presentations also address streamlining service implementation and monitoring and taking advantage of the wealth of data to integrate transparency and equity into service standards and guidelines.
 

•    Performance Reporting with Real Time Data, WMATA
•    On-Street Bus Operations Management, Dan Boyle
•    Streamlining Service Implementation and Monitoring, TransLink
•    Tell Me Why: Integrating Transparency and Equity into Service Standards and Guidelines, CapMetro

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

From first-mile/last-mile to major corridor service, transit agencies continue to improve mobility in varied urban contexts. Discover what agencies have learned in microtransit and BRT implementations.

•    There When You Need Us: Piloting Urban Microtransit in and Equity Context, Metro Transit
•    Ridership on the Rise: RTA Launches First Microtransit Service, Riverside RTA & RideCo
•    The Story of Van Ness BRT: What is Really Important in Completing a Successful BRT Project, SFMTA
•    Planning the Network to Integrate New-Build BRT with Existing Routes, King County Metro

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

Service Disruptions are an inevitable part of operating transit. Sometimes, planners know about a disruption far in advance and sometimes they have less than 24 hours to develop a new service plan and communicate it to operations staff and customers. In this session, four planners share how they helped their colleagues and customers navigate the inevitable “least bad option,” and in all four cases, how they uncovered unique opportunities to improve service.  

•    OC Transpo’s "Freedom Convoy" Response, OC Transpo
•    Multi-Agency, Public-Private Partnership for Weekday Bus Bridging with Limited Workforce, King County Metro
•    A new garage and a new beginning: Service scheduling and facility decisions in the wake of a pandemic, Minneapolis Metro
•    Muni’s Transit Special Operations Group – Insights from Centralized Service Disruption Management, SFMTA

CEU Credits:
PLANNERS 1.25

The most pressing challenge facing transit agencies right now is how to use limited resources to bring back and/or restructure service to best meet the changing travel patterns and demands of transit riders. This session is your opportunity to hear about several creative strategies that have been deployed at agencies across the country. This is a Rapid Fire session with shorter presentations to spark interest and further conversations.

•    Advancing Technical to Plan Transit in the New Normal, SORTA
•    Using Location Based Services Data to Design Better Bus Service, Cambridge Systematics
•    Does Targeted Zero-Fare Transit for Vulnerable and Transit-Depend Populations Work?, County Connection
•    Maximizing Reliable Service Hour Delivery by Analyzing Operator Availability Data at the Yard Level, SFMTA
•    An Equitable Network Redesign with Innovative Data, RTD & FHU
•    Leveraging Strategic Initiatives to Increase Ridership Levels, CCRTA

 
 

Speed Networking:  Join us for a fun speed networking event led by the APTA Sustainability committee. This structured and fast-paced networking event will allow you to learn about career paths in sustainability and public transit, discuss industry trends with peers, and grow your network!

High operator availability is a foundational component of healthy transit service. Recent nation-wide challenges with recruitment and retention have led many agencies to an imbalance between service level targets and the number of operators reporting to work every day. In this session, four planners share how they used creativity, analysis, and listening in their roles to restore balance between service level expectations and operator resources. 
•    Pulling out the Stops on Improving Operator Working Conditions, AC Transit
•    Seizing the Opportunity of Operator Shortages, Miami-Dade
•    Operator Retention Through Inreach, Nelson\Nygaard & Cap Metro
•    Scheduling Strategies for Challenging Times: “Flexibility” is Our Middle Name., Houston METRO
 

Transit Trivia: Route Match Game – join us for the inaugural installment of what is expected to become an esteemed tradition of the Operations Planning & Scheduling Workshop! Show off your transit knowledge by participating as a transit expert. Or join us in a lower stakes role as a member of a Route team where you can learn a bit, grown your network, and most importantly have fun! Email Jon Feldman (Jonathan.Feldman@transdev.com) if you are interested competing as a transit expert.