Transit Leaders Meet for Steering Committee Meeting at NDSU

A who's who of transit officials from the national and regional level praised SURTC's progress at its third annual steering committee meeting Sept. 15 at the North Dakota State University Alumni Center.

"We would like to see SURTC replicated and adopted as a national model," said Pam Boswell, a member of the committee representing the American Public Transit Association in Washington, D.C. She said the association is addressing issues such as increased transit demand from an aging population and in university communities as well as a need for improved technical standards for equipment and operating procedures. "A large segment of our membership is rural and small urban transit operators."

SURTC is part of NDSU's Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) and was created nearly three years ago to provide transit stakeholders, users, providers, suppliers and agencies information and training on technology and improved management and operations to increase the mobility of small urban and rural residents through improved public transportation.

"The steering committee continues to provide important input to shape our program and make its programs relevant to transit agencies and to those who depend on transit," noted Jill Hough, SURTC director.

Dale Marsico, a committee member representing the Community Transportation Association of America, also in Washington, D.C., explained that rural transportation issues were among the largest issues for rural lawmakers in terms of constituent calls.

The Federal Transit Administration is represented on the committee by Barbara Sisson, Associate Administrator for Research, Demonstration and Innovation. She reported that more than 60 federal agencies fund mobility programs across the country. "Consolidating or coordinating those efforts has the potential to allow us to provide $700 million of added mobility to citizens annually," she says.

The committee also includes representatives from transit organizations and state departments of transportation in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

"We need to change the thinking of people and decisionmakers," noted Gene Griffin, UGPTI director. "We need to think of transit, not as transportation, but as mobility. And we need to think of mobility as systemic. What is health care, what is education, what is business, without mobility? We need to think of mobility as an integral part of the overall system."