SURTC Celebrates Five Years

SURTC celebrated its fifth anniversary April 30 with a brunch at the NDSU Alumni Center with Federal Transit Administration Acting Associate Administrator Ron Hynes as the featured guest and speaker. About 40 people attended the brunch.

In his remarks, Hynes praised SURTC and its accomplishments. "Universities can be a real-time laboratory for us," he said, explaining that research units like SURTC can help the FTA explore new concepts and technology.

"SURTC knows how we work at FTA and they deliver in a number of ways," Hynes said. "From reports on the Web to a prototype bus shelter you can actually sit in."

Hynes also praised SURTC's advisory board and strategic planning efforts. "You now have a strategic plan in place to be a leader in transit research," he said. "SURTC is helping define transit solutions for rural and small urban areas."

At the FTA, Hynes said key issues will continue to be energy efficiency, safety and good use of the nation's roads. He said there is concern over the cost of transit projects, but noted that those costs need to be weighed in relation to the nation's costs in traffic congestion as well as costs in terms of reduced traffic safety.

SURTC director Jill Hough outlined SURTC's growth over its first five years, from an initial idea to a program with staff involved in a full complement of research, training and outreach, and education activities. "I'm very proud of our accomplishments during these past five years," Hough said. "Demographic trends and industry trends indicate that mobility in small urban and rural areas will continue to be a growing challenge. There will be an increasing number of opportunities and challenges for us to address. Our work is just beginning."

After the brunch, Hynes, as well as other North Dakota DOT and FTA officials, traveled to Valley City to visit the South Central Adult Service Council, an example of a rural transit agency. Lisa Colbert, a transportation management specialist with the FTA, also attended the day's events.

SURTC Leader Meets with FTA Administrator

SURTC director Jill Hough and UGPTI director Gene Griffin met with the FTA's top official in January to give him a briefing on SURTC and UGPTI programs and activities.

FTA administrator Jim Simpson "was very engaged and very enthused about the ideas we were presenting," Hough noted. Before coming to the FTA, Simpson was commissioner of the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority where he served for 10 years on the Finance Committee and the New York City Transit Committee. "He comes from an urban background," Hough notes, "so he was eager to gain additional perspective on rural and small urban transit issues."

As a result of the meeting, Simpson had made plans to attend SURTC's fifth anniversary in May, but was ultimately unable to attend because of a conflict. He has, however, vowed to visit SURTC and North Dakota.

Hough had originally met Simpson and arranged the January meeting through their involvement on the Transit Cooperative Research Program Oversight and Project Selection Committee.

SURTC's Staff Looks Back on First 5 Years

Jill Hough
Joined SURTC: 2002

"Developing the original proposal for SURTC and helping to secure funding and support was a fascinating process that gave me a greater appreciation for the importance of transit in small urban and rural areas. Consequently, it has been my privilege to be able to hire and lead an excellent staff and participate in the many research, outreach and education and training efforts we've launched. My own research into the mobility of rural elderly women has been a personal learning experience and an opportunity to contribute to a group that is largely underserved and underrecognized. It's also been exciting to help foster the relationship that's grown between SURTC and many transit-related agencies and organizations such as FTA, APTA, CTAA and Easter Seals Project ACTION."

Jon Mielke
Joined SURTC: 2004

"Since joining SURTC, I have served as the principal investigator on North Dakota's personal mobility study, a transit development plan for the Turtle Mountain Reservation, and a vanpooling feasibility study. I also contributed to North Dakota's transit coordination study and Pierre, South Dakota's, transit coordination study. While each of these projects were significant in their own right, I consider my most significant contribution to SURTC and the transit industry to be a desire to improve personal mobility for residents of small urban and rural areas and my efforts to work with planners and service providers to design and operate transit systems that efficiently and effectively respond to residents' unmet mobility needs."

David Ripplinger
Joined SURTC: 2004

"Since joining SURTC, I've conducted research and provided training on topics from routing to service design, ITS to demography. When I first came to SURTC my primary interest was in academically-oriented research. While I still enjoy closing my door and crunching numbers for hours on end, I've come to equally enjoy working with service providers and collaborating with my colleagues to address many of the practical challenges facing our industry. Even with all the hard work that has been done to improve personal mobility in our nation, the environment in which we operate continues to evolve and the need for mobility solutions continues to grow making the work we do at SURTC as necessary and important as it was when we began five years ago."

Del Peterson
Joined SURTC: 2003

"During the past 4 1/2 years I have completed various projects including a fixed-route development plan for James River Transit, campus transit studies for all three major universities in the Fargo-Moorhead area, and research pertaining to the small transit vehicle industry. The satisfaction I've felt when a transit agency representative tells me that our hands-on research has aided their agency in being more effective and efficient while serving their clientele makes all of our contributions seem worthwhile."

Carol Wright
Joined SURTC: 2006

"I'm developing an introduction to transit management course and working with colleagues to develop a transportation glossary and resource manual and a workshop for tribal transit professionals. My most significant contribution has been the ability to work with talented transit professionals from across the region to help them share their excellent and innovative ideas with others to improve the mobility of their clients."

Gary Hegland
Joined SURTC: 2002

"In many ways my time at SURTC has seemed like a four year college education. I have conducted surveys, written reports, led state-wide research projects, and conducted training in many states. I have gone through certifications, become executive director of Dakota Transit Association (DTA), attended state and national conferences and networked with transit leaders across the nation. About 18 months ago, I coordinated the first Passenger Assistance and Safety Certification train-the-trainer program for the region. Since then I have worked with DTA through SURTC to assist with coordinating and certifying the training of over 250 bus drivers in the Dakotas. I'm currently serving on a quality assurance committee in the development of a national captive insurance pool for transit operators. Providing safe, reliable and dependable transportation for our seniors, people with disabilities and young low-income families has become a passion for me."

Jim Miller
Joined SURTC: 2002

"I spent my career at Penn State working with local transit agencies and state officials on small urban, rural, and specialized transit, so I was pleased to be asked to join SURTC. As the first "employee" (part time) of SURTC I have had the pleasure of being a part of the start up and growth of an organization that has gained respect and a reputation of excellence not only in its region, but nationally as well. Four SURTC activities and projects stand out for me over the past five years. The first two were the North Dakota statewide mobility plan and the coordination plan. In addition, I have particularly enjoyed my work with local transit agencies. Finally, I have enjoyed the opportunity to teach the introduction to public transit course to undergraduate and graduate students using UGPTI's Transportation Learning Network video capabilities."

Xinyu (Jason) Cao
Joined SURTC: 2006

"Last year, I led several projects: one case study investigated gender-role based difference in activity participation and time allocation; the second examined the effect of neighborhood design on aging mobility; the third explored residential and transit choices of apartment dwellers in small urban areas. These studies shed light on broad issues in transportation planning. Further, I contributed to SURTC by disseminating my research outcomes in refereed journals, professional conferences, and an invited talk at MIT."