December 11, 2013
Authority Highlights Upcoming Initiatives With Partners
(Albany, N.Y.) – The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) met with 75 local partners to highlight key initiatives, gather feedback and offer partners the ability to discuss upcoming projects. The panel featured speakers from academia, economic development, government and the engineering communities.
CDTA Chairman Dave Stackrow and CEO Carm Basile were joined by Assemblyman John McDonald, Metroplex Chair Ray Gillen, University at Albany Assistant Vice President Kevin Wilcox and Jeff Pangburn, Senior Project Manager at Creighton Manning Engineering. The panel discussed successful implementation of transit-oriented development projects ranging from Bus Rapid Transit on NY Route 5 to rehabilitation of municipal roadways to address growing ridership and regional sustainability initiatives.
CDTA’s operations are guided by its Transit Development Plan, which provides consistency for service decisions and network development. The plan focuses on the development of a 40-mile Bus Rapid Transit route network, enhancements across CDTA’s strongest routes, development of Transit Centers at key locations and the roll out of smartcard and mobile ticket technology for customers. The plan focuses on connecting the region to jobs as 70% of trips taken on CDTA services are to work. An executive summary of the forthcoming TDP update is available at cdta.org.
CDTA’s progressive, forward-looking planning process has resulted in an improved network of services, reduced operating costs and a sharpened community image. This has generated consistent ridership increase across CDTA’s family of services. The annual boarding count on CDTA buses has increased from 13.8 million in 2009 to more than 16 million this year. The Authority has focused considerable effort on community outreach to involve customers and a range of stakeholders in its planning process. The Development Panel was another in a continuing series of community based events.
