Transportation Commission Honors
Excellence In Motion At 25th Awards Ceremony
The Metropolitan Transportation
Commission honored a group of individuals and organizations from
around the Bay Region on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Commission’s
awards ceremony. From the Grand Award winner who steered a massive
transit system with hundreds of thousands of riders back to
health, to another honoree who helped a fledgling van-based
service that caters to a hundred or so kids get off the ground,
this year’s winners reflect the theme “Excellence in Motion.”
“Our hope is that the
innovative ideas and techniques generated by this year’s winners
will spark similar efforts around the region,” said MTC
Executive Director Steve Heminger.
The Grand Award this year went
to Michael T. Burns, who, as the new chief of the San Francisco
Municipal Railway, took on the enormous challenge of restoring
riders’ confidence and reclaiming pride for the agency. Burns, a
20-plus-year veteran of the transit industry, started at Muni
after the highly publicized “meltdown” of Muni’s new train
control system left the popular Metro light-rail lines in a
two-week standstill. The proof of Burn’s management success is
in the numbers: Safety performance has improved by 20 percent
since 2000, while on-time performance has gone from 47 percent to
over 70 percent. In a recent survey, 57 percent of riders rated
Muni’s service as good or excellent, a reversal of figures from
two years earlier showing 58 percent rider dissatisfaction.
State Senator Tom Torlakson is this year’s recipient of the John
F. Foran Legislative Award, which recognizes a legislator whose
work has had a positive impact on transportation. Throughout his
career, Senator Torlakson, who represents the 7th state Senate
district in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has exhibited a
passionate interest in transportation issues and regionalism, and
an ability to turn that passion into concrete legislation with
far-reaching impact.
This year’s Doris W. Kahn
Accessible Transportation Award went to Senior Action Network, a
nonprofit, grassroots advocacy organization that mobilizes seniors
and others in San Francisco to improve the fate of pedestrians in
the city. Senior Action Network has won a commitment from San
Francisco to expand the time allotted for pedestrians to cross at
signaled intersections and to replace traditional “walk”
signals with countdown signals that indicate how many seconds
remain to cross.
Three individuals were honored
with the Greta Ericson Distinguished Service Award for career
achievements in transportation. Arthur L. Lloyd, a dedicated
advocate for Amtrak and passenger rail in the country, was singled
out for his leadership in driving transportation policy in support
of train service. Lloyd is currently a board member of the San
Mateo County Transit Agency as well as the Joint Powers Board that
oversees Caltrain on the Peninsula.
John Ficarra also received the
Ericson Award for his more than 40 years in the transportation
industry. He retired in 2002 as the chief operating officer at
SamTrans, and had previously spent the first half of his career
with East Coast transportation organizations.
Norman Townsend provided
information and assistance to transit riders as an information
service representative (ISR) at the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority, despite being visually impaired since
the age of seven. Townsend, who recently retired after more than
two decades with VTA, received the Ericson Award for his ability
and dedication in helping callers with special needs.
The David Tannehill Special Employee Award was presented to Steve
Fiala, trails development program manager for the East Bay
Regional Park District. He is an enthusiastic and articulate
advocate of trails, public access, parks and open space and has
been instrumental in the development of the 150-mile regional
trail system in the East Bay. The Special Employee Award this year
was named in honor of David Tannehill, a longtime MTC planner who
passed away in 2001.