Atlanta, GA, January 2020: The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) convened its second National Transit Advanced Technology Advisory Panel meeting in Chicago on January 6, as part of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)'s Transit Vehicle Innovation Deployment Centers (TVIDC) program. CTE formed the panel to address transit bus testing and research topics related to zero-emission bus (ZEB) development and adoption.

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The panel has brought together more than a dozen geographically-diverse transit agency general managers (GMs), leading transit bus manufacturers, public transit advocacy organizations, and all three federal bus testing centers. The panel's composition meets TVIDC's program objectives of supporting transit bus innovation by identifying current industry challenges, research needs, and potential solutions for addressing them.

At the Chicago meeting, the panel narrowed its focus to the five areas most critical to the development and deployment of zero-emission and other innovative transit bus technologies. These include bus and component testing centers, collaboration with utilities, transit bus automation, workforce development, and general research and demonstration priorities. Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval Carter also presented the agency's plans for expansion and integration of emerging mobility technologies.

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CTE is leading working groups comprised of panel participants to define potential solutions addressing each focus area and will deliver the findings in a final report to FTA at the panel's conclusion.

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"I have been impressed with the active participation from both the transit executives and bus OEM executives on the panel. We are beginning to reach consensus on how the industry should address key obstacles to zero-emission bus adoption," said Dan Raudebaugh, CTE's Executive Director. "I think everyone has learned considerably from the forum, and we believe our final report will be very useful in helping FTA move these technologies forward."

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The transit members on the panel include GM or C-level executives from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Denver RTD, AC Transit, San Diego MTS, SunLine Transit, Foothill Transit, Mountain Line Transit, Connecticut Department of Transportation, Broward County, LexTran, Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA), and Capital Metro. The transit bus industry is represented by executives from BYD, GILLIG, New Flyer, Nova Bus, and Proterra. Other participants include the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Calstart, Ohio State University, Auburn University, and the Penn State Altoona bus testing center.

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The panel's first meeting was held in Los Angeles on August 20, 2019. CTE and MARTA will host a third meeting in Atlanta in the spring.

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ABOUT CTE

The Center for Transportation and the Environment is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to improve the health of our climate and communities by bringing people together to develop and commercialize clean, efficient, and sustainable transportation technologies. CTE has worked on over 200 projects and leveraged more than $570 million in local, state, federal, and private funding to move cutting edge technologies into the global energy and transportation marketplace. Learn more at www.cte.tv and follow us on Twitter @go_CTE

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Lauren Justice/ CTE Development Director [email protected] / 404-245-8589