May 8, 2017
CLEVELAND – The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) has received the Bus Safety & Security Excellence Award, presented today at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) annual Bus & Paratransit Conference in Reno, NV.
In the category of bus systems with 20 million or more passenger trips annually, RTA received the Certificate of Merit for Safety for creating and implementing one of the top safety and security programs in North America.
RTA teamed with Lytex DriveCam to promote more responsible bus/Paratransit operating habits and to gather information on safe driving behaviors. RTA implemented a Safety Management System-based approach with a matrix-based program that identifies the most at-risk behaviors and helps to avoid accidents. Through the implementation of this program, from 2014-2016, the number of claims went donw from 1,557 to 957, and the number of safety events went down from 1,249 to 782.
“Congratulations to our operators and our safety staff, who make customer safety their Number One priority every day,” said RTA CEO and General Manager Joe Calabrese.
“RTA has an innovative approach that combines the technology of DriveCam with hands-on, individualized operator instruction. The result is, we significantly improved operators’ skills, driving habits and response behavior and reduced the opportunity for accidents,” Calabrese said.
“Congratulations to these public transportation systems for implementing successful, innovative safety and security programs that serve as a model to the rest of the industry,” said Doran J. Barnes, APTA Chair and Executive Director of Foothill Transit, who presented the awards. “Safety and security are the top priority in the public transportation industry.”
APTA Acting President and CEO Richard A. White added, “I commend these award-winning public transit systems that have demonstrated their dedication to improving safety and security for their employees, passengers and the public.”
The APTA Bus Safety & Security Excellence Awards recognize public transportation organizations for their innovative and proactive safety and security programs. It also provides value to the industry by benchmarking successful programs so other public transit systems can adopt them and derive similar benefits.
Nominations are evaluated on four criteria:
- Effectiveness
- Benefit level
- Innovation and
- Transferability.
The top honor is the GOLD Award, which is given to organizations with the best overall bus safety or bus security program. A Certificate of Merit is given to organizations in recognition of exceptional achievement in safety or security.
Media Contact:
Linda Scardilli Krecic
216-356-3104 (office)
216-390-9605 (cell)