A Glimmer of Hope
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
I’ve said it before (probably here); it’s nice to go to shows. This year’s APTA Bus & Paratransit Conference was no exception. We’re an industry that is very connected and yet, can be very isolated. So it’s nice to get out to the same location with a couple hundred of your industry peers and just compare notes on how good (or bad) things are in their neck of the woods.
I know from my perspective that I tend to get tunnel vision this time of year. Our schedule is front-loaded so combining that with all the shows in the first six months and I tend to go from one issue to the next and when I get a breather I look up and don’t realize how the year went by so fast.
As I look down at the fast-approaching halfway point for 2009 bearing down on us, it was nice to take that breather this week at the Bus & Paratransit Conference. Seattle is a great city and I had a great time sampling some of its local cuisine and checking out some great places to shop. As expected, the King County Metro did a fine job as the host agency.
I also had the chance to catch up with a lot of people I knew in the industry and see how things are going for them. Frankly, times are tough everywhere. I didn’t hear a single transit exec tell me things were rosy for their agency. Nearly unanimously what I heard was the stimulus (sorry, ARRA) money was (much) welcomed, but it didn’t help assuage the operating deficits they were facing. Those worst off seemed to be agencies who relied on sales tax revenues for funding. The poor economy is cutting into their bottom line in a major way.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. As I said, the stimulus money was a glimmer of hope for those agencies receiving the funds and most hoped this pointed to a continued commitment from the current administration towards transit. Things are bad, but they could be a lot worse.
That glimmer of hope may just be the dawn breaking through as transit slugs through the darkest part of this economic downturn. Everyone I spoke with was keeping their chins up and vowing to work to keep the buses and trains moving. It’s transit, that’s what we do.
And one last shout out for our Top 40 Under 40. We’ve got more than 100 nominations from across the transit landscape, but I’d love to see that double before the deadline next Friday, May 15. I know everyone reading this has someone under 40 in their organization they could nominate. This industry has a ton of great young talent in it, and it’s time they got the recognition they deserve. Please take the time to go nominate someone you think is deserving.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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May 8th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
“I also had the chance to catch up with a lot of people I knew in the industry and see how things are going for them. Frankly, times are tough everywhere. I didn’t hear a single transit exec tell me things were rosy for their agency.”
Misery loves company.
Pardon my cynicism, but it’s refreshing for those of us in different parts of the industry to get together on a semi-regular basis and sing the blues…but then, a lot of brainstorming comes of it as well!
See you soon, Fred!