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Annual Awards Recognize Statewide Excellence in Public Transit Presented by the Transportation Association of Maryland Sponsored by: Stevensville, MD – The Transportation Association of Maryland (TAM), a statewide organization dedicated to improving the mobility of all Maryland citizens, hosted its Annual Excellence Awards Ceremony during its Annual Conference (September 22–24) for transportation providers, vendors and non-profits at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville, MD. TAM's Annual Awards Ceremony took place Wednesday, September 23, honoring organizations and individuals in the following categories: Outstanding Transit Innovation; Outstanding Leadership; Rising Star; Outstanding Transit System; and Driver of the Year. Presented by Awards Committee chair Crystal Winebrenner of Ride With Us and Executive Director John Duklewski, and sponsored by fortell.ai, the following individuals and agencies were honored and presented with awards. Rising Star: Ryan Mayers, RTA of Central Maryland
Since joining the RTA in January 2023 as Planning and Special Projects Manager, Ryan Mayers has had a hand in nearly every corner of the agency. He led the launch of two new routes and the restructuring of a third, and oversaw the rollout of the RTA Mobility app for paratransit customers, convening a rider focus group to beta-test it before launch; nearly 2,000 trips have been booked through the app since it went live in November 2025. He manages the Digital Student Pass Program, which has provided more than 500 students with free access to RTA service for more than 6,800 trips, and rebuilt the agency's Travel Training program alongside Transit 101, a transportation forum that reaches roughly 300 seniors, students, and residents with disabilities each year at more than 50 community sites. Transit 101 earned a $15,000 AARP Community Challenge Grant and was recognized among Howard County's National Association of Counties award-winning initiatives. When participation in the Rider Advisory Council lagged, he redesigned it as a quarterly forum and attendance rose 130 percent. Outstanding Transit Innovation Program: Great Seneca Transit Network, Montgomery County Ride On
The Great Seneca Transit Network brought Ride On extra high-frequency service to the heart of Montgomery County's biotech and life-sciences corridor, connecting Shady Grove Metro, Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, the Universities at Shady Grove, Rio, and Traville Village Center. Dedicated bus and bus-plus-bike lanes carved out of existing roadway, transit signal priority, upgraded stations, and pedestrian and bicycle improvements cut travel times dramatically: the trip from Rio to the Traville Transit Center dropped from 53 minutes on local service to 10, and Shady Grove Metro to the medical center from 43 minutes to 21. Launched in September 2024 with a full-scale marketing campaign, the network's Lime and Pink routes grew from 530 average weekday trips in their first month to 1,161 a year later, with no meaningful loss on the local routes they overlap, a strong indication that the service is bringing new riders into the system. The routes are slated for hydrogen fuel-cell and battery-electric buses in line with the County's zero-emissions goals. Outstanding Leadership Award: Chris Conklin, Montgomery County Department of Transportation
Director of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation since 2019 and a public transportation professional for more than thirty years, Chris Conklin has led MCDOT to roughly $750 million in state and federal transportation funding over five years, including more than $300 million in new federal transit grants, and personally negotiated $93 million in COVID relief for the County's transit system. Under his direction Ride On eliminated fares, launched its reimagined route network, expanded high-frequency service, and served nearly 20 million riders in FY26. He has secured more than 120 electric buses and set the agency on a path to a fully zero-emission fleet by 2035, while the County's Vision Zero program has reduced serious and fatal crashes on its high-injury network by 29 percent. This year his peers elected him chair of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. Staff describe a director who rides the buses, personally tests new routes, and follows up on constituent concerns himself, one who "brings calm clarity to complex issues and always centers community needs." Outstanding Transit System: Ride With Us, Carroll County
Ride With Us set itself a single goal for the year: make what it already does, better, without additional vehicles, staffing, or funding. The results were measurable. The system recorded 191 consecutive accident-free days, roughly 750,000 miles, while increasing ridership by 3 percent and revenue miles by 5 percent with no change in vehicles operated in maximum service, and permanently restored a fixed route that had been out of service since the pandemic. The year closed within budget, with reduced overtime and IT savings reinvested in employee bonuses. Behind the numbers is a deliberate culture of improvement: a new Training Committee of frontline staff and management that reviews every training program and every policy in the handbook from the perspective of the organization, the employee, and the passenger; a Trainer Certification Program; quarterly evaluations for every driver; a "Caught Ya" program recognizing good decisions on the road; and a Cross-Training Week in which drivers worked dispatch, dispatchers rode the road, and management did both. On National Customer Appreciation Day the system provided 512 free trips, and when an underserved area across the county line was identified, Ride With Us committed existing resources to a pilot rather than wait for new infrastructure. Driver of the Year: Sheila Wimbush, Transit Services of Frederick County
Sheila Wimbush drives fifty hours a week, and some weeks sixty, with a zero-preventable-incident record. Her supervisors describe an operator who arrives prepared and punctual for every shift, is the first name dispatch calls when coverage runs short, and mentors new drivers and those working toward their CDL. She trained for the 2026 TAM Roadeo on her own days off and finished ninth. Riders say her kindness brightens their day; colleagues call her a morale booster for the entire team. But it was a moment off the bus that set her apart this year. On a Friday in January, as Frederick County braced for an ice storm, Sheila was at the Transit Center waiting for her shuttle to depart when a young child, whose family was waiting nearby for a Greyhound bus, walked to the edge of Carroll Creek and fell into the icy water. Sheila reacted instantly, shouting for other drivers to radio dispatch, pulling the soaked and crying child from the water, and bringing the family inside, where she helped the mother get the child dried off and into dry clothes from their luggage. The family continued on to their destination. In her supervisor's words, the outcome could have been vastly different had Sheila not acted decisively. Congratulations to all of our winners! |
