Conference Sessions

Keynote Speaker - Dioane Gate

8:30 - 10 AM - Beach House Ballroom

I've been Awarded a Grant, Now What? - 5310/Nonprofit Session

Presented by Cydney Dickens of MDOT MTA 

1 - 4 PM: Tavern Ballroom

After getting awarded a grant, the real work begins. This half-day session will cover critical areas of grant compliance, including responsibilities and obligations, procurement of goods and services, a Projectwise refresher, and more. Items covered will include:

• Terminology
• The 5310 Manual
• Funding Types
• Insurance Requirements
• Capital Vs. Operating Expenses
• Requests for Payment
• Payment Process
• Quarterly Reports
• Title VI
• Compliance

Accident Reporting & Investigation

Presented by Kelly Shawn of RLS & Associates

Leading with Loss

Presented by Dioane Gates of the Kansas Leadership Center

1 - 2:30 PM: Breezeway

There is power in acknowledging pain, fear, and loss. 

Are you tapping into that power?

Most of us overlook speaking to loss when we think about cultivating our leadership skills. Few of us relish the idea of looking another person squarely in the eye and attempting to put words to their pain. Bosses and politicians are not trained to do it. We seldom go out of our way to practice speaking to loss. 

But progress on our most important challenges requires it. This isn't about grief - this is about the kind of loss that exists whenever organizational change happens. A new schedule, a new technology - all change involves loss. Facing that loss head-on is critical in exercising genuine Leadership.

Done skillfully, speak to loss is an energizing leadership behavior. If you want to move another faction off the status quo and into a productive zone of work, naming what they stand to lose if your change effort is successful allows them to feel seen and valued. Who knows? Your active compassion may even generate hope and fire them up to release their fears and exercise leadership themselves. 

Foundational Skills Curriculum for Successful Career Pathways - Filling Skills Gaps in Technical Positions

Presented by Kristen Ribaudo of the Transit Workforce Center (TWC)

10:30 - Noon: Beach House Ballroom

As transit agencies broaden and deepen their recruitment efforts to fill critical frontline positions, and as new technologies develop, new hires and incumbent workers often have knowledge and skills gaps that can affect performance and retention, as well as opportunities for initial success and long-term advancement. While these gaps exist across many occupations, agencies have found them to be particularly challenging in technical positions. To support agencies in meeting these challenges, Transit Workforce Center (TWC), the Federal Transit Administration’s technical assistance center for workforce development, has developed a Foundational Skills Program that provides strategies and curriculum to bridge the most common skills gaps and helps elevate competencies to meet the standards required for effective and safe performance in the industry.

Presenters will discuss this newly-developed and freely-accessible curriculum. Modular flexibility is being built into the strategic design, providing agencies with the ability to address specific group or individual gaps as needed in the following areas: core skills areas that include: basic mechanical; basic electrical; computer skills; and shop math. The presentation will feature examples of courseware tools that can be used as learning resources, including templates, “How to” videos, and sample on-the-job activities. Presenters will also seek audience input on the skills gap challenges they have faced with new hires and knowledge areas that may need further development.

Microtransit, Macro Impact: Balancing microtransit solutions in rural and suburban contexts

Presented by Brian Siegel and Sandy Brennan of Foursquare

10:30 - Noon: Tavern Ballroom

Microtransit is often touted as a catch-all transit solution for rural and urban transit systems alike – but it is important to understand the nuances of use cases and operating models. This presentation will highlight key insights into microtransit planning, case studies, and strategies for success. We will focus on how to make a fair and objective assessment of microtransit applications.

Microtransit Planning: This session will begin by exploring the complexities and opportunities surrounding microtransit in suburban and rural areas; we will draw from real-world case studies, research, and industry best practices found in a guidebook developed for the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB). Key issues such as microtransit suitability, performance monitoring, equity, and regional coordination will be discussed.

Microtransit Implementation: The second part of the presentation will discuss the nuances of microtransit operating models. We will draw on the NCATT Microtransit Guidebook, which breaks down some of the steps a transit agency can take to successfully procure and implement a microtransit service. Attendees will leave with concrete tools and knowledge to overcome common barriers, pilot microtransit solutions, and collaborate with stakeholders to design equitable and efficient microtransit programs. This session will be presented in a panel presentation format along with other invited Maryland transit agencies to share their real-world examples.

Procurement (for Transit Agencies and Nonprofits)

Presented by MDOT MTA

1:30-  5 PM: Tavern Ballroom

This workshop will help grant recipients ensure their procurements are compliant with federal, state, and local procurement rules and regulations. This training will also prepare recipients for FTA audits, particularly Triennials, State Management Reviews, and Procurement Systems Reviews (PSR).

During a review, procurement practices are evaluated to determine compliance with federal and state regulations, FTA policies, and other established guidance. Procurement is one of the review areas with the highest rates of findings. The primary objective of this half-day training is to increase recipients’ understanding of the requirements of procurement.

Driving Results - Time Management & Prioritization for Transit Leaders

Presented by Lynn Berger of Strategic Evolution LLC

1:30 - 5 PM: Beach House Ballroom

Proper time management is critical for transit professionals. Our organizations are usually understaffed, always overworked, and burdened with an often bewildering array of sometimes contradictory and mutually exclusive demands on our time. This workshop will help you to identify the challenges facing you and learn to apply tools to better manage and prioritize your work.

Objectives:
• Identify individual primary time management challenges
• Understand the costs in lack of prioritization
• Learn and apply tools like Eisenhower Matrix, MITs (Most Important Tasks), and time blocking
• Reflect on habits and leadership patterns specific to the fast-paced, reactive transportation environment
• Learn and work through how to prioritize time on areas you can and cannot control
• Build and walk away with a personal action plan for improving focus and time discipline

Transit Network Design Course

Presented by Scudder Wagg and Ricky Angueira of Jarrett Walker and Associates

10:30 - Noon & 1:30 - 5 PM: Breezeway

The goal of the course is to build understanding of what a transit network is, and how networks work or don’t work, and how transit network design intersects with other transportation mode plans and how those issues intersect with larger community conversations around values, priorities, and goals for transit investment. This is an all day intensive course, with morning and afternoon sessions.

• Morning Session: Prairieville - This morning session is geared to a broad audience of people who need to get a feel for public transit planning, even if it’s not their main work. This short course has worked well for community stakeholders, executive staff at planning agencies, policy-makers or elected officials, and new or long-time transit agency staff. This morning session is centered on a simplified transit network design game for a fictional town called “Prairieville”.

• Afternoon Session (Prairieville County) - Having learned the basics from the Prairieville game, we then introduce “Prairieville County” which bring in the challenges of using a wider range of tools, including flexible transit options, and the new wrinkles of rural geographic challenges. Similar to the Prairieville game, each group gets to design a network for the County and once complete we facilitate a conversation about each network and the trade-off choices made in designing the network.

Transit and Nonprofit Manager Roundtables

 8:30 - 9:15 AM - Beach House Ballroom & Breezeway

Customer Service and De-Escalating with Problem Passengers

Presented by Michael Noel of Noel Training & Consulting

8:30 AM - Noon: Tavern Ballroom

Bus Operators have little control over the mood riders show up in; however, they do have control over their own personal reactions, which when used skillfully can keep situations from escalating into full blown incidents or possibly violent situations. This half-day workshop will explore skills you may use to de-escalate stressful situations such as understanding conflict, controlling your emotions, verbal judo and understanding your own stress. The target audience for this course are Drivers, Supervisors, Customer Service Personnel, Schedulers & Dispatchers.

Agenda:

• Why a ride matters.
• Understanding conflict
• Mental health, addictions, and anger
• Four moods of passengers
• Why people repeatedly challenge you.
• The important role of Dispatchers
• Personal safety & security
• What the experts say about defusing conflict
• The art of maintaining control
• Six truths about respectful customer service
• The effect of stress on the bus operator’s performance
• Stress & health (stress test)
• Six steps to improve relationships with all passengers.

Improving Transit Workforce Quality of Life: Best Practices and Lessons Learned from National Research

Presented by Brian Siegel and Sandy Brennan of Foursquare

9:30 - Noon: Beach House Ballroom

The bus operator shortage is a major challenge, with most agencies in the country reporting workforce shortages that impact their ability to provide service, according to research by the American Public Transportation Association. Both transit schedules and the support systems (policies and programs) play a major factor in bus operators’ quality of life at work. Transit agencies report that concerns about work schedules and compensation are leading reasons why workers quit. Likewise, operators report  feeling lonely, isolated, and unsupported at work which leads to feeling like they are ill-equipped to handle their daily duties. This session will explore innovative, practical strategies to improve transit operators’ quality of life. We will pull from two major research papers: APTA Scheduling Practices Toolkit, which details best practices for transit agencies to employ in order to improve operators’ work schedules. And TCRP 245: Mental Health, Wellness, and Resilience for Transit System Workers, which provides a detailed summary of common factors that influence the mental health, well-being, and resiliency of frontline transit workers and includes a range of solutions that transit agencies can implement to address them. This session will be delivered in a workshop format and broken into focused segments:

Mental Health and Wellness: A look at the factors affecting transit worker mental health and the solutions agencies are implementing nationwide.

Operator Scheduling Best Practices: An overview of scheduling strategies that improve work-life balance and job satisfaction.

Interactive Discussion & Peer Exchange: Participants will engage in collaborative discussions, sharing local challenges and identifying actionable next steps using the APTA Scheduling Practices Toolkit.

Safety Committee in Action

Presented by Cecil Transit

9:30 - 10:30 AM: Breezeway

This session will highlight the critical role a safety committee plays in a successful safety program. As a rural transit provider, Cecil Transit has overcome operational challenges through strategic planning, staff engagement, and a strong safety culture. A cornerstone of this progress is their Safety Committee which is composed equally of frontline staff and management providing a well-rounded, inclusive approach to safety. This collaborative structure fosters open communication, mutual trust, and practical problem-solving. The committee actively contributes to the agency’s safety plan, identifies and mitigates risks, and tracks safety outcomes. One example of this approach in action was the reduction of minor collisions involving the bus canopy. The committee pinpointed contributing factors such as misaligned striping and visibility issues, and implemented low-cost, high-impact solutions. The result: fewer preventable incidents, more proactive hazard reporting, and stronger system-wide accountability. This session will walk attendees through how Cecil established their committee, the tools and methods that drove its success, and lessons learned along the way. These insights will be useful for transit managers, supervisors, and frontline staff seeking to improve safety outcomes in their own organizations.

Introduction to Transportation Demand Management (TDM)

10:45 - Noon: Breezeway

Our Transit Demand Management (TDM) workshop focuses on strategies to optimize transportation systems and reduce reliance on single-occupancy vehicles. This workshop will teach attendees about TDM techniques, policy measures, and how to implement demand management programs. It will cover topics like sustainable mobility planning, traffic congestion management, and the role of public transport in managing demand.