Mass_Transit_September/-October_2019 - 46

Melissa
Davidson
Sather

Project Manager
Transportation
Management &
Design, Inc. (TMD)

Jonathan
Steketee

Customer Service
& Contract
Compliance
Manager
Livermore Amador
Valley Transit
Authority (LAVTA)

46 |

FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS, MELISSA
Davidson Sather has quickly advanced at
Transportation Management & Design,
Inc. (TMD), where she's now one of the
leaders of the transit planning practice.
Since joining, she's worked on projects
in over 20 different cities across more
than 10 states.
She's involved in multiple aspects of
the projects, including service analysis,
concept visioning, transit service tier and
network design, innovative mobility applications, stakeholder outreach, survey
development, market and consumer research, financial planning and analysis
and implementation support. She's worked
on projects such as: DART Forward 2035
Transit Services Plan Year 5 Update (Des
Moines), WeGo Public Transit Better Bus
Project (Nashville), MTS Transit Optimization Project and Program of Projects
Initiative for a 2020 ballot measure (San
Diego) and RTA Comprehensive Operations Analysis (Riverside).
She's currently leading the network
design effort as part of the Los Angeles Metro NextGen Bus Study, which
is re-envisioning transit service in Los
Angeles County. Her work has involved
rethinking transit service characteristics

JONATHAN STEKETEE IS THE CUStomer service and contract compliance
manager for the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) where
he oversees the operations contracts for
the agency's fixed route and ADA paratransit, along with managing a staff of
five who oversee customer service, fleet
management and IT.
During his time at LAVTA, he's
managed the shared autonomous vehicle (SAV) demonstration project and Go
Dublin! Both of these projects played
a role in LAVTA being named the top
transit agency in the state by the California Association for Coordinated Transportation (CALACT), which followed
a similar honor from the California
Transit Association.
The SAV project is another tool for
improving first and last mile connections to the two Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART) stations in the service area, and
is being carried out in collaboration with
local partners.
Go Dublin! is a ridesharing partnership which was the first of its kind
in the Bay Area and the first to partner

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Fact:
Her capstone
project earned
the National
2019 Neville A.
Parker Award in
recognition of
an Outstanding
Non-Thesis
Master's Degree
Paper in Policy
and Planning.
MassTransitmag.
com/21093556

to respond to new findings related to how
people travel derived from location-based
service and TAP card data. Technical
analysis for this study has included rebuilding the system one corridor segment
at a time to develop the core network
spines and an in-depth review of the
interaction between L.A. Metro's rapid
and local service. The redesigned network
considers all aspects of the customer experience to create a system that responds
to rider needs and expectations. The draft
plan will be shared with stakeholders and
the public in early 2020.
She holds a degree in history and economics from Northwestern University.
She also received a master's in urban and
regional planning from UCLA, where
her capstone project was "A New Model
for Transit: Transit/TNC Partnerships in
Western Riverside County."

"Working

in so many different places has given
me invaluable insight into what makes each transit agency
unique and what challenges are shared throughout the
industry. Day to day, I really enjoy identifying opportunities
to improve efficiency in service delivery so agencies can
provide more service with their limited resources.

Fact:
Steketee started
in the transit
industry as a
bus operator
for University
of California,
Davis' Unitrans,
the largest
student-run
transportation
system in the U.S.
MassTransitmag.
com/21093548

"It's

with both Uber and Lyft. The program
provides a 50 percent subsidy of rideshare trips up to $5 for trips that start
and end within the Dublin city limits.
Many similar programs lack accessible
vehicles, but Steketee worked with Uber
to have LAVTA's Tri-Valley service area
be one of the first U.S. test locations for
Uber WAV (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles). He also wrote a successful grant
application that will enable the program
to expand to Pleasanton and Livermore,
making the service boundaries the same
as LAVTA's entire service area.
He was recently appointed to the conference planning committee and technology committee for CALACT and created
an email Listserv for transit operations
staff throughout the Bay Area to use to
communicate ideas and best practices
among peers. Additionally, he's made
several presentations over the past two
years at state and national conferences.

not easy to go down a new path, and in fact a lot of
the time, it can feel daunting. Be brave and be the change."

http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21093556 http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21093548 http://www.MassTransitmag.com

Mass_Transit_September/-October_2019

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