The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has been named the Outstanding Public Transportation System among large transit agencies throughout North America.
This top industry award from the American Public Transportation Association honors a public transportation system member that has demonstrated achievement in efficiency and effectiveness among agencies providing more than 15 million but fewer than 50 million annual passenger trips, the agency said in a statement. VTA provides more than 25 million trips a year for bus, light rail and paratransit in Santa Clara County.
The award recognizes VTA’s excellence amid unprecedented challenges over 2021 and 2022, continuing to provide essential service during COVID-19 and making significant strides in restoring service to pre-pandemic levels, after emerging from a deadly shooting and a crippling cyberattack in 2021, the agency said in a statement.
SamTrans was also given the Outstanding Public Transportation System award for an agency with between 3 million and 15 million annual rides. SamTrans said it had roughly 10 million riders this past fiscal year.
SamTrans said it entered the competition to help highlight several of its recent achievements, including, some of the nation’s best ridership recovery numbers following the coronavirus pandemic and transitioning to a 100% zero-emission fleet.
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