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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Palm Tran News:
Palm Tran Recognition:
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 Can you believe we are rounding out the year? It has been a productive one for Palm Tran, and I am thankful we have gotten through it together. I hope that you enjoy reading this newsletter about some of the initiatives we have rolled out recently.
This fall, we teamed up with Palm Beach County to roll out four brightly-wrapped buses promoting COVID-19 vaccines. Two feature Kansas City Chiefs Coach Terry Bradden, a Riviera Beach native. The other two buses feature Kevin Anderson, a South African professional tennis player who has made Palm Beach County his home. I encourage you to get vaccinated against COVID-19. For additional information and to find a vaccination site, visit: pbcgov.com/coronavirus.
You may have heard some discussion about an initiative called "Accelerate 2031." Accelerate 2031 is Palm Tran's Transit Development Plan (TDP) that lays out the vision for public transit services in Palm Beach County during the next 10 years. There will be multiple opportunities over the coming months for our riders to weigh in on the future of public transit in our county, so if our customers ask about it, please direct them to our website, PalmTran.org, to learn more.
I am thrilled to report that Palm Tran was featured on the cover of the August/September issue of BUSRide Magazine. The publication featured our partnership with Avail Technologies and our commitment to manage service efficiently and effectively for the benefit of our riders.
In September, I am proud to say we debuted our first-ever Hispanic Heritage bus. We celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the many achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans. The bus features the flag of every Hispanic country and showcases images of dancing people wearing clothes that symbolize Hispanic Americans' and Latin Americans' many contributions to modern culture. The theme of the campaign is ¡Todos Unidos! It means, “everyone united.” It is a true honor to show our support of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
October 4 - 8 marks National Customer Service Week. Proclaimed an official event by the U.S. Congress in 1992 via Presidential Proclamation, the first full business week of October is a time to celebrate customer-facing personnel. The work our customer service team does every day is of critical importance because of the tremendous impact it has on customers' satisfaction and loyalty. While we may not be able to celebrate in the same way as in years past, we do have a few things planned and we are looking forward to recognizing this exceptional team!
We are rolling into the season of giving, and I am proud that we are once again partnering with United Way of Palm Beach County to help our neighbors in need. You can learn more about the organization below, and please keep an eye on your email in the coming weeks for ways you can get involved.
In closing, I recognize that Palm Tran is fortunate to have such dedicated employees. As we prepare to bid farewell to 2021, I want to wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy and happy holiday season. Thank you for everything you do to help make Palm Tran the premier transportation choice in Palm Beach County.
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Humbly,
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Palm Tran Embraces Avail’s Enterprise Transit Management Solution
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Partnering with Avail Technologies, Palm Tran has upgraded ITS to help manage and coordinate services across Palm Beach County
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Photo courtesy of BUSRide Magazine
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With 159 vehicles serving over 35,000 daily riders in Florida’s expansive Palm Beach County, it is critical for Palm Tran’s dispatchers, staff, and administration to have real-time, fleetwide communication with vehicles, drivers, and riders – and a dynamic ITS system to oversee those capabilities.
Working with its technology partner Avail Technologies, Palm Tran has utilized the myAvail enterprise transit management software since 2014 to help manage its services more efficiently and effectively.
Palm Tran's fleetwide installation of this system is in progress now, and we expect all buses to be fully upgraded in the coming months.
You can read the full article HERE.
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WPBF: 'We are in this for the long haul': Palm Beach County leaders increase vaccination messaging
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Hospital overcrowding leads to concern
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Palm Tran and the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners unveil one of four new
COVID-19 Vaccine Bus Wraps.
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
Palm Beach County leaders held a news conference Friday emphasizing the need for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the face of hospital overcrowding and high case numbers.
County Mayor Dave Kerner and Health Department Director Dr. Alina Alonso went over hospital admission data, pointing out the county's 14 hospitals are over-capacity in both regular beds and ICU beds.
Alonso said it was good that the number of people being discharged is higher than the number being admitted daily, but stressed the county's positivity rate is still at 13%, and said vaccinations continue to be key to fight the delta variant.
"The numbers will go up and down," she said, "but the holidays are coming and they will go back up again — we are in this for the long haul."
County Administrator Verdenia Baker pointed to two Palm Tran buses now wrapped with billboard messaging from two professional athletes urging younger people, "Don't miss the shot."
Read the story HERE.
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Palm Tran's Public Relations Department Receives Multiple Coveted Awards
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Palm Tran’s Public Relations Department continues to be recognized for its ambitious and engaging outreach initiatives.
On July 20, the Gold Coast Public Relations Council, a group of marketing and communications professionals from Palm Beach, Broward, Martin and Dade counties, announced that Palm Tran will be awarded the 2021 Bernays Award. Palm Tran is being honored within the category of “Small Nonprofit Project or Campaign” for the marketing strategy behind the relaunch of the Go Glades service as a ‘Dial-a-Ride’ service in 2020.
Then on August 24, the Palm Tran Public Relations Section was honored by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Sunshine District, which is comprised of more than one thousand public relations professionals from Florida, with the Sunshine Radiance Award. The Sunshine Radiance Award recognizes outstanding strategic public relations programs and tactics that demonstrate excellence in planning, execution and evaluation. The award was received for the public relations efforts surrounding the relaunch of the Go Glades Service as a “Dial-a-Ride.” Palm Tran also received a Commendation for our 2020 Annual Report.
On September 17, The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) recognized the First Place winners of the association’s 2021 AdWheel Awards. We are pleased to announce that Palm Tran earned the First Place Award for Best Electronic Media to Support Ridership.
The awards go to APTA member public transportation systems and business members in four categories, separated by system size, for outstanding marketing and communications efforts that contributed to strategic organizational goals. The exceptional communications and marketing efforts of these honorees led to greater safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and increased awareness of the value of public transportation in communities across North America.
There were 363 entries evaluated by 128 industry experts and First Place awards were presented in four categories: best marketing and communications on the COVID-19 pandemic, campaigns to support ridership or sales, educational efforts, and projects to highlight transit needs and funding.
First Place winners by size will face a final round of at-large judging against other winners to determine the Grand Awards, which will be presented at APTA’s TRANSform Conference and EXPO, November 7-10, 2021, in Orlando.
Palm Tran Executive Director Clinton B. Forbes expressed his appreciation of the campaign and the efforts of the public relations team. “Our public relations team did a great job marketing the Go Glades relaunch to our customers across Palm Beach County, especially in the Glades Region. It took a great deal of outreach, in English, Spanish and Creole, but we made sure folks knew about the convenience and flexibility that Go Glades could offer them,” said Forbes.
Palm Tran originally launched Go Glades in December 2018 as a flex service for residents in the South Bay, Pahokee, and Belle Glade region of Palm Beach County. The program was developed as a part of the agency’s Route Performance Maximization project, which overhauled inefficiencies in bus routes and promoted greater on-time performance and travel mobility for riders.
Due to the spread out nature of the Glades region and the absence of ride-sharing services such as a Lyft and Uber, Palm Tran decided to transition Go Glades into a full ‘Dial-a-Ride’ service, which picks up residents on demand and drops them off directly at their destinations. Palm Tran officially launched Go Glades as a Dial-a-Ride service on April 13, 2020 and promoted the service on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. On August 13, 2020, Palm Tran boosted a Facebook post that included a video describing the newly branded service.
Palm Tran went beyond promoting the relaunch on social media. The agency published full-page informational advertisements in the ‘Rider’s Guide’, its tri-annually published route guidebook. The Rider’s Guide is distributed to all Palm Tran vehicles and bus stops, as well as over 200 prime locations throughout Palm Beach County. Additionally, Palm Tran collected and organized statistics related to customer feedback to continually modify its services.
The ridership numbers speak for themselves. Between March 2020 (when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Florida) and February 2021, Go Glades transported 56,207 passengers within the Glades region. That represented an increase of 4,394 additional passengers, or 8.5 percent, compared to the period of March 2019 to February 2020. This increase is noteworthy, as it occurred despite Palm Tran’s policies in response to COVID-19 that restricted ridership, such as decreasing service and enforcing a maximum occupancy of 20 passengers in each vehicle.
Palm Tran Interim Director of Support Services and Public Information Officer Joseph Harrington describes the award win as representative of the agency’s broader goals.
“We are honored and humbled to receive this award. Palm Tran remains dedicated to educating and informing the community about transportation options that reduce highway congestion, create cleaner air and stimulate economic development,” said Harrington.
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Palm Tran Connection Travels to
Little Rock, Arkansas for Paratransit Peer Review
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Ron Jones represented Palm Tran and flew to Rock Region Metro Transit Agency in Little Rock, Arkansas for a Paratransit Peer Review from
September 13 - 17
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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
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Palm Tran is proud to represent every community that calls Palm Beach County home. In 2021, Palm Tran for the first time unveiled a bus to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from September 15 to October 15. The bus depicts the flags and cultural practices of many Hispanic countries, and is carrying its messages of pride and representation all around the county.
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Helping Our Neighbors in Need with United Way of Palm Beach County
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Watch the video below to learn what the organization does, and keep an eye on your email to find out how you can get involved!
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United Way: A Champion for PBC
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Palm Tran Announces Promotions and a New Hire
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We are excited to announce the following well-deserved promotions:
- Lou Ferri, Operations Manager, has been promoted to Senior Manager of Paratransit
- Yash Nagal, Senior Transit Planner, has been promoted to Planning Manager
- Lina Aragon, Customer Service Administrator, has been promoted to Operations Manager
- Yili Affonso, Administrative Assistant, has been promoted to Operations Supervisor
- Jeff McGregor, Customer Service Supervisor, has been promoted to Customer Service Administrator
We are excited to announce the arrival of Ryan Socchio, our new Senior Manager of Safety and Training. Originally from Rhode Island, Ryan joins Palm Tran after an 11-year career in law enforcement, having served as a Police Officer at George Mason University and the University of Connecticut and as a Fleet Manager and Community Affairs Officer for the City of New London Police Department. Welcome, Ryan!
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Thank You, Customer Service Team!
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From all of us at Palm Tran, we would like to thank our Customer Service Team for your incredible work every day. We appreciate your passion, commitment and dedication to your important roles, and we are fortunate to have employees like you who make us all proud.
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Meet Alicia Gray, Assistant Manager of Operations
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Nice to meet you, Alicia! First I would like to ask, where did you grow up?
I was born in New Jersey, and I moved here when I was eight years old, so I grew up in Palm Beach County. I love it; we get to live where people vacation.
What was your very first job?
My very first job was at a pizza place. I answered the phones and took pickup and delivery orders.
When and why did you join Palm Tran?
I joined Palm Tran in 2009. I was in the nursing program in college, and I decided that that wasn’t the path I wanted to take. I was also running an after-care and summer camp program, so I had my CDL. Then someone I knew joined the team here and encouraged me to apply. They said it was an awesome place to work; they loved it and thought I would too. So I applied and the rest is history! I never would’ve thought I’d be here in the position I’m in now. I truly came here because somebody else told me that this was a good place to work.
What do you enjoy most about our company?
I would have to say the people. The people we meet, the people we work with, the people we serve. I work with bus operators, supervisors, and passengers, and I love working with everyone.
What is one habit you want to get rid of and one habit you want to keep?
One habit I should probably get rid of is hitting the snooze on my alarm, and setting multiple alarms. My husband says, please, just set one and get up! I just can’t. One habit I’d like to keep is my overuse of hand sanitizer.
Who do you admire and why?
The first person who comes to my mind when you ask this question is my husband. He’s a police officer, so when everybody’s running from the bad things, he’s running towards them. We run away, and he runs towards them. I truly admire him and everything he does.
What do you listen to during your commute?
I listen to a lot of different things, it just depends on my mood. My son and I get in the car in the morning and we choose what’s going to get us pumped for the day. We listen to everything from rap music to country music. This morning we were listening to Fleetwood Mac. It’s a variety.
What is the best meal you have ever had, and what is the best meal you have ever cooked for yourself?
When my son made me Eggo waffles on my birthday. He’s 11 years old, so he can use the toaster and the microwave. It was a complete surprise; I woke up and he had brought me breakfast in bed. That was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The best meal I’ve ever cooked? I cook a lot, and going back to my Italian roots, one of the best things I cook is probably my Chicken Parmesan with my homemade sauce.
What is something you have accomplished as an adult that your younger self would be proud of?
My younger self would be proud of my career progression. But the first thing that came to my mind when you asked this question is something my younger self would be SURPRISED by… my younger self would be extremely surprised by who I married! My husband and I know each other from high school. If you would’ve told me in high school that I was going to marry him, I would’ve told you you’re crazy! There’s no way we would be married. And here we are, almost two years later, we’re married. My younger self would be shocked! Shocked. We were friends in high school and he was my date to my senior prom, but we never really dated. After high school, we went our separate ways. It was Facebook that brought us together! In 2014, he sent me a Facebook message asking if I wanted to catch up and I said, sure, what do I have to lose? And we have been together ever since. I never thought he would be the one I would marry, but I couldn’t be happier.
What skills are you cultivating right now?
I am trying really hard to be the coolest mom to a preteen. Trying to be a cool mom to a preteen is not easy. They have the hormones, the emotions. It’s a lot. It’s me trying to keep my cool and still be cool to them. That is what I’m working on right now.
What are you most grateful for in this season of life?
My husband, my kids, my family. At home, I’m so grateful for the life we’re building. And when it comes to work, I am grateful for the team I work with here at Palm Tran. I have an amazing team. I’ve never been happier at work. This is probably the happiest I’ve ever been, working with my senior manager, my director, my coworkers, everyone. It’s not, I have to go to work today. It’s, I GET to go to work today and I GET to see the people I work with today, and it’s going to be a good day. It’s such a good team. We have a really good support system here. At the end of the day, it’s all about the people.
What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning?
My son. My family. And being able to help people. I truly enjoy what I do and I love helping people.
Is there anything else you would like to say to your fellow Palm Tran colleagues?
Thank you. Thank you for being here and thank you for what you do.
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