October 22, 2018
Ithaca, NY: At a ceremony on October 4, in Ithaca, NY, RTS, Highland Planning and Transportation Management & Design, Inc. (TMD) received an award from the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) as part of their 2018 Professional Awards Program. The award was in the Public Outreach category, recognizing the team’s comprehensive outreach strategy during stage one of Reimagine RTS – the public transit redesign effort underway in Monroe County. Transportation Management & Design, and Highland Planning, were the project consultants to RTS during the first stage of Reimagine RTS.
“When we started Reimagine RTS we knew that one of the keys to success was to implement a comprehensive outreach strategy to engage with as many customers, employees, and stakeholders in the community as possible,” said RTS CEO Bill Carpenter. “This award, along with the strong level of participation in the community during stage one, proves that our inviting, open, and transparent approach to public outreach was the right way to do it. I thank the team at RTS, TMD and Highland Planning for their hard work. And I thank the New York Upstate Chapter of the APA for recognizing our efforts. We look forward to continuing this approach to public outreach for the duration of Reimagine RTS.”
According to the APA, this award honors an individual, project, or program that uses information and education about the value of planning to create greater awareness among citizens or specific segments of the public. The award celebrates how planning improves a community's quality of life. The Reimagine RTS outreach program met the APA’s award criteria of originality and transferability, effectiveness and results, and participation.
“RTS earned this award by embracing an inclusive, innovative and responsive approach to public engagement,” said Tanya Mooza Zwahlen, AICP, Principal and Owner of Highland Planning. “Non-traditional tools like pop-up events, meetings-in-a-box, board games, online surveys, live audience polling and budgeting exercises made it possible to meaningfully engage thousands of residents in Greater Rochester for this once-in-a-generation redesign of our public transit system."
Stage one of Reimagine RTS started in September 2017 and ended with TMD’s completed report and recommendation in August 2018. Stage two will begin in mid- to late-October and is expected to run through the winter.
"The Upstate Chapter Awards Program has been a centerpiece of our Annual Conferences for years and once again we were thrilled to present our membership with 12 exemplary examples of recent projects completed by Chapter Members that are bringing about positive change and benefits for residents of Upstate New York,” said Sean Maguire, AICP, Vice President of the Chapter and Chair of the Awards Committee.
Maguire added, “The Professional Awards celebrate the hard and rewarding work that our colleagues do each day. We’re really pleased to highlight these projects and there is no better time to do so than at our conference and doubly so during National Community Planning Month.”
For more information about Reimagine RTS, please visit http://reimagine.myrts.com.
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