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The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) is the recipient of the 2015 "Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award" by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
The national organization bestows the award annually to transit agencies in three categories. METRO competed and won in the category for largest transit
agencies, those which provide 20 million or more
passenger trips annually. The award acknowledges transit accomplishments over the past
three years.
"We're being recognized by our peers nationally for all our hard work and progress in all areas," said METRO Chairman Gilbert Garcia. "I'm so excited that this will be the hallmark of the New METRO and it's a team effort."
 METRO Chairman, Gilbert Garcia, METRO President and CEO, Tom Lambert and METRO staff gather at Downtown Transit Center for big unveiling of APTA Award.
"We have watched ridership increase system-wide
for the past three years," said METRO President and CEO Tom Lambert. "We have built new rail lines and provided new
services. APTA judged us over three years and determined this agency is delivering to the community travel choices that meet the standard of excellence and we're extremely proud."
METRO was judged on safety, operations and maintenance, customer service, financial management, sustainability, workforce development, attendance and employee costs, minority and women advancement, marketing, policy administration, and community relations.
METRO was also judged on quantitative measures including riders per hour and total passenger miles.
APTA is the nation's leading force in advancing public transportation. APTA members are public entities providing bus, light rail, commuter rail, subway and waterborne passenger services, as well as high-speed rail and paratransit services.
“Congratulations
to METRO for winning the prestigious 2015 Outstanding Public Transportation
System Achievement Award. This means that METRO is the top large
public transit system in North America,” said American Public Transportation
Association (APTA) President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “METRO has worked
hard to transform and enlarge the reach of their system in a variety of
ways. METRO employees and the residents of Houston should be very
proud of METRO.”
 The APTA 2015 Awards will be presented on Tuesday, October 6, 2015
in San Francisco. In October, 2014 Houston was host to more than 12,000 APTA
Conference attendees who gathered at the George R. Brown Convention Center from
points across the globe.
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