This webinar will feature employee engagement experts, labor relations professionals, and national labor partners to discuss best practices for employee engagement, discipline, and performance.

Panel will discuss:

• Best practices for managing the disciplinary & progressive disciplinary processes
• The Voice of Labor - What's the why and underlying reasons for discipline? What have you observed that works for staff to succeed? How do you work with management to re-engage and revise, to address a trend of discipline?
• Example from organizations – What to do when your employee has abilities/disabilities.  i.e. increasing leave time; traumatic incident response to allow paid leave at management discretion
• How to shift the focus to the work, performance, and rewarding what you want to see more of in your unit, department, organization.
• Employee recognition programs (i.e. awards, mentoring, job shadowing, social media feature, local media, etc.)

Moderators:

• Trish Collins, Chair, APTA Labor & Employee Relations Subcommittee, Director of Human Resources, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), St. Petersburg, FL
• George F. Fields, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Vice Chair, APTA Labor & Employee Relations Subcommittee, HR Deputy General Manager, Greater Cleveland RTA
• Kelli Coughlin, Second Vice Chair, MTA Labor and Employee Relations Subcommittee, Senior Deputy Chief, Labor Relations – Railroad Operations, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), New York, NY

Panelists:

• Amanda Salmon, Civil Rights Compliance Officer (ADA), Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake City, UT
• Edward Valente, General Chairman & Executive Board Director, Association of Commuter Rail Employees (ACRE), Metro-North Railroad, New York, NY
• Ashley Mason, Manager, Employee Engagement, Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC)
• Wendy Hanks Tunstall, Bus Operator, ATU Local 1220, Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC)

APTA will host a series of webinars in July to review public transit and passenger rail provisions in H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act. This webinar will focus on the sections of the bill that impact commuter rail.

Panelists:

• Ward McCarragher, APTA Vice President, Government Affairs and Advocacy
• Benji Schwartz, APTA Director, Government Affairs and Advocacy

APTA will host a series of webinars in July to review public transit and passenger rail provisions in H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act. This webinar will focus on the sections that change or eliminate statutory and regulatory provisions related to project delivery for public transportation projects.

Panelists:

• Ward McCarragher, APTA Vice President, Government Affairs and Advocacy
• Katie Mabry, APTA Legislative Representative, Government Affairs and Advocacy

APTA will host a series of webinars in July to review public transit and passenger rail provisions in H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act. This webinar will focus on changes to the CIG Program.

Panelists:

• Ward McCarragher, APTA Vice President, Government Affairs and Advocacy
• Benji Schwartz, APTA Director, Government Affairs and Advocacy

APTA will host a series of webinars in July to review public transit and passenger rail provisions in H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act. This inaugural webinar will be a broad overview of the bill ahead of specific issue-area webinars throughout July and beyond as the Surface Transportation Authorization process progresses.

Panelists:

• Ward McCarragher, APTA Vice President, Government Affairs and Advocacy
• Mark Hybner, APTA Director, Government Affairs and Advocacy

For all rail modes – urban, commuter, high-speed, and intercity – this technical conference features sessions on technology, operations, maintenance, safety & security, planning, finance, capital projects, workforce development, and more. Experience the latest industry advances at the Products & Services Showcase and join the technical tours.

Who should attend: rail and paratransit system employees and managers, planners, board members, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers, and consultants.

This APTAU webinar pairs a vehicle-safety deep-dive with a security reality check. The first half shows how AI safety technology such as collision-avoidance/ADAS, dash cameras with driver monitoring, 360° surround-view, e-mirrors, and onboard recording turns transit cameras into an active safety system that detects pedestrians, eliminates blind zones, coaches drivers, and captures incident evidence.

The second half turns to security. As AI cameras multiply, the video, models, and rider data they create become high-value targets. This segment shows how agencies protect that data with confidential computing and zero-trust attestation, and prepare for the quantum era's "harvest now, decrypt later" threat through NIST-aligned post-quantum cryptography. A moderated panel closes the session by surfacing the hard tradeoffs agencies must navigate.

Moderators:

• Tas Jalali, Chair, APTA AI Subcommittee; CISO, AC Transit, Oakland, CA
• Shannon Bailey, Vice Chair, APTA AI Subcommittee; Senior Director, Miovision, Kitchener, ON

Panelists:

•  Ben Englander, CEO, Rosco Vision - Innovative Vehicle Safety & Vision Technology
  • Topic: Eyes Everywhere - AI Vision, ADAS & Collision Avoidance for Safer Transit
• Adam Hughes, CTO, QLAD - Confidential Computing & Post-Quantum Cybersecurity
  • Topic: Securing the AI Behind Transit Safety - Confidential Computing & Post-Quantum Defense for Agency Data

Transit agencies are confronting a practical workforce challenge: maintaining and operating increasingly complex fleets amid technician shortages, evolving technologies, and constrained training capacity. As vehicle and facility systems become more advanced and interconnected, agencies have an opportunity to modernize how they develop and sustain talent.

This session presents a structured approach to workforce development that connects funding strategy, workforce assessment, and implementation. Speakers will discuss how agencies can align workforce initiatives with federal and state funding programs; conduct targeted skills-gap assessments aligned with operational needs; and deploy modern training solutions, including AI-enabled emerging training simulations, to accelerate readiness and reduce risk.

Drawing on real-world transit deployments and advanced transit technologies, the session will demonstrate how agencies can intentionally design workforce programs that are scalable, measurable, and aligned with long-term operational performance. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for moving from workforce discussions to funded, executable solutions.

Moderator:

• Ron Thiele, CEO, Xpan, Chair - APTA Technology Workforce Subcommittee, Vice-chair - APTA Business Member Workforce Development Subcommittee

Presenters:

• Mike Hynes, Deputy Director, Transit, Calstart
• James Hall, Principal & Founder, Zeb Tech

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how industries operate, and public transportation is no exception. The 2026 APTA Workforce Summit, brings together industry leaders, managers, and labor partners to explore what AI means for transit operations, workforce planning, HR solutions, and rapidly evolving technology. The summit tackles the questions transit organizations can’t afford to ignore: what new skills will teams need, how do we attract and retain next-generation talent, and how do we balance innovation with the needs of customers, boards, and communities.

Whether your organization is already integrating AI or just beginning to assess its implications, the Workforce Summit offers practical tools, policy insights, and peer-driven strategies to help you move forward with confidence. Attendees will leave with a clearer picture of what an AI-ready workforce looks like — and a concrete path to building one.

Who Should Attend:  The Workforce Summit is designed for the transit professionals responsible for building and sustaining a capable, future-ready workforce. Industry leaders, HR and workforce development professionals, managers, and labor partners will all find relevant programming and actionable takeaways across the two-day agenda.

The Mobility Conference addresses the critical priorities and challenges facing bus and paratransit systems and explores the changing environment in which systems operate in today's mobility landscape. Participate in specialty workshops, technical tours and APTA's combined Bus Display & Products and Services Showcase.

Who should attend: bus and paratransit system employees and managers, planners, board members, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers, and consultants.