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five questions and other stakeholders to ensure a project is providing value to the entire community. Omnitrans' ridership continues to grow. Can you please talk about some of the important factors behind that growth? We are happy to report that Omni- trans is ahead of the national trend for ridership growth. For our fiscal year 2011-12 we were 7.4% above of the pre- vious year. We surpassed 16 million for the fi rst time in eight years. A key growth factor is the 'Go Smart' college program that provides unlimit- ed bus rides to students at participating colleges. A one-year pilot program gen- erated over 1.4 million trips from stu- dents, as over 25% of enrolled students hopped on board. Three community colleges approved student fees to con- tinue the program for fi ve years. A trade school also joined the program. Other growth segments included our OmniGo community shuttle routes, which surged 34 percent year over year. Our freeway express route posted a 17 percent gain. Needless to say we are looking at opportunities to expand both local circulators and express ser- vice in the future. Aside from your work at Omnitrans, you are also involved with Leadership APTA and Toastmasters. How impor- tant do you fi nd it to stay involved both in your immediate community and the broader transportation community? I have always been an advocate for development. The more we know, the better we can be at our jobs and at making decisions. In 2007 while work- ing at WMATA, John Catoe asked me to be part of a panel for the Leadership APTA class. I loved it and decided to get involved in developing the future leaders of the industry. For the past two years, I have been part of the com- mittee and really enjoyed spending time with these bright minds. As for Toastmasters, when I first came to Omnitrans one of my board members suggested I check them out. I did and really enjoyed the easy, non- threatening manner in which one learns to be a better speaker, listener and leader. Being the advocate for de- velopment that I am, and with the help of my Director of Planning Ro- han Kuruppu, we decided to start a Toastmasters Club exclusive to Omni- trans. It has been very successful, and we even received a top award from Toastmasters International, but most importantly, we have helped and con- tinue to help our people gain many skills that will help them in their per- sonal as well as their professional life. better 18 < mETRO mAGAZINE SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012 metro-magazine.com