Before July 1 start date, the international firm had already hired a general manager and recruited driver candidates to help ease a shortage
PITTSFIELD— The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA) recently announced it has hired Keolis Berkshire Transit Services, an international firm with a strong presence in Massachusetts, to manage its transportation services. Even before the July 1 start, the new firm had hired a general manager with over 15 years’ experience and recruited four driver candidates currently in certification class.
The move comes in a year when BRTA expects to see it highest ridership ever at over 700,000 by the end of this fiscal year, which ended June 30.
Keolis provides public transit services—including bus, rail, microtransit and paratransit—across the country, and its North American sector is headquartered in Boston. The addition of BRTA to its portfolio has the firm serving 203 cities and towns in Massachusetts; BRTA is the first transit authority Keolis has contracted with in Western Massachusetts.
Engaged in a three-year contract, the firm will provide transportation operations services in every facet of the BRTA operation. In the short term, Keolis will focus on more on-time service and consistency and help solve the common challenges in rural transit.
As an example of its capacity, before the transition, Keolis led two job fairs in Lenox seeking drivers, proactively recruiting to solve a driver shortage and bringing in four candidates to be trained. Now, the firm will engage in a comprehensive recruitment campaign, advertising through the Keolis careers page; on platforms such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter and Facebook; and with boots on the ground in the 30 Berkshire communities.
In coming years, Keolis will work closely with BRTA administration to provide new intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and introduce new services such as microtransit.
Keolis replaces Transdev, which served the BRTA for 20 years.
“We’re excited to have this transition, and it’s providing a better work environment for employees already,” said Kathleen Lambert, administrator of the BRTA. “We are building a new culture here, and I feel very positive about it.”
She added, “They’ve hired us an extremely strong general manager with a depth of experience we haven’t had here for a long time. We will do a lot of great work together over the next several years. Keolis will really help strengthen what the future looks like and ensure we provide the highest quality services possible to Berkshire residents.”
The search
BRTA began searching for a transit management company in January. Its request for proposals outlined key areas in which the organization sought change and enhancements and brought responses from five firms, including Transdev and Keolis. Four of the companies were interviewed by a committee that included Lambert and the BRTA board chair and CFO.
Keolis rose to the top as Lambert said it was clear Keolis had specialists who could engage with employees, improve service and help oversee the retraining of staff and operators, and bring in new technology for dispatching, scheduling and payroll.
“There are many people with a strong breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise under the Keolis umbrella. They will streamline processes and create opportunities for improvement and growth,” she added.
A new structure
Key in the contract terms was the hiring of BRTA General Manager Mark Moujabber, an employee of Keolis, who is skilled in optimizing logistics, streamlining operations and leveraging technology to ensure seamless service delivery.
Moujabber, who will move to Pittsfield with his wife, will oversee daily BRTA operations, and serve as the liaison between Lambert and the larger Keolis support system.
Jacob Fritz, Keolis’ corporate director, explained that Moujabber will oversee a new sub corporation specific to BRTA called Keolis Berkshire Transit Services, and all transit employees of will be folded under that umbrella.
“We’re responsible for the day-to-day initiatives, service improvements, collaborating with Kathleen, weekly meetings, reporting on incidents and accidents, also future plans and initiatives, working closely on those as well as the immediate or long-term,” Moujabber said.
He added, “One of my mantras is, ‘We’re not in the transportation business. We’re in the safety and customer service business.’”
This is why refresher trainings, safety messaging and new uniforms for drivers will be among the changes that employees and riders will see soon.
Lambert said, “If an emergency happens on the bus, the passenger needs to know who to rely on. Uniform help passengers clearly recognize the person in charge.”
Fritz said, “Passengers will also see an improvement in services, reliability and fewer cancellations—with the goal of zero—as we hire more and more operators.”
For more information on Keolis, visit keolisna.com.
# # #