News
NTI Leads Inaugural Delivery of BEB Familiarization Course
Posted July 2024
Instructors Frank Burnett and Brian Markey led the first official delivery of the National Transit Institute (NTI) and TWC’s Battery Electric Bus (BEB) Familiarization Course at the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority’s (PSTA) Bus Maintenance Facility. PSTA served as the host agency for ten participants, including their own mechanics and others from various locations across the country: Broward County Transit, StarMetro, and Pittsburgh Regional Transit. After an overview of the purpose behind the collaborative efforts of FTA, TWC, and NTI, FTA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation Molly King voiced FTA's support in upskilling the frontline workforce for the upcoming electric vehicle fleet transitions that many agencies will experience.
Throughout the course’s two days, Frank and Brian led participants in both standard classroom lectures and learning exercises, while incorporating interactive activities, including a walkthrough of BEB and major high voltage components in the shop, demonstrations of Lock-Out Tag-Out (LOTO), personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines, a walkthrough of a charging station, and port and plug-in procedure. Molly, NTI’s Executive Director Billy Terry, and TWC’s Instructional Designer Brandon Liu acted as observers during the delivery process. PSTA’s Director of Maintenance Henry Lukasik and Deputy Director of Maintenance Joe Cheney acted as representatives, helping coordinate the procurement of the shop, bus, materials, and classroom.
Overall feedback on the course was very positive, with NTI continuing to select and plan additional host agency deliveries in the upcoming months. Any locations interested in hosting the course should contact Brandon Liu at bliu@transportcenter.org.
