The APTA Executive Committee has widened the international horizons of APTA by
approving a cooperation agreement with the International Public Transit Union,
headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
The new guidelines will allow APTA members to take part in UITP conferences and
professional meetings on the same basis as UITP members. Reciprocally, UITP members from
around the world will enjoy the same access to APTA conferences and workshops as APTA
members.
Looking toward its World Congress in Toronto next year, the UITP will be offering
reduced membership fees to future North American members until the end of 1999. The accord
was negotiated late last year between APTA President William W. Millar and UITP President
Jean-Paul Bailly, the director general of the Paris Regional Transit Authority.
Welcoming the new agreement as a major step in the promotion of APTA's international
presence and information exchange activities, Millar said the new initiatives, benefiting
all transit operators, are sure to flow from the close links between the two
organizations. "As a first step, we are looking to the creation of a Committee of the
Americas that will serve the two partner organizations, as well as APTA's other
international partner, the Canadian Urban Transport Association, as a forum for a
transatlantic dialogue on common transportation issues," he added.
Bailly, who recently assumed the UITP presidency, said the new agreement "advances
our agenda of opening up the UITP, which historically has been focused on Europe, and to
reinforce the organization's presence and reputation with major national and international
transit advocacy groups, such as APTA and CUTA."
Founded in 1895, UITP is the worldwide association of urban and regional transit
operators, their public authorities, and suppliers.
Return To International Focus
Some of these pages may include links to documents in the Adobe PDF format. Please download the Adobe PDF reader if you have not already done so.
