Spika Speaker Series SpikaMfg

In this fascinating and highly informative deep dive on the topic of transit agencies adopting Zero Emission Bus fleets, Mr. David Carr, Director, Zero Emission Vehicle Program, CapMetro, in Austin, Texas, shares his perspective on the state of the industry and what it takes to navigate this generational change in bus technology and the level of preparation that it takes.



Mr. David Carr has over 20 years of experience in transit, utility, and university transportation management. Highlights of his career including deploying electric buses and infrastructure at RTC in Reno Nevada from 2014 to 2022, as well as working as an Assistant Director of Transportation at the University of Washington and Duke University. Currently Mr. Carr is the Director, Zero Emission Vehicle Program at CapMetro in Austin Texas where he leads the efforts on deploying a 100% zero emissions fleet by 2040. He graduated from Cal State LA with a degree in business administration. Mr. Carr currently serves on the ZEBRA Executive Council, and APTA Zero Emissions Fleet Committee, and has served in APTA as the Chair of the Electric Bus Subcommittee.



This program, under the Spika Speaker Series, is a presentation of The Spika Knowledge Center, created to generate greater awareness about safe and productive access at heights and cantilevers, especially in the world of manufacturing and maintenance. Learn more at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge or email us at info [at] spikamfg [dot] com.

James Hall, Principal & Founder of ZEB Tech, in conversation with Bekhi Spika, Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer, Spika Design & Manufacturing, Montana.

James is an industry-leading expert in zero-emission buses and infrastructure with over fifteen years of experience in various forms of transit and automotive applications. He is the Principal and Founder of ZEB Tech, a specialized workforce development consultancy focused on guiding transit agencies and transportation partners through their transition to a zero-emission fleet.

His career has positioned him at the forefront of significant advancements in vehicle technologies of all types including hybrid-electric systems, medium-duty railcars, and battery-electric technologies and infrastructure. During his tenure with ITLC, he led an industry-wide effort to author the Recommended Practices for Zero-Emission Bus Maintenance Training through the APTA Standards Program, development of the first publicly available BEB familiarization courseware, and expansion of available ZEB best practices and resources.

At Proterra, James led the transit industry into a new era of operating and maintaining ZEBs by building a coalition of industry experts to support continued advancements in transit technology. He assembled a team of nine training and development experts to guide transit labor and management in their transition to battery-electric fleets. His team created brand-new instructional curriculum and courseware to deliver extensive technical programs for their national and international customers.
James is a devoted advocate for workforce development in transit and actively participates in several committees within APTA and the California Transit Association, as well as serving as the vice-chair of the West Coast Center of Excellence.

The Spika Speaker Series in Spika Design & Manufacturing's Knowledge Center presents a conversation with Bryan Sooter, P.E., Director - Standards, American Public Transportation Association (APTA), in conversation with Bekhi Spika, VP and CRO, Spika Design & Manufacturing, Montana.

This wide ranging conversation on ZEB standards covers the gamut, from how standards are created in public transportation, the challenges faced by transit agencies in getting prepared for an entirely new way of operating with entirely new technology in existing, new or modified infrastructure, the kinds of areas that new standards on ZEB can be expected to encompass, to the guidance on resources available from APTA for transit agencies shifting to ZEB fleets.

Along the way, viewers will also learn the importance of treating ZEB acqusitions as complete only after a plan is in place for post-purchase opeations and maintenance, including safe and OSHA-compliant access to sensitive and expensive state of the art buses during training and maintenance of ZEB personnel, with fall protection standards commensurate with the investment made in the high-tech ZEB.

Learn more about APTA Standards at https://apta.com/standards. This session is brought to you by Spika's Knowledge Center. Watch more videos at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge.

In the third webinar in our series titled 'In Our Defense', learn from  the experience of the team at Spika Design & Manufacturing about the  versatility of work platforms and their uses in the defense industry  for safe access for personnel at varying heights and cantilevers during  the maintenance or manufacture of tactical equipment such as tanks and  tankers.   

Throughout Spika’s 20 years of experience designing and manufacturing  military maintenance stands, end users have shared their preference for  work platforms to ladders due to the significant time savings and  efficiency gains. This discussion includes deep insights on design  considerations for work platforms to not only keep personnel safe, but  also to protect sensitive equipment from damage while it is being  accessed in facilities short on space and time.    

See more designs and configurations at https://www.spikamfg.com/ or contact the Spika team at info@spikamfg.com to learn more. The audio for this podcast was extracted from the video recording of the same session that is available for viewing at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge.

The Knowledge Center at Spika Design & Manufacturing, Inc., in conjunction with OSHA’s 2021 Safe + Sound Week presents a recording of a special event on the Zero-Emission Transit Bus Technology Analysis (ZETBTA) study recently published by The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), with Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy (Here is a link to the study for your ready reference: https://www.actransit.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/EDT-060420_Report-ZETBTA.pdf). 

The featured speakers in this virtual fireside chat were:


H. E. Christian (Chris) Peeples, At-Large Director, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, and
Jimmy Chen, Ph.D., Managing Director, SECA – Stanford Energy Corporate Affiliates, Precourt Institute for Energy.

The virtual session was moderated by Spika Design & Manufacturing’s President & CEO, Katie Spika, and Vice President & Director of Sales, Bekhi Spika. The goal of this Knowledge Center event was to help the audience better understand the impacts of the study and among other things, understand how manufacturers and buyers of zero-emission mass transit buses ought to consider safety and training for the maintenance of the buses, especially with regard to safe access at heights and cantilevers. This event is a part of OSHA’s Safe + Sound Week 2021.

Time-stamped knowledge components of this presentation:


00:02:19   About AC Transit and the genesis of the ZETBTA study published in June 2021
00:04:42   Stanford University's role in the ZETBTA study
00:06:55   Fuel cell technology and how the global energy transformation impacts transportation
00:11:00   Why hydrogen fuel cell technology is not yet well known, and matters of energy storage
00:18:20   Hydrogen as a zero emission fuel - the "new diesel".
00:22:00   Price and costs of zero emission fuel and bus, pace of innovation and transition plans.
00:28:05   On AC Transit's decision to take the initiative for the ZETBTA study
00:32:37   What are you learning from the ZETBTA study?
00:33:40   Specifications of the buses in the study and understanding some of the data.
00:44:38   Other aspects that need to be understood as the ZETBTA study continues
00:46:10   AC Transit's Zero Emission University
00:48:56   Safety considerations in Zero Emission Bus technologies.
00:54:00   Why is there a straw broom behind the driver of a fuel cell bus?
00:55:00   Are maintenance costs in a Zero Emission Bus lower?
00:58:20   Infrastructure changes in the emerging field of Zero Emission transit.
01:00:01   The global spread of ZEB technologies.

For more programs like this one, please visit Spika Design & Manufacturing's Knowledge Center at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge.

This is a conversation on best practices in safety at heights and  cantilevers around sensitive equipment during fleet maintenance,  featuring MRO and Safety leaders from the City of Tallahassee's  StarMetro Transit System. This event recording is brought to you by  Spika Knowledge Center, in collaboration with the City of Tallahassee, Florida. Learn from two renowned MRO and Safety champions about how their team works around sensitive equipment in the City of Tallahassee's StarMetro Transit System. 

The featured guests, subject matter experts on safety in fleet maintenance for public transportation, are Mr. Daniel Dombrowski,  Safety Specialist, City of Tallahassee, and Mr. Michael Vaughan, Lead  Supervisor - Equipment Services, StarMetro Transit Maintenance, City of Tallahassee. The session was moderated by Spika Design &  Manufacturing President & CEO, Katie Spika, and panelists included other leaders from Spika, viz., Bekhi Spika, VP and Director of  Sales & Marketing, and Tom Spika, Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Spika Design & Manufacturing, Inc.