Acting Manager, Transit Development, Waterloo (Region of) – Grand River Transit
Mr. Allen brings 35 years of experience in the transportation planning field with Grand River Transit and Kitchener Transit. He was recently appointed as the Manager of Transit Development for GRT. With a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and a master’s degree in civil engineering (transport) from the University of Waterloo, he has worked on numerous service planning and policy projects.
Over the years, he has been involved in a wide range of projects including on-street infrastructure, restructuring of the transit network as part of the introduction of LRT service, and policy work such as the development of several business plans. He also implemented new projects such as community buses and the first rural services for Kitchener Transit & GRT and is overseeing a recently launched pilot on-demand service to another rural township.
In the mid-2000’s, he spearheaded GRT’s implementation of a new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) incorporating systems such as automatic vehicle location, real time passenger information and trip planning. Building on his planning and transit technology background, he has used his knowledge from that perspective to assist in the development of a green energy zero emission bus strategy for GRT. This culminated in a pilot project that is underway to procure battery electric buses and the related infrastructure.