July-August 2022 - 38

Sapna Shah, P.E.
Superintendent
MTA New York
City Transit (NYCT)
Sapna Shah, P.E., is a certified Lean Six
Sigma Black Belt with 15 years of experience
in enterprise asset management, reliability
engineering and project management.
She leads the asset management program
for buses at MTA NYCT and delivers on the
program's asset management roadmap.
Shah is credited with pioneering the Bus Asset
Condition Assessment Program to understand
operational risk, improve safety, reliability and
customer satisfaction and meet the FTA Transit
Asset Management Plan guidelines. She created
the Lifecycle Cost and Reliability Model
for buses to prioritize investment decisions
and is now working on bringing prognostic
maintenance and asset life prediction to the
department of buses. She completed a twoyear
pilot to prove the value of prognostic
maintenance using machine learning layered
on top of telematics data to reduce in-service
breakdowns and the cost of maintenance.
Shah's interest in improving legacy maintenance
practices has led her to use data
analysis and process improvement to optimize
major maintenance strategies that
have reduced waste and improved effectiveness.
She is leading the transition to a new
enterprise asset management system and is
applying her skills to zero-emission buses
and infrastructure to create a maintenance
Communicate results, whether
good or bad, to enable
your team and gain the
support of stakeholders.
program to support a successful transition
to a full zero-emission fleet by 2040.
Shah facilitates reliability studies and training at
MTA to ensure the workforce is equipped with
the tools to follow in this asset management
journey. She seeks to increase her knowledge
and abilities by participating in industry
networks and grows the asset management
knowledgebase by presenting her work at
conferences and meeting with peer agencies.
She co-founded the employee resource group,
Empowering Women in Transportation, to
increase awareness of the gender gap, amplify
the voices of women and provide support and
tools for upward mobility. She also mentors
New York City high school students in underserved
areas through the non-profit Global
Kids to empower the leaders of tomorrow.
Fast Fact: Shah co-founded the employee
resource group, Empowering Women in Transportation,
to increase diversity, inclusion and
representation in the transit industry.
MassTransitmag.com/21276485
Roman P.
Steichen
Director of
Transit Services
Frederick County
As the director of transit services of
Frederick County, Md., Roman Steichen
oversees the delivery of transit services
countywide. Steichen's transit career began
in 2004 as a driver for Shuttle-UM, where he
rose through dispatch and daily operations
supervision, spending six years as senior
transit operations supervisor. From 20112012,
Steichen served as a part-time driver
for Frederick TransIT. In fall 2012, he joined
Johns Hopkins University as transportation
manager, where he was responsible for all
Hopkins-sponsored passenger transportation,
overseeing a partnership with Lyft to
supplement the on-demand night ride service
and doubling ridership in two years.
Steichen returned to Frederick TransIT in
spring 2018 to serve as the deputy director,
moving into the director role in February 2020.
Steichen began an internal program that not
only solicited feedback from staff, but also
circled back and described if and how the
feedback would be implemented. He created
an open-door policy for staff, and posted
route-specific questions, soliciting insight
from drivers weekly. The organizational culture
changed dramatically due to Steichen's willingness
to engage directly with staff, empowering
them to identify and address issues.
During the pandemic, which began impacting
operations one week into Steichen's role as
38 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JULY/AUGUST 2022
Through experience and repetition,
you can learn how to do just about
anything, but focusing on the
day-to-day tasks is important.
director, he implemented a hazard pay differential
for drivers, as well as recruitment and
referral bonuses. He also changed the way that
TransIT works alongside other organizations.
TransIT drivers identified food insecurity in
riders. Working collaboratively with the local
Meals on Wheels and the Senior Services
Division, TransIT reassigned a team of drivers
and activated transit vehicles to assist with
food distribution. TransIT also partnered with
the health department to create a mobile
vaccination clinic, where several hundred
people were vaccinated on the " vax bus. "
Steichen was recognized as one of
Frederick County Office of Economic
Development's Top 50 Under 40 in
2021. He also convenes the county's
Transportation Services Advisory Council.
Fast Fact: Steichen and his team received the
COVID-19 Above and Beyond Award from
the Transportation Association of Maryland in
mid-2021, where he was later elected to the
organization's board of directors.
MassTransitmag.com/21276476
http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21276485 http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21276476 http://www.MassTransitmag.com
July-August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July-August 2022
