SANTA BARBARA, CA (28 August, 2006)

Foothill Transit won “First Place” in the annual “Ad Wheel Awards” held by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for their new passenger information product, the “El Monte Spider Map” designed by Santa Barbara company, CHK America.

Each year, APTA members submit their very best advertising, marketing, promotional, and communications materials in the media categories of print, electronic, campaigns and special events to the Ad Wheel Awards competition. The best of the best are selected by a panel of independent judges and winners were announced at APTA’s Annual Meeting in San Jose in October.

APTA’s Awards Program recognizes excellence in the public transportation industry. In addition to the well-known Hall of Fame award, the program recognizes—in the individual category—an outstanding transit manager, transit board member, business member, an elected or appointed official, and a decision maker or private citizen advancing transit at the state and local level.

The APTA Awards Committee selects winning transit agencies in four basic categories divided by annual ridership: agencies providing fewer than 1 million passenger trips, agencies providing more than 1 million trips, agencies providing more than 4 million trips, and agencies providing 30 million or more trips.

“Communicating transit information with simplicity and clarity to a multi-lingual customer-base is a high priority for Foothill Transit,” said Doran Barnes, Executive Director of Foothill Transit. “The outcome of our work with CHK was a straightforward and award-winning map for one of our busiest hubs. It’s satisfying to see it so well received by both the public and the transit industry.”

“It was a pleasure working with Foothill to develop this innovative passenger information product,” comments Rick Wood, President, CHK America. “El Monte is an extremely busy transportation hub. Foothill Transit felt it was important to provide their riders with a decision making tool to assist them with making the correct travel choices. The Spider map does just that.”