A recent safety competition brought Keolis teams together across the U.S. to improve safety and maintenance performance, share best practices, and celebrate progress.
Safety and reliability are at the core of Keolis operations. To reinforce that commitment, the company launched an internal competition encouraging teams across locations to strengthen safety practices and focus on continuous improvement.
The friendly internal competition challenged operations and maintenance teams to review safety data, strengthen training, and engage employees in identifying opportunities to reduce risk. By tracking performance over time, teams were able to measure their progress while learning from one another.
For Keolis General Manager Billy Wingfield, the competition helped motivate employees at OmniRide in Northern Virginia by making performance visible.
“The competition gave us a chance to see the scoreboard across each location. Once the workforce can visualize where they stand in comparison, it creates motivation,” said Wingfield. “Our goal is to be one of the top-performing locations in Keolis, and that focus helps the whole team stay committed to the process of improving safety every day.”
Wingfield said leadership’s attention to the key performance metrics reinforced the importance of safety across the organization. “When our team understood executive leadership was paying close attention to the results, it reinforced the importance of continuous safety improvement. That level of visibility helped everyone stay focused on doing the right things every day.”
The friendly competition also energized employees at Loudoun Transit in Virginia, according to Keolis General Manager Jonathan Javier.
“The competition reminded me of the NBA tournaments — it sparked initiative across our managers and meant a lot to compete against other locations,” Javier said. “It also brought our teams together across departments. Seeing maintenance, operations and safety working toward one common goal really strengthened our safety culture.”
For Javier’s staff, the competition created a strong sense of pride and determination.
“Winning the competition meant a lot to our team,” added Javier. “There was a real sense of pride in going after that championship trophy at the end of the year. It took a lot of effort to win it, so that’s how we tackled it — almost like NBA players in playoff mode. Like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron, our goal is to come back and repeat as champions.”
Leaders also emphasized that strong safety performance is essential to reliable transit services. Keolis Vice President and General Manager Paul D’Alessio, who oversees operations for Valley Metro in Phoenix, said the competition reinforced accountability across teams.
“The safety competition adds a fun, competitive element, but it reinforces something important — safety must always stay top of mind,” said D’Alessio. “We have an obligation to keep our people safe and lead by example, while giving teams a chance to measure their progress and see how much they’ve improved.”
D’Alessio noted that safety improvements also benefit passengers and service reliability. “When accidents happen, it can take a bus out of service and pull maintenance teams away to address the damage. That means operators are delayed and ultimately it impacts the service we provide to our customers.”
Creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up is another key part of strengthening safety culture, said Keolis Vice President and General Manager Duane Eskierka, who leads operations for CapMetro in Austin, Texas.
“We spend a lot of time meeting and collaborating with employees, so they feel confident their concerns are heard and addressed,” said Eskierka. “When people feel comfortable speaking up, it strengthens the entire safety culture.”
Eskierka added that maintenance teams also play a critical role in ensuring safe operations.
“It’s our responsibility in maintenance to make sure operators have safe equipment to work with,” he said. “When vehicles are properly inspected and maintained, it helps reduce risk and keeps everyone safer on the road.”
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Keolis General Manager Michael Romeo said the competition helped reinforce safety practices inside the maintenance shop at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport operation.
“From the maintenance side, our focus was making sure the shop stayed safe — preventing slips, trips and falls, ensuring equipment was stored properly and that our technicians had a safe, compliant work environment,” said Romeo. “We also conduct a Gemba walk through the shop every week — a documented walkthrough where we check for hazards and make sure everything is up to standard.”
Romeo said technology also plays an important role in strengthening safety performance.
“For us, strengthening our safety culture meant making sure our DriveCam cameras were working properly and collecting the data we need to correct unsafe driving habits,” Romeo added. “That helps ensure our buses are safe for passengers and meet the safety standards required by our client.”
Maintenance teams across the organization are also focused on improving safety inside their facilities. Keolis Assistant Maintenance Manager Shad Breckel, who works at RTC Washoe in Reno, Nevada, said his employees addressed challenges related to operating in a tight parking facility.
“We have a very tight facility with a large parking garage, so there are a lot of opportunities for scrapes and bumps when buses are moving around the yard,” said Breckel. “We’ve put a lot of focus on training drivers and utility workers to navigate those tight spaces safely.”
Breckel said the maintenance team also relied on Keolis’ maintenance program to sustain improvements.
“KIHM stands for Keolis Industrialized and Harmonized Maintenance, and safety is a big part of that program,” Breckel added. “It focuses on cleanliness and organization in the shop, so everything has a designated place. When tools and equipment are properly stored, it helps us prevent hazards and creates a safer work environment.”
Employee engagement remains the foundation of strong safety performance, according to Keolis General Manager Willie Perez, who leads the operation at the Victor Valley Transit Authority facility in Hesperia, California.
“We discuss all the feedback we’re getting from employee town hall and stand-up meetings, as well as the comment boxes,” said Perez. “We provide answers back to the staff, so they feel engaged in what we’re doing and know they’re making a difference.”
Perez said maintaining a strong safety culture requires constant attention to the small details.
“The goal is always to be at zero, although that’s extremely hard with the number of employees and drivers we have,” Perez said. “I have about 330 employees, so that’s 330 opportunities every day to make sure we’re doing our job right and protecting our drivers.”
Perez is looking forward to celebrating the progress they’ve made on March 18, which happens to be National Transit Employee Appreciation Day. “For me, it’s all about employee engagement and morale — letting our team know their hard work wasn’t for nothing.”