Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension LLC seeks a full-time Senior Transportation Professional to support the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) as part of its Transit Business, Organization, and Program Development IDIQ. This individual will provide advanced-level analytic, operational, planning, and program support across multiple MTA divisions, working under on-call Task Orders issued by the Office of Planning.

The Senior Transportation Professional will serve as a senior technical contributor, supporting transit service development, operational analysis, scheduling and mobility management, data governance, KPI-driven performance analysis, federal compliance work, real estate and benefits evaluation, and strategic workforce initiatives. This role plays a pivotal part in translating data, field insights, and policy objectives into actionable improvements that advance MTA’s operational and organizational goals.

With an estimated 3,400 hours allocated to this labor category, this position is ideally suited as a full-time, long-term role for the full 3-year contract period.

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Key Responsibilities

1. Service Development & Technical Planning

• Conduct route-level and system-wide operational analyses.
• Evaluate service reliability, headways, travel times, and productivity metrics.
• Support route optimization, ridership forecasting, and geographic analysis using GIS tools.
• Prepare technical recommendations for service changes, new routes, restructures, and performance improvements.

2. Mobility Management & Scheduling Support

• Assist with scheduling-related data collection and evaluations of run times, block structures, and operator assignments.
• Support ADA paratransit service analyses including eligibility impacts, trip patterns, performance metrics, and operational constraints.
• Conduct comparative assessments of fixed route and demand-response mobility performance.

3. Performance Measurement & KPI Development

• Support the Tangible Results Program by preparing data analyses and performance dashboards.
• Track on-time performance, service quality, labor utilization, cost metrics, and operational KPIs.
• Produce recurring reports, scorecards, and executive-level summaries.

4. Integrated Planning & Data Systems

• Assist with development of integrated planning and management data systems.
• Conduct data governance work through cleaning, validating, normalizing, and documenting data sources.
• Support integration of APC, AVL, GTFS, farebox, and scheduling data into unified analytic workflows.

5. Real Estate & Benefits Analysis

• Provide technical support to planning, real estate, and capital program teams.
• Perform benefit-cost assessments for transit improvements, including ridership impacts, accessibility improvements, TOD areas, and station-area conditions.
• Assist with project development analysis and reporting.

6. Federal Compliance Support

• Prepare and analyze data for Title VI equity analyses (service and fare).
• Support ADA service reviews, drug/alcohol compliance documentation, procurement compliance tracking, and other federal oversight processes.
• Assist with public involvement material preparation and technical summaries.

7. Organizational Development & HR Strategy Support

• Participate in efficiency studies, staffing assessments, and process improvement analysis.
• Support job task analysis, position reviews, and workforce development initiatives.
• Assist with data-driven HR decision-making related to operations divisions.

8. Task Order Management & Cross-Functional Support

• Provide technical inputs to Task Order proposals including LOE, cost estimates, and scope components.
• Support coordination across planning, operations, HR, IT, real estate, and compliance teams.
• Prepare deliverables, briefings, memos, and technical reports.

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Daily Activities

Work with schedulers, planners, and operations supervisors on cross-functional issues

Analyze transit performance data (APC, AVL, GTFS, operational logs).

Conduct field verification of service patterns and operational constraints.

Prepare charts, maps, tables, and dashboards for planning and executive audiences.

Support technical tasks for TOs under direction of a Senior Transportation Planning Manager or Transportation Manager.

Draft technical documentation and summarize complex data insights.