Senior Consultant

Mr. Schiavone, TRC’s Senior Consultant on Advanced Bus Technology, is a nationally recognized leader in the U.S. in the field of transit bus technical design and maintenance. Prior to joining TRC, Mr. Schiavone served for eight years as the Director of Bus Technology for the American Public Transit Association (APTA) where he provided technical support nationally to APTA’s transit members. For APTA he developed more than 25 national workshops on such topics as alternative fuels for buses and exhaust emissions reductions. At TRC he leads maintenance oversight projects for several transit agencies, and has been the lead researcher on important TRC projects.

Project Manager and Senior Engineer, Bus and Rail

Mr. Ralph Malec is a senior transit vehicle engineering and maintenance specialist. At the Chicago Transit Authority, he was Chief of Maintenance for both bus and rail car fleet maintenance programs. He implemented preventive maintenance programs, developed maintenance quality control procedures and created productivity improvement initiatives. At the CTA, Mr. Malec was responsible for procurements of more than 2000 buses and rail cars with a total cost of over $1 billion. At TRC, Mr. Malec’s experience includes performing FTA triennial audits, contract management of heavy maintenance shops, developing in-house bus overhaul programs, leading maintenance quality improvement efforts, implementing enterprise asset management systems and designing shop and garage facilities.

Senior Bus Engineer

Mr. Denman joined the staff of TRC after 21 years with Neoplan USA where he last served as Chief Engineer in charge of bus engineering and design. Dan is experienced in working on virtually every functional system used in transit bus and highway bus design. He is fully fluent in all of the major bus software design products for use in CAD design applications. He is thoroughly experienced in bus product testing, product research, and regulatory compliance on the federal and state level in the field of bus manufacturing. Dan also oversees bus maintenance audits of third party contractors that operate bus services for transit agencies.

Senior Electrical Consultant

Mr. Dowell has over 27 years of bus electrical experience. Mr. Dowell served as Senior Electrical Supervisor for 16 years at Neoplan USA, a major manufacturer of transit buses located in Lamar, Colorado. At Neoplan, Mr. Dowell managed over 40 electrical technicians installing and testing the electrical systems in new buses. Following the closure of Neoplan in 2005, Mr. Dowell served as Supervisor of Electrical Repairs at American Transit Works in Lamar, CO, where he oversaw the removal, repair, and installation of electrical systems on buses that were undergoing repairs and rehabilitation. In 2015, Mr. Dowell joined TRC Engineering Services LLC as Senior Electrical Consultant. In this capacity, he provides electrical training for transit system maintenance technicians for TRC clients.

Senior Bus Engineer

Steve Epps, Senior Bus Engineer over 25 years of experience as manager and director of heavy valuable engineering projects. In the bus engineering field, Mr. Epps was Director of the Powertrain/Body Engineering Group for Neoplan USA, a major bus builder of transit buses and highway coaches. At Neoplan, he served as the Engineering Coordinator for testing the 60 foot, articulated diesel/electric buses for MBTA’s Silver Line tunnel project. The project included extensive structural and functional testing which resulted successful delivery of the bus order. At Colorado Railcar Manufacturing Inc, Mr. Epps served as manager of Systems Integration, where he managed a group of technical experts, developed a passenger seating impact testing program, and led installation of gages for railcar stress/strain test.