About Us
An employee-owned company built on APC.
UTA's President/CEO and Chief Technical Officer own approximately 90% of UTA stock, with the remaining 10% owned by retired long-time employees — an ownership structure that gives UTA exceptional freedom to prioritize APC data quality over outside investor pressure.
01 / Our history
Four decades on a single problem.
UTA was founded in 1981. The APC system was originally developed at General Motors' Transportation Systems Division (GM TSD) between 1976 and 1981. When GM disbanded the division, the APC subsystem was sold to the newly formed Urban Transportation Associates, Inc.
UTA specializes in APC systems, automated data collection, and analysis tools. Our longevity assures clients that a UTA APC system will operate successfully for a minimum of ten years — many agencies have run UTA's APC system for 15–20 years.
- 1976 – 1981
Developed at GM TSD
The APC system originates inside General Motors' Transportation Systems Division.
- 1981
UTA is founded
GM disbands the division; the APC subsystem is sold to the newly formed Urban Transportation Associates, Inc.
- Four decades on
200+ agency implementations
UTA has prospered as an APC systems provider for more than four decades in the ITS marketplace.
- Today
Still employee-owned
90% held by the President/CEO and CTO, 10% by retired long-time employees.
02 / Leadership
The UTA team
Fifteen engineers, 225+ cumulative years of direct APC system experience, 13 advanced technical degrees.
Thomas W. Kowalski
President & CEO / Project Manager
More than 35 years implementing APC systems for public transit. B.S. Industrial Engineering, M.B.A., and M.A. Community Planning; former Adjunct Instructor of Operations Planning in Public Administration at the University of Cincinnati. Project manager on APC implementations including Miami-DTPW, Denver RTD, Utah Transit, Bridgeport GBT, Columbia COMET and Charleston CARTA.
David Bosshammer
Chief Technical Officer
With UTA since 1995 and involved in more than 150 APC projects. B.S. Physics and M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering. Built UTA's SAE J1708/J1587, GPS and wireless download interfaces along with the interfaces to major transit scheduling systems, and wrote many of the algorithms in UTA's APC software. Recent work: Miami-DTPW BRT, Westchester County WCDOT, San Diego MTS.
Nick Fischer
Senior Software Engineer
On UTA's software engineering team since 2007. Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Political Science and a master's in City and Regional Planning. Sets up and adapts UTA's web-based reporting for each agency. Recent work: San Diego MTS, Norfolk HRT, Miami-DTPW, Sacramento SacRT, Sonoma SMART rail and Detroit SMART.
David Vanderputten
Director of Engineering
With UTA since 2001. B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Wright State University. Primary engineer for test and evaluation of the Hella/Xovis APC sensor, with extensive experience installing APC equipment on both buses and rail cars, and supervises UTA installations. Recent work: Utah Transit rail, Transit Windsor, Broward County BCT, Marin Transit and Sonoma SMART rail.
Kevin Moore
Senior Software Engineer
With UTA since 1999. B.S. Civil Engineering (Northwestern University) and M.Arch (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Serves as a principal APC software engineer setting up UTA's reporting package and supporting on-site training. Recent work: Boston MBTA, Westchester County WCDOT, Cape Cod CCRTA, Buffalo NFTA and Providence RIPTA.
Sandesh Samdaria
Senior Project Manager
Joined UTA as a student intern in 1999 and full-time in 2001. Undergraduate degree in Architecture (India) and master's degrees in Community Planning (University of Cincinnati) and Housing and Urban Development (the Netherlands). Recent work: CapMetro Austin, DART Dallas, DTC Delaware and OTS Honolulu.
Independent by design
No outside investors. No roadmap written by someone else.
UTA's President/CEO and Chief Technical Officer own approximately 90% of UTA stock, with the other 10% owned by retired long-time employees — freedom and flexibility that isn't available to firms backed by outside private equity.
Cincinnati, Ohio — employee-owned since 1981
Employee owned
UTA's President/CEO and Chief Technical Officer own approximately 90% of UTA stock, with the other 10% owned by retired long-time employees — freedom and flexibility that isn't available to firms backed by outside private equity.
Cumulative experience
UTA's engineering staff of fifteen bring more than 225 cumulative years of direct APC system experience, holding 13 advanced (Master's or higher) technical degrees between them.
Want to work with us?
Reach out and a member of our engineering team will follow up.