About UTA
An employee-owned company built on APC.
UTA has worked on one problem since 1981: counting transit passengers accurately, and turning those counts into data an agency can use. The engineers who design the UTA APC system also install it, process its data and support it.
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, and many agencies have run UTA's APC system for 15–20 years.
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1976 – 1981
Developed at GM TSD
The APC system originates inside General Motors' Transportation Systems Division.
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1981
UTA is founded
GM disbands the division; the APC subsystem is sold to the newly formed Urban Transportation Associates, Inc.
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Four decades on
200+ agency implementations
UTA has prospered as an APC systems provider for more than four decades in the ITS marketplace.
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Today
Still employee-owned
90% held by the President/CEO and CTO, 10% by retired long-time employees.
02 / Team record
Background and recent work.
Thomas W. Kowalski
President & CEO- At UTA from its founding
B.S. Industrial Engineering, M.B.A., M.A. Community Planning. Former Adjunct Instructor of Operations Planning, University of Cincinnati.
Miami-DTPW, Denver RTD, Utah Transit, Bridgeport GBT, Columbia COMET, Charleston CARTA
David Bosshammer
Chief Technical Officer- 150+ APC projects
- Wrote many of UTA's APC processing algorithms
B.S. Physics, M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Miami-DTPW BRT, Westchester County WCDOT, San Diego MTS
Nick Fischer
Senior Software Engineer- Sets up and adapts each agency's web reporting
Bachelor's in Sociology and Political Science; master's in City and Regional Planning.
San Diego MTS, Norfolk HRT, Miami-DTPW, Sacramento SacRT, Sonoma SMART rail, Detroit SMART
David Vanderputten
Director of Engineering- Leads sensor test and evaluation
- Supervises UTA installs on bus and rail
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Wright State University.
Utah Transit rail, Transit Windsor, Broward County BCT, Marin Transit, Sonoma SMART rail
Kevin Moore
Senior Software Engineer- MIT-trained architect turned APC software engineer
- Sets up the reporting agencies log into, then trains their staff on site
B.S. Civil Engineering (Northwestern University), M.Arch (MIT).
Boston MBTA, Westchester County WCDOT, Cape Cod CCRTA, Buffalo NFTA, Providence RIPTA
Sandesh Samdaria
Senior Project Manager- Student intern in 1999, Senior Project Manager today
- Heads up many of UTA's largest customer accounts
Architecture (India); master's degrees in Community Planning (University of Cincinnati) and Housing and Urban Development (the Netherlands).
CapMetro Austin, DART Dallas, DTC Delaware, OTS Honolulu
Six of UTA's fifteen engineers are shown. Each bar runs from the year the person joined UTA to today.
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. That gives UTA a freedom and flexibility that firms backed by outside private equity don't have.
Cincinnati, Ohio · employee-owned since 1981
Decisions made by engineers
There is no venture capital, no private-equity owner, and no acquisition roadmap. Decisions about the system are made by the engineers who build and support it, so UTA can fix a problem, or build what a client needs, without a revenue target attached to the answer.
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.