Senior Associate, 2007-Present
Manuel Soto has more than 12 years of experience in urban design and planning, transportation planning, and transit operations planning. His area of expertise includes BRT operational design and implementation; fixed-route network design, service performance evaluation and restructuring; and ridership forecasting, statistical analysis and GIS market research.
- Current project work includes implementing TDM strategies for reducing vehicle trips to Microsoft Corporation's Campus in Redmond, Washington; transit service restructuring alternatives for downtown Seattle, and developing transit feeder networks for evaluation of high capacity transit corridors in Vancouver, Washington.
Previouse Experience
Transportation Management and Design, Inc.
Senior Associate, 2001-2003, Senior Manager 2003-2006
- Project experience is grouped in three major categories: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and shuttle service operational design, Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) and transit development plans, and transit market research and GIS analysis.
- BRT project experience includes work for the Los Angeles County Metro in the development of its Metro Rapid Bus master plan encompassing 28 bus corridors in the metropolitan area, the operational design and implementation of Metro Rapid Bus lines in the plan, a mid-term performance review of the five-year Metro Rapid Bus implementation program, and specific service operations performance, reliability, and operations management analyses on the Wilshire MRB corridor.
- Shuttle service design experience includes work for the Warner Center TMO in the design of ancillary shuttle service for the Orange BRT Line, work for the Chicago Transit Authority in the evaluation and design of its Chicago Central Area shuttle service plan, and work for the City of Los Angeles in the needs assessment study and performance evaluation of its Community DASH service program.
- COA work and Transit Development Plan experience includes the Countywide Network Master Plan for Los Angeles Metro, the Comprehensive Bus Restructuring Study for the Maryland MTA in Baltimore, the Comprehensive Operational Analysis for the Santa Clara VTA, Long Beach Transit, Torrance Transit, and the Short Range Transit Plan and COA for Omnitrans in San Bernardino, California.
Special Reader, 2000-2001
- Assistant Teacher for Masters in Urban Planning courses on GIS mapping and analysis, and statistical and financial analysis.
Student Intern (July 2000 – October 2000)
- Fieldwork, database construction, and GIS analysis for the City of Vernon in its Freight-Truck Parking, Loading Zones, and Automobile Parking Requirements Study.
SUROESTA Consultores, Santiago, Chile
Urban Planning Team Manager, 1996-1999
- Worked on interdisciplinary transportation planning projects – for mid-size Chilean cities, evaluating urban form, land use development trends and travel demand needs, and recommending new transportation infrastructure projects. Worked in city planning and real state research; developed urban form and land use forecasting methodologies; conducted qualitative & quantitative data analyses of urban space.
- Project work included:
- Diagnosis of urban transportation systems and infrastructure investment in mid-sized Chilean cities, including: Temuco, Chillán, Antofagasta, La Serena and Coquimbo.
- Preliminary engineering and urban design for the Intermediate Ring Transit Expressway, which traversed 13 cities within Metropolitan Santiago and planned for intermodal connections & stations with the Metro subway network.
- Vehicular access improvement design for the maritime port of Coronel.
- Transit Mall improvement project in downtown Iquique.
- Zoning plan for the City of Puente Alto, Santiago's largest suburb with 500,000 residents and projected population of 1 million residents in year 2020.
- Economic impact study of eminent domain takings along the structuring street network planned under the Metropolitan Santiago General Plan (including extensive GIS spatial analysis and assessment of land use values).
Senior Associate, 1993-1996
- Worked in architectural design, master planning and urban design for lakeshore and seaside tourist resort projects. Conducted real estate research, developed zoning plans and urban design guidelines for new residential developments in Santiago.
Membership and Awards
- American Planning Association member since 2006
- UCLA Urban Planning Department Fellowship 2000-2001
- UCLA Urban Planning Department Award for outstanding teaching assistantship 2001
