Derek Toups

Derek Toups, AICP has 25 years of experience managing complex transportation technology, payment and mobility as a service (MaaS) projects, both as a government staFer and for private industry partners.
As the Deputy Director of Planning & Innovation at Santa Cruz METRO, Derek is currently serving as Program Manager for a $220 million portfolio of operating and capital projects including one of the nation’s most ambitious zero-emission bus (ZEB) transitions, new integrated ticketing system, and multiple transit-oriented joint development projects at METRO transit centers in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, California.
Mr. Toups is past Director of Projects for Vix Americas, where he oversaw the introduction of contactless fare systems and passenger information systems valued in excess of $100 million in the mega-regions of Dallas, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona.8 
He previously served as Principal Program Manager for the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) (Clipper® card payment system and Bay Area Toll Authority), where he bore responsibility for the deployment of over $50 million in improvements supporting the region’s 22 transit operators and seven state-owned bridges.
Prior to that, Derek was a Management Consultant with Kimley-Horn and Associates, where he helped the firm establish itself as a leader in the fields of tolling, pricing and payments.
Mr. Toups also managed the nation’s first congestion pricing / high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane program, on Interstate 15, for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and was responsible for implementing that agency’s $51 million managed lanes expansion before he left for his first stint in the private sector.
Derek is a published author and active member of APTA’s Fare Collection Systems Committee, the Zero Emissions Bus Resource Alliance (ZEBRA) Hydrogen Workgroup, and the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Standing Committee on Transit User Experience (AP016). He is also a past member of the APTA Business Member Board of Governors (BMBG) and TRB Committees on Emerging and Innovative Public Transport Technologies (AP020), Congestion Pricing (ABE25) and Managed Lanes (AHB35).