Transit boss bhangra’s to YouTube fame

A delightful show of togetherness led by a Sikh executive of an American public transport organisation has turned into a popular item on video sharing website YouTube.

Harpal Kapoor, Director of Florida’s Miami-Dade Transit system, invited colleagues to join him in a jolly bhangra dancing session at a company event and started a journey on to the information super highway!

The video clip shows Mr Kapoor cajoling staff, the shy and the not-so-shy, to join him in the Punjabi folk dance – and a good time was had by all.

Mr Kapoor has nearly 30 years’ experience as a transportation professional,. He was appointed Director of Miami-Dade Transit  in June 2007.

He heads the largest transit property in Florida and the 14th largest in the United States, with a fleet of more than 1,000 buses, a 23.5-mile Metrorail system and an 8.5-mile downtown Metromover system.
He was promoted to Director  from Deputy Director of Operations, having rejoined the organisation in February 2006 after serving for six years as Assistant Manager of Bus Engineering at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Indian born, he first joined MDT in 1985 as a Rail Vehicle Electronic Technician and rose through the ranks to Assistant General Superintendent of Bus Maintenance.

At the Washington authority he was credited with enhancing the system’s performance and reliability and saving millions of dollars through improvements in efficiency.

Now as top man at Miami-Dade, he is once again charged with finding budget savings. Objectives include optimising resources through adjustments in bus routes, completing an overhaul of Metromover vehicles, improving on-time bus and rail reliability and implementing the People’s Transportation Plan – a multi-billion-dollar improvement plan funded by a voter-approved half-penny sales surtax.

Mr Kapoor is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), where he sits on committees dealing with developing brake, undercarriage and climate control standards and diesel hybrid-electric bus specifications.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kurukshetra University in India, as well as a degree in business administration.