A native of Chautauqua County in Western NY, Pete grew up with a background in motor truck operations and training, and earned an AAS Degree in Transportation & Traffic Management from UB. He established Chautauqua Transportation Services, Inc. (CTS) in 1989 to provide various training and consulting services, for the component school districts of two BOCES Districts in the WNY area.
Prior to that he was a school bus driver for many years and had been involved in SBD training since the early 1970’s, and has been an active participant in the State Education Department’s Certified Instructor and Master Instructor programs and DMV’s Certified Examiner program since their inception.
In addition to presenter/speaker, he has served in many capacities as a representative of the bus industry at the local, state and national levels. Since leaving position of Transportation Director for the former Chautauqua Central School District in 1996, CTS has been a full time focus to provide support services for various transportation providers throughout NYS and beyond.
CTS provides a forum where several other certified Instructors and Examiners can be involved at a level of participation comfortable to their other employment responsibilities, and provides the office support to facilitate their involvement in our programs and services. This Valuable Team of CE and SBDI allows our Client Fleets to benefit from a broader range of backgrounds, experience, and expertise.
We recognize the importance of, and the extreme responsibility we share for, good transportation service– especially the transport of passengers. Every carrier’s operation needs to be safe, efficient and compliant. Our goal is to provide programs and services that will enhance the already good transportation services being provided, and/or assist with areas that may need improvement, by providing alternative resources for carriers whose compliance or quality of service is affected by limited staffing levels, preferences, limited expertise or certification of current staff, interim or transitional periods of their transportation management efforts, or who prefer an outside provider.
In 2019 the CTS Board of Directors was expanded to include: Anndrea Dunnewold, CE, SBDI, Office & Compliance Coordinator; Jay Ballard, CE, SBDI, MI; Judy Kahn, CE, SBDI; in addition to Pete James, CE, SBDI, MI.