Seventh in a series. 

Re: “Condran Keeps a Tight Eye on Technology”

Maintaining Culver City’s by- now entrenched status as a producer of one of four Elite Fleets among America’s municipal government transportation departments, is an enormously complex task, as Paul Condran has demonstrated throughout this two-month series.

The Fleet Services Manager of Culver City’s nationally recognized Transportation Dept., devotes large chunks of time to research that keeps Culver City buses, for example, powered with the latest available technology.

Serving as national president of the Municipal Equipment Maintenance Assn. may sound less exciting than cataloguing raindrops in the Mojave Desert. But it is a vehicle for crucial research for Mr. Condran’s job.

“As president, our core team talks about not only a great many advances in technology but professionalism and education,” he said. “We bring in various vendors from the industry to talk about their products and services. We talk about where they see the industry heading.

“I stay current the best that I can,” said Mr. Condran, “by No. 1 staying on top of the MEMA organization as president, No. 2 by talking to various vendors about whether it is telematics, whether it is a different fuel source, whether it is a different technology application on a certain vehicle. Advancements in software also are huge.

An Earthquake, a Shakeup Coming

“Right now we are doing a study on autonomous vehicles. And that,” said Mr. Condran, “is not a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when.’

“These kinds of vehicles are coming, and we need to be poised, prepared for them. We need to understand the technology.

“Certain automotive manufacturers already use hybrid versions of autonomous systems.

“For example,” said Mr. Condran, “lane departure warnings, automatic braking systems, lane control distance markings. In other words, Mercedes, BMW and I think Ford offer a distance-control system where the car maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you.”