Executive Director’s Report

Danielle Schmitz was selected as Executive Director of the Napa Valley Transportation Authority in 2025, following a 17-year career with the agency, most recently as the Deputy Executive Director. A Napa native and graduate of Napa High School and UCLA, Schmitz has led many of NVTA’s major projects and initiatives, including Soscol Junction and the Measure U sales tax renewal. She lives in Napa with her husband and three young children.

Also see Beyond the Agenda, a bi-monthly newsletter to the Board of Directors. 

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October 2026

• In September, Deputy Executive Director of Administration, Finance and Policy Antonio Onorato and I traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with legislative and committee staff regarding two grant requests: the Safe Streets for All Grant for SR 29 American Canyon multimodal improvements and the Bus and Bus Facilities Grant. We met with our California legislators, as well as House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee staff and Department of Transportation staff, to discuss our projects and upcoming transportation priorities.
• Earlier this month, Director of Transit Rebecca Schenck, Deputy Executive Director Onorato and I attended the American Public Transportation Association Expo in Chicago. We met with many of our vendors, including passenger counter and CAD/AVL equipment providers, as well as several bus manufacturers. We learned about new transit technologies and made new connections in the transit industry. It was a great learning opportunity for staff.
• October 7 was Walk and Roll to School Day, and the Napa County Bicycle Coalition reported that 29 schools participated, with a record 2,420 students walking, biking or rolling to school. The next big events are BikeFest and Bike to Wherever Day in May 2027, which is nationally recognized as Bike Month. NVTA is a longtime sponsor of Bike Month in Napa County.
  
• September was Transit Month, and one of Vine Transit’s fun promotions was the “Show Your Driver Some Love” campaign, which invited riders to share kind words about their favorite drivers. I am happy to announce that Humberto Piquard was named Vine’s favorite driver, receiving the most nominations from riders. Humberto has been a safe driver with Transdev since 2022. He most frequently drives Routes 10 and 29, serving commuting passengers. He consistently goes above and beyond for Vine by taking on extra work and helping with special events such as BottleRock. He is known among fellow drivers and passengers for his positive attitude, cheerful personality and willingness to assist passengers, especially those who speak Spanish. Thank you, Humberto, for your excellent customer service and for representing Vine Transit so well. We truly appreciate all you do!

September 2026

• Happy Transit Month – September is Transit Month and the NVTA Team is hosting multiple transit promotions, including pop-ups at bus stops – the Napa High one was very popular last week, a group travel training, a DJ in the Bus Bay and a treasure hunt. We encourage the Board to join the movement and try transit this month.
• The new CAD/AVL system the Board approved earlier this year has begun installment in all the fixed route vehicles. It will take about 30 days to be fully installed.
• In July and August, NVTA underwent two large Federal Transit Administration reviews: a Drug and Alcohol audit and the FTA Triennial Review, which wrapped up in August. We are awaiting the draft report later this month. Kudos to Rebecca Schenck and Tony Onorato for all their efforts in responding and working with the auditors, it is a very large lift and the early report from the triennial review is that it will be a very clean audit with minimal corrective actions.
• I was elected by my peers to serve on the Small Transit Operators Committee for the California Transit Administration.
• I was also selected by the state to sit on the California Transit Advisory Committee, which is a new statewide committee established by Caltrans that brings together transit professional and regional representatives statewide to guide Caltrans’ transit policies and programs to improve transit infrastructure on the State Highway system. Both terms are for two years.
• The Napa Countywide Transportation Plan – Intersections 2050 has been released for public comment, comments are due back to NVTA by Friday, October 9. I want to thank planning staff Diana Meehan, Addrell Coleman, and Patrick Band on all their efforts to get this document to the draft stage. The final Plan is expected to go before the NVTA Board for approval in November.

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  Finally, I am happy to announce Antonio Onorato has been promoted to Deputy Executive Director of Administration, Finance, and Policy. Tony has been with the agency since 2008 and has been instrumental in so much of the agency’s success from securing the TIFIA loan to the completion of the bus maintenance facility, the Measure U renewal and our clean financial and performance audit history.  In this new position Tony will oversee the general Administrative, and Policy and Legislative functions of the agency while maintaining his director of finance functions.

  August 2026 – No Board of Directors Meeting. 

July 2026

• This morning transit staff partnered with the Napa Senior Center and conducted a Transit Ambassador Training and took 22 seniors on the Route C around town showing them how to use the bus; we have also been conducting pop-ups at bus stops to show riders how to use the new Ride The Vine App.
• I attended the SR 37 Fairgrounds interchange ribbon cutting last week, which is the first SR 37 project to receive funding from the Resilient 37 group. It is the interchange at SR 37 and Fairground in Vallejo near Six Flags and it is a unique configuration a Diverging Diamond, the second in the State.  It is similar to the Displaced Left intersection that we are considering at Airport and 29 because of the contra-flow movement so I encourage you to drive through it and check it out.
• NVTA held a Measure U bonding working group meeting yesterday with all jurisdictions in attendance. This was a technical working group to really begin the process of issuing a bond in 2028.
• Some good news on the Measure U front – the April Measure U receipts significantly outperformed expectations, coming in at $2,309,728 compared to our forecasted $2,000,000, a 15% increase. If this momentum continues through the remainder of the fiscal year, we’re in great shape to close out the year with over $25 million in revenues.
• Lastly, you will notice the Beyond the Agenda newsletter detailing what has been going on with NVTA over the past few months. We plan on providing this bimonthly, every other month so Board members have a snapshot of what is going on with different projects and programs of the Agency.  Thank you to Emily Charrier for the design and pulling the publication together.

June 2026

May 2026

• May has been a busy outreach month with Bike Month – thank you to Directors Manfree, Alessio and Sedgley for stopping by the NVTA Bikefest booth. NVTA also hosted a Bike to Work or School Day Energizer Station last week on Soscol– thank you Diana Meehan, Patrick Band and Emily Charrier on your efforts; we had over 60 riders at the booth. Hosted by the Napa County Bike Coalition, the regional Bike to Work or School Day saw over 1,400 participants at energizer stations countywide.

• NVTA, with the assistance of Calistoga, has successfully installed a bicycle and pedestrian counter at Logvy Park that will assist with collecting valuable data needed for future projects and grant applications. The next bike/ped counter to be installed will be in St. Helena or Yountville; Planner Patrick Band is working with staff to identify preferred locations.

•  As you can see from the activity across the street at the Napa Valley Expo, we are heavily impacted by BottleRock operations and are gearing up for BottleRock with free and extended bus service all weekend long.

•  As noted in the Legislative Report, our federal lobbyist CFM have been working hard on advocating for NVTA’s projects. Congressman Thompson has included the $2 million request for SR 29 improvements through American Canyon in his earmark request to the Appropriations Committee. The request will need to be approved by the committee to be included in the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill later this fall.  NVTA should know by the end of the month if it passes through appropriations.

•  NVTA is also submitting a Safe Streets for All Grant for SR-29 improvements through American Canyon for the class I multipurpose path on the highway. Applications are due at the end of this month.

March 2026

• NVTA participated in the American Canyon Chamber of Commerce Local Legends luncheon and provided an update on transit and highway projects to the local business community.

• NVTA participated in the Napa County Office of Education 8th-grade career fair on March 12 at the Napa Valley Expo. With over 1,200 students in attendance, NVTA staff spent the day talking about transportation and transit career opportunities. Students were invited to “Build a Street,” teaching them the core basics of how transportation planners think. They also took a quiz to find out which NVTA career was right for them, from bus driver to executive director. Thank you to outreach staff Emily Charrier and Zaira Renteria, as well as the transit team, for their efforts at this event.

• Outreach and transit staff will conduct a travel training for hotel staff in Calistoga on April 8. They have worked with the Chamber to coordinate sign-ups from concierge and front office staff for a Vine Transit training, covering how to request a ride on the Calistoga Shuttle and how Route 10 can help visitors travel throughout Napa Valley. We plan to duplicate this effort in other communities.

February 2026

• We released the NVTA 2025 Annual Report—thank you to Emily Charrier for her work on this.

• Vine Transit has received a CPUC grant that will fund extended service on the American Canyon Shuttle. This will allow service to operate later on weekdays, until 7:00 p.m., and add Saturday service from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thank you to Libby Payan for identifying a grant source to support this need.

• The Yountville Bee saw a 15% ridership increase in the second quarter of FY 25–26 compared to the same quarter the previous year. NVTA is also expanding the service area to include Domaine Chandon. With Panchas reopening, we are hopeful for continued ridership gains.

• Included in your consent agenda is NVTA’s annual independent financial audit report. Kudos to Tony Onorato and the finance team for another clean audit, with no financial findings or material weaknesses noted.

• Lastly, there is no verbal update from Caltrans today, but a map of current projects is included in the packet. I wanted to provide an update on two Director’s Orders. The first is the repaving between Madison and Yount Mill Road. Work is underway and expected to be completed by mid-March, weather permitting. Thank you to Amani and the team for working with local stakeholders on this effort, which was not originally included in the plan but was advanced through coordination between NVTA and Caltrans.

• The second is culvert work on SR 29 between Oakville Cross Road and Rutherford. PG&E gas line work was completed on February 4. The planned nighttime single-lane closure began on February 13, with work taking place between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Remaining work includes a three-week culvert replacement, which may be delayed due to recent wet weather. There will be a four-night full closure from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., originally scheduled to begin tonight, but it will not commence until four consecutive dry days are in the forecast.

January 2026

• I have been voted by my peers, executives of the small transit operators, to serve on the Clipper Executive Board for a two-year term beginning this month.

• I’m sure you heard about the King Tides flooding in Marin in late December and early January. In addition, there was flooding on State Route 37, with inundation on the eastbound lane just west of Mare Island and near Tolay Creek Bridge. On January 3, the eastbound direction was closed from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

• I am happy to announce NVTA was awarded $591,000 in federal rural and small transit funds for the purchase of four new paratransit buses. Well done to NVTA staff.

• On the consent agenda, there is an award for the Redwood Park and Ride improvements. This project was rebid after the agency received only two bids in October of last year, both over the engineer’s estimate. Staff worked with consultants to rebid the project and received seven bids, with the majority under the estimate—so rebidding was the right move. Thank you to Grant Bailey and Renel Coombs for their work on this.

• Lastly, as part of the countywide transportation plan, staff is setting up focus group meetings with community members identified by the Board to review the countywide transportation vision and goals. There will be three focus groups—one up valley, one in Napa, and one in American Canyon. Staff is targeting late February and early March for these meetings and has sent out a Doodle poll. Please be on the lookout and submit your availability.

Executive Director Report Archive:

July 2025 – Dec 2025 (PDF File)

April 2024 – June 2025 (Download PDF)

September 2023 (Download PDF)

July 2023 (PDF, opens in a same tab)

June 2023 (PDF, opens in a same tab)

May 2023 (PDF, opens in a same tab)

April 2023 (PDF, opens in a same tab)

March 2023 (PDF, opens in a same tab)