Thursday, February 26, 2009 — ISSN 1529-1057

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Register Today for IBTTA’s Toll Road Summit of Australia, New Zealand & the Asia Pacific Rim, March 15-18, 2009 in Sydney, Australia 

If you are interested in public-private partnerships, innovations in customer service and next generation technologies, you need to attend this meeting! Join IBTTA and ITS Australia in Sydney, Australia and learn about the explosive growth of tolling in Australia, New Zealand and the countries in the Asia Pacific Rim. Learn about toll concessions and operations, including the political, regulatory, public affairs and customer service aspects of startup and mature facilities, and lessons learned from successive implementation of all electronic toll collection. Visit IBTTA’s website to view the preliminary agenda, make your travel arrangements and register today

AVIATION

1) Transportation Budget Proposes NextGen Air Traffic Control Funding

Link to story in Business First of Louisville:

http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2009/02/23/daily40.html

2) Technology in the Sky

A photo essay in Time:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1666378_1454387,00.html

CAMERAS

3) Mississippi May Blind ‘Eyes’ on Traffic

Bill to ban devices that photograph traffic scofflaws advances.

Link to story in The Clarion-Ledger:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090226/NEWS010504/902260345/1001/news

 ELECTRONIC TOLLING

4) FastLane Slips in Stealth Fees

Up to one million customers hit with faulty charges.

Link to story in the Boston Herald:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_02_26_Fastlane_slips_in_stealth_fees:_Up_to_1_million_customers_hit_with_faulty_charges/srvc=home&position=0

GPS / NAVIGATION

5) Federal Commission Backs Mileage Fees Over Gas Taxes, Champions GPS Technology

Link to story in Inside GNSS:

http://www.insidegnss.com/node/1366

OTHER

6) New Weather Monitoring System Reaches to the Heavens

Microwave technology used for the first time in US.

Link to story and video report on KING-TV:

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_022509WAB-weather-testing-KS.2f300ba.html

PARKING

7) Parking Meters Out to Destroy the Human Race

Washington, DC meters pretend to be broken then ‘self-correct’ to give you tickets.

Link to story on WRC-TV:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Local-Parking-Meters-Develop-Artificial-Intelligence-Will-Destroy-Humans.html

SAFETY / SECURITY

8) US Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Agency Likely to Miss Cargo Scanning Deadline

Link to story from CongressDaily:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090225_7302.php

Link to further information from the House Committee on Homeland Security:

http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=171

9) TSA: Mule Skinners Need Background Checks, Too

Employees who accompany historic canal boats required to get security credentials.

Link to CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/25/mule.skinner.blues/

TELEMATICS

10) Leverage Telematics and On-Board Diagnostics for Warranty Management

Link to story in Automotive DesignLine:

http://www.automotivedesignline.com/howto/214600030;jsessionid=3QLTBFFM2ABFAQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

11) Traffic Nerd Looks Through Numbers with CEO

Seattle traffic reporter meets with the president of Inrix to discuss new traffic data.

Link to story on KIRO-TV:

http://www.kirotv.com/traffic/18792881/detail.html

VEHICLES

12) ‘Talking’ Cars Could Hit the Road by 2012

Link to story in Wired:

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/talking-cars-co.html  

News Releases

1) SITA and WestJet Go Live with New Standard for Checking In and Boarding Passengers

2) US Department of Transportation Unveils 2010 Budget Framework

3) Toyota Adds to Pre-Crash Safety Technologies

4) Gresham, Smith and Partners Wins City of Memphis, City Engineer’s Award of Excellence for SmartWay Project

5) Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center Offering Online Traffic Information

6) GeoSpot Deep Local Search Launches Nationwide on Web and Mobile

Upcoming Events

Carbon-Free Mobility Conference – March 6 – Oakland, California

http://www.advancedtransit.org/doc.aspx?id=2109

Today in Transportation History

1914 **95^th anniversary** – The HMS Britannic was launched in Belfast.

http://www.atlanticliners.com/britannic_home.htm

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Questions, comments about the TCN?  Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at i95berniew@aol.com.   

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast