WHOOSH! The mid-eighties pickup passed to my right with barely two inches between us. Evidently my 70 mph clip in the number two lane of the freeway barely passed muster for this dude, because as he maneuvered his truck directly in front of me he thrust his hand out the window and gave me the “one-finger salute.”

 Every single one of us motorists has ended up on the butt end of such activity at one time or another. But why all the anger? What causes ordinary citizens to morph into fist waving maniacs?

Raymond Novaco, Ph.D., former Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California at Irvine, provided some answers in a study entitled Automobile Driving and Aggressive Behavior.

• To start, Novaco pointed out that cars are marketed to appeal to our combative instincts. The ultimate driving machine, own the road, and “an aggressive multi-valve engine” are perfect examples of catch-phrases used in automobile advertisements that support this theory. 

• Additionally, model names like Viper, Cougar, Prowler, Jaguar, Stingray, and Challenger fit themes of power and competition.

• Novaco also reasoned that following through on assertive behavior becomes much easier behind the wheel because of the protection afforded by two tons of steel.

• Besides, cars provide a certain degree of anonymity. Knowing we can’t be readily identified increases the likelihood that we will resort to offensive behavior that we would never attempt on a face-to-face basis.

• Finally, our vehicles guarantee a quick escape. This ability to beat a hasty retreat almost encourages a transgression or two.

When you mix in the stresses of a long and frustrating drive with all of the above, you have some pretty strong predisposing factors for road rage. Add a precipitating factor such as a honking the worn, flipping the bird, waving a fist, etc. — what Novaco refers to as “cues for aggression” — and the results can get rather ugly.

Given all of the above, it’s no wonder we get dumped on by other drivers. But how can we keep this from happening to us in the first place? Luckily, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety offers several valuable tips in an eight-page brochure entitled Road Rage — How to Avoid Aggressive Driving.

• First and foremost, don’t offend. Tops on the list of offensive behavior is driving too slow in the fast lane. Heck, this is where the Type-A motorists hang out. For anyone who insists on cruising below 60 there, what are you thinking!

• The brochure also advises that you always signal when making lane changes, don’t cut people off, never tailgate, don’t flash your high beams, and keep your horn use to a minimum. Transgressions here rank high on the list of cues for aggression. In the case of a packed freeway where no one will willingly (if anything, we speed up) let you in if you signal in advance, merely give a courtesy flash of your blinker as you make your move when room allows.

• Don’t engage. In other words, give angry drivers plenty of room. Don’t make direct eye contact if you can help it. And unless you’re Mike Tyson, never accept an invitation to pull over to the side of the road.

• Lastly, adjust your attitude. Forget about “winning.” Trying to race everyone to the next stoplight or off-ramp invites confrontation.

Considering all this, it now seems obvious that I was partly to blame for the state of affairs that occurred when the pickup driver flipped me off, as described above. Discretion would dictate that I should have quickly pulled into a slower lane upon first sight of a fast approaching vehicle. Maybe then the guy would have raised his index finger, as well as his middle finger, and flashed the peace sign.

But then again, maybe I’m dreaming of another planet. The guy would have been just as likely to separate his four fingers in the middle and give me the Star Trek Vulcan sign.

©2009, Dr. Roadmap®

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

David Rizzo, better known as Dr. Roadmap,  a Commute Management expert who writes about issues such as improving gas mileage (mpg), alternate routes, traffic congestion, ridesharing, commuting behavior and intelligent transportation systems on California’s Orange Country Register.  He is well known for his comprehensive guide ever written on off-freeway commuting in Southern California, published in 1990.  Two years later he became the first traffic reporter to offer daily alternate routes in real time over the air on one of the most popular morning radio shows in Los Angeles.  His bi-weekly columns appear exclusively for TransportGooru.  This is copyright-protected content.  Please contact Transportgooru if you like to use this article or portions of this article. 

(Source: TreeHugger)

President Barack Obama’s trip to Turkey may prove to have been a similar turning point for Istanbul.

 

 

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AVIATION

1) Flying the Wi-Fi Skies

Airlines are testing the service, but what will travelers pay?

Link to column on MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30113929/

CARTOGRAPHY

2) Ghana Tourist Board Warns Publishers of Unauthorized Maps

Link to story from JoyFM:

http://www.modernghana.com/news/210583/1/tourist-board-warns-publishers-of-unauthorised-map.html

RAILROADS

3) Does Railroad Crossing Enforcement Work?

Link to story and video on KMTV-TV:

http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=10161456

SAFETY / SECURITY

4) Giving Lessons in Traffic Safety at Middle Schools

Link to story in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10crossing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

TELEMATICS

5) Ford Sync 3.0, Now with Internet

Link to column in The New York Times:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/ford-sync-30-now-with-internet/

6) Telematics Security Can Protect High-Value Loads

Link to story on RoadTransport:

http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2009/04/10/133501/telematics-security-can-protect-high-value-loads.html

TRANSIT

7) Gates and Smart Cards to Hike Security on Metro Vancouver Transit System

Link to CP story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jKrUQkQznef6xcnu0bkbJRo8xS0Q

8) NYC Transit Sued Over ‘Secret Court’

Link to AP story:

http://www.wten.com/Global/story.asp?S=10160365

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

9) Traffy for the Better Move

Soon commuters in Bangkok will be able to report traffic conditions real-time via Web site.

Link to story in The Nation:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/04/09/technology/technology_30100158.php

News Releases

1) NJ Transit Provides Safety Lessons for High School Driver Education Classes

2) People Drive the Speed They’re Comfortable with on Gravel Roads Regardless of Speed Limit, Kansas State Researchers Say

3) KHTS Radio Launches Text Message Traffic Alerts

Job Postings

 –  Director of Customer Service – Pierce Transit – Tacoma, Washington

http://www.transittalent.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=7481

 –  Ridership Data Analyst – Metro – Cincinnati, Ohio

http://www.transittalent.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=7469

 –  Supervisory, General Engineer – Volpe National Transportation Systems Center – Cambridge, Massachusetts

http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=80391197  

Upcoming Events

Mobile Location Services ’09 – May 12-13 – London

http://tinyurl.com/ddkcn8

Friday Bonus

Here’s something that would brighten your rail commute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2Fhome%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded

Today in Transportation History

1969 **40^th anniversary** – Automobile designer Harley Earl died.

http://hnn.us/articles/1145.html

=============================================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday. 

To subscribe send an e-mail to:  TCNL-subscribe@googlegroups.com

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TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

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

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

(Source: New York Times)

 BEIJING — Senior Chinese officials on Friday outlined how they aimed to turn their country into the world’s largest producer of electric cars, including a focus on consumer choice rather than corporate subsidies.

Speaking at a conference at the government’s prestigious Diaoyutai guesthouse here, the officials acknowledged that their efforts faced challenges in terms of the cost and safety of electric cars. They promised a nationwide effort by manufacturers, universities, research institutes and government agencies to overcome these obstacles.

(Source: CNN)

Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii’s Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park — for free.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources had estimated that the damage would cost $4 million to fix, money the agency doesn’t have, according to a news release from department Chairwoman Laura Thielen.

“It would not have been open this summer, and it probably wouldn’t be open next summer,” said Bruce Pleas, a local surfer who helped organize the volunteers. “They said it would probably take two years. And with the way they are cutting funds, we felt like they’d never get the money to fix it.”

And if the repairs weren’t made, some business owners faced the possibility of having to shut down.

Ivan Slack, co-owner of Napali Kayak, said his company relies solely on revenue from kayak tours and needs the state park to be open to operate. The company jumped in and donated resources because it knew that without the repairs, Napali Kayak would be in financial trouble.

“If the park is not open, it would be extreme for us, to say the least,” he said. “Bankruptcy would be imminent. How many years can you be expected to continue operating, owning 15-passenger vans, $2 million in insurance and a staff? For us, it was crucial, and our survival was dependent on it. That park is the key to the sheer survival of the business.”

So Slack, other business owners and residents made the decision not to sit on their hands and wait for state money that many expected would never come. Instead, they pulled together machinery and manpower and hit the ground running March 23.  Watch the volunteers repairing the road »

And after only eight days, all of the repairs were done, Pleas said. It was a shockingly quick fix to a problem that may have taken much longer if they waited for state money to funnel in.

“We can wait around for the state or federal government to make this move, or we can go out and do our part,” Slack said. “Just like everyone’s sitting around waiting for a stimulus check, we were waiting for this but decided we couldn’t wait anymore.”

Thielen has been waiting, too. She wants the legislature to approve her Recreation Renaissance project, a $240 million booster shot to help fix parks across the state. Without it, at least five state parks may be forced to close, and there would be no emergency repair money to fix Polihale State Park.

“We shouldn’t have to do this, but when it gets to a state level, it just gets so bureaucratic, something that took us eight days would have taken them years,” said Troy Martin of Martin Steel, who donated machinery and steel for the repairs. “So we got together — the community — and we got it done.” 

Click here to read the entire story and to view awesome pictures from this wonderful community initiative.

(Source: Jalopnik,  Freep & World Car Fans)

Looks like American automakers have found at least one more buyer for their vehicles. The U.S. government is planning on the purchase of $285 million worth of fleet vehicles that get better gas mileage than the current fleet. Under the plan, the General Services Administration will purchase more than 17,500 vehicles as a part of their existing deals with Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.

U.S. President Barack Obama, and his administration, have said the purchases will take place by 1 June. Although it is unclear what will happen to the older fleet vehicles being replaced, many will likely be sold at government auctions.

The purchase is hardly a surprise. In the much talked about stimulus package approved by Congress, $300 million was included for the automotive purchase. This is not a gigantic purchase in the grand scheme of things, as the Big Three sold a combined total of 380,000 vehicles for March 2009. Still, the move may help to bolster confidence in the sector, while even a marginal increase in revenue would be welcomed by the automakers.

More than 14% of the vehicles will be hybrid sedans. 2,500 orders for the vehicles, which will likely include the Chevy Malibu, Ford Hybrid Fusion, and Saturn Aura, will be placed by the end of next week.

Hope all is well at your end. I am not doing so well, as you could see from the below paragraphs, after experiencing yet another bad commute on your trains, prompting me get on the computer and write you a letter at this ungodly hour.  As a resident of the DC metro region, like millions of others, I have been commuting from a Maryland suburb to the District.  Like many of your riders, I take the metro five days a week commuting on the Red Line and Green Line and almost always enjoyed the convenience of the commute.  Except, there are those occasional days when I experience some discomfort, not one of the minor kind.  The kind that makes you wonder how on earth a human being with a wee bit of logic can do such a dumb thing.  The kind that defies logic! Oh, the human beings I am referring to are your train operators, who in my humble opinion are the primary carriers of your service-oriented message – Metro cares!

Unfortunately, this evening was one of those days that I simply came home wondering if you or your staff will ever “get it”.   I mean, get the message that the trains are actually operated for the very people who pay for a service that you offer. Let me walk you through what happened so that you will somehow try and make sense out of why such a thing can happen repeatedly.

After a long stressful day at work, I arrived at the Gallery Place/China Town station hoping to catch the Redline to Shady Grove that (usually) arrives just about 9:23PM.  See, I told you I am a regular commuter, evident from the memorized train timings!  Back to the story again.  When I arrived at the platform towards Shady Grove, I saw a ton of people, most of whom were Hockey fans returning from the Verizon Center after watching the Frozen Four (the NCAA Mens Hockey Tournament Semi-Finals).   As you can imagine, the platforms were pretty crowded and the train was approaching.  Guess what!  Today, your over enthusiastic train operator decided to give a lot of the Washingtonians a free workout on the platform and pulled way past the usual position.   The 6 car train that arrived overshot the target and went past the point from where I normally board ( FYI, I normally board the middle doors on the 2nd last car).   I am sure you can imagine the helter-skelter that ensued when this happens.  The flood of people who were standing in positions where the last car will usually stop all started running with hopes of somehow making the train and getting home in a decent time.

Little do they know that the “wonderfully trained” operator of the train was in a great hurry to close the darn doors of the already crowded train that just arrived.  Before the last passenger disembarked (an older lady) who was supposedly awaiting her turn to step out, your operator thought he waited long enough and proceeded to signal his intentions to close the door with a “Doors Closing” chime! Panic ensues as the people waiting to board rushed in and the poor old lady was trying to get off the train.  Thank god she somehow made it out alive.   But many of us who were waiting on the platform were left wondering what on earth could push a your train conductor to close the doors knowing all well there are a lot of people waiting to board the train. Oh you know what, there was still so much empty space inside the train cars as most of the passengers got off at the station in question.

Now things got a little more interesting.  After the doors chimed and only a four people have gotten in through that last set of doors in that last car.  Mind you that the case was very similar in almost all the cars as far as the eye could see ( I am not too tall to see all the way to the other end of the train).  With only four people inside and at least 60 people waiting outside to get in, the driver decided to show some courtesy and opens the door briefly to allow for a passenger whose bag was stuck half-way through the door as he got on the train.  Let me ask you to guess how “brief” the window of opportunity was for that poor customer of yours to retrieve that bag?  ONE SECOND, I kid you not!

Some of the passengers who got on the train, including a couple of Mr. Hercules types, summoned all the strength in the world to hold the set of doors that had one mission – SHUT/CLOSE! In the fight between man and machine (operated by a mad man who gets paid by these commuters), the men had a brief victory, which allowed a bunch of more people to get on the train.  With swelling crowds on the platform and the next train arrival showing 12 minutes later, you can see the anxiety-laden faces of people go into further panic.  This tug of war between your train operator (who lost his mind when he arrived at Gallery Place) and the brave commuters (who were hell bent on adding a few more people to your train cars to make it worth your while to operate them at a cost/benefit ratio that somehow can justify you next round of federal funding) continued for a few more minutes.   As you see, we are simply trying to help you move more people in the limited amount of time we get to use your trains.

The story was the same when the train arrived at the next stop – Metro Center, which thankfully was not so crowded but the tug of war continued to happen with the bunch that was trying to get in.  I am not sure how many of your customers returned home with bruises & scars that can rival those of a soldier fighting to save this country in a Iraq or Afghanistan.   Unlike them, we are not trained to fight and have no “weapons” to protect from your agressive train operators.  Somehow we all managed to get home without having any major casualties in the war on Metro train this evening.

Well, this is just a sample from a day that is not very unusual.  I have seen this happen many times in the past and I witnessed and participated in this today.   Let me tell you that I do enjoy those days when you get some courteous operators who are patient enough to wait for the customers to board and show up for work with an attitude that says “customer is my god”.  If you really like to hear this, I am a transportation expert myself (hence the name TransportGooru) and I am here to offer you a friendly tip or two — purely from an expert/customer point of view. Let’s now discuss the “potential; solutions to this recurring problem:

1.  Train your operators to understand that they work for people who pay to get around safely, not just swiftly.  Safety is paramount for everyone involved – not just for the Metro operator who stands well shielded in his hardened aluminum cocoon.

2.  Run more trains on days (not all day but at least at for a couple of hours before the games start and after they end) when you know there is a game or a major event at one of our area’s sport arenas/centers.  This should be very easy to do by coordinating with the organizers of such events (Verizon Center, Nationals, etc).  BTW, you guys did an amazing job during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Kudos!

3.  Deploy your highly trained & poorly paid police officers who always help immensely in dealing with such issues.  I have seen on many occasions people are lot more obedient and well behaved when the officers are on the platform during such “rush” hours after the game.  They also help your train operators to understand that the passengers need time to get on the train.  If this would be a surprise for you, the above mentioned situation never happened in all these years when I took the train when the police officers are standing next to the trains at Galley Place, regulating the flow of passengers into the vehicles.  I think your officers have some “fear” of getting arrested when they see police, because they do their job pretty well without screwing up.

4.  If you think all the above solutions are not good, for Pete’s sake add a couple of cars on trains that arrive that time. Make it an 8 car train so that we have more doors to board and we don’t have to run a marathon on the platform to get close to the train.   I did learn today that you are going to run 8 car trains on Red and Green lines when a bunch of train cars get delivered.  Its about time you did this as you realize we are an active bunch in the DC area and there is always something to do around the town.  We consider you to be the best option to get around from point A to point B, without polluting the environment or making some petro-terrorist nation richer by shelling for gasoline to drive our sexy cars into the City.

5.  If possible, conduct a psychiatric evaluation of your current train operators, all of them, and re-train those who are borderline psychotic/neurotic.   Before they injure someone or mangle some human body part, they be told that it is inappropriate to operate a vehicle in the above described manner.  If it does not change, you may very soon have to print the following message on your Tickets:  WARNING: RIDING METRO IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH.  WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR LOSSES OR BODILY HARM WHILE ON THE METRO SYSTEM BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING IN OUR JOBS.

6. Your hiring and training policies need to be revisited if the situation persists or deteriorate any further (which is highly unlikely as I already saw your staff hit the rock-bottom this evening with such appalling behavior.  It can’t get any worse than what it is now).

7. The final suggestion:  If you can’t fix it, just accept the failure and simply walk away.  Some of your customers have done that – they are resigned to the fate they suffer in the hands of your egregious operators and have decided to move on to alternative modes of transportation (read as personal vehicles a.k.a. cars, mopeds, bicycles) and happily driving around polluting the air that you and your children breathe.   If you want these people to return to your system, you have to correct these above mentioned deficiencies.. Or at least show them that you are making a sincere effort to do that.

If you still think none of the above suggestions are agreeable and you would still like to justify what your operator did is the right thing and there was a very good reason for doing so, please feel free to call me and explain what that reason would be.  Because, I am already close to being “insane” trying to find a logic/reason for how a train/system could be operated in this fashion.  Where I grew up, such a thing would be STOPPED and REEVALUATED COMPLETELY BEFORE IT IS DEEMED SUITABLE FOR SAFE OPERATION.

Before you tout the safety records of your system in yet another forum and plead your case for additional funding, I recommend you to prove to the general public that you and your staff are capable of running a system safely, smoothly and efficiently.  Safety doesn’t always mean prevention of fatalities. It can also be interpreted as prevention of loss (of limbs & other body parts) to your customers. It is a shame that no one has challenged you before and I am glad to do so with this open letter. Or may be it happened and you/your predecessors simply ignored it.

Above all, you have to understand that all your good deeds may simply be ignored when a passenger on your system experiences something so disastrous of this kind.  You and your staff are working hard all year and try to project a positive image to our city’s visitors and residents.  But the actions of a dumb few in your crew negate all the good things you accomplish or try to accomplish within your means.

Alright!  I probably sucked away a good chunk of your time reading this letter (which by now qualifies for the world’s longest complaint letter ever). Now, I’ll allow you to get back to fixing things around the Metro.  In the meanwhile, if any of the above mentioned items or issues are hard to understand or difficult to reason with, please feel free to write to me.  I’ll be glad to spend a couple of my hours to visit you and chat with you (very cordially, as you seen above) over a cup of coffee. Of course, I’ll pay for your coffee too and show our loyalty and generosity towards someone who has a keen interest in our commutes a pleasant one!

Look forward to hear from you soon. Take care, and enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

TransportGooru@gmail.com

(Signed on behalf of the all the suffering metro riders)

P.S: Apologies for the erratic spelling and any/all grammatical flaws you may have encountered.  It is too late to proof-read but I am sure you are a smart man who is capable of looking past the mistakes and understand the “gist” of the letter, which is:  Your service sucks!  Help us, please!

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Now Hiring: Deputy Communications DirectorTransportation for America seeks an experienced, energetic communications professional to help manage the communications activities of a dynamic, fast-paced campaign to reform the nation’s transportation spending and policies.

Now Hiring: Policy Director

The Transportation for America Campaign is looking for a highly-skilled individual with extensive knowledge and interest in federal transportation policy to serve as Policy Director for this national advocacy campaign.

 To learn more about the organization and to explore other currently open positions visit http://t4america.org

LA Transportation Blog – Transportation Headlines for April 9, 2009

Thursday, April 9, 2009 – ISSN 1529-1057

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Registration is now open for IBTTA’s Upcoming Summit – The Future of Tolling:  ORT and the Path to Interoperability, June 14-16, 2009 in Tampa, FL 

Join IBTTA in Tampa, FL and receive cutting-edge information from agencies and toll service providers around the globe on the latest in all-electronic tolling, toll traffic management, and achieving full interoperability. This is the only Summit in the world in 2009 focused on the critical topics of Open Road Tolling, All-Electronic Tolling and Interoperability and will feature more than 100 of our industry’s most experienced and knowledgeable speakers, panelists and exhibitors. What matters most is your customer’s experience driving your roads, the quality of service they receive during the payment process and your success in collecting those payments. Are your customers satisfied? Visit IBTTA’s website to view the preliminary agenda and register today! 

AVIATION

1) NASA Safety Survey a Mystery

Link to AP story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jKO38hKOG37Omy4Iv7Bi9q_L98bQD97EPSDG0

Link to report from the US Government Accountability Office:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09112.pdf

2) Fort Wayne Airport Gets $1.27 Million from Stimulus to Install Signs

They’ll help pilots, crews find their way among runways.

Link to story in The News-Sentinel:

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090409/BUSINESS/904090316

3) Atlanta Airport Grooving to Clean Music

Link to story on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/04/09/atlanta.hartsfield.music/index.html

ELECTRONIC TOLLING

4) Slovenian Motorway Users Happy with Tolling System

Link to Slovenian Press Agency story:

http://www.sta.si/en/vest.php?s=a&id=1381072  

GPS / NAVIGATION

5) TomTom Brings New Technology Into GPS Market

Link to video interview with TomTom President Jocelyn Vigreux on NECN:

http://www.necn.com/Boston/SciTech/2009/04/08/TomTom-brings-new-technology/1239232308.html

OTHER

6) Surveillance of Public Spaces: A Privacy Issue?

Link to story in 1to1 Magazine:

http://www.1to1media.com/View.aspx?DocId=31533

ROADWAYS

7) Wind’s Impact on Highway Signs Studied

Link to story in The Huntsville Times:

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1239268542102760.xml&coll=1

8) Denver’s Northwest Parkway Leaves Mainline Plaza Unstaffed Overnight to Experiment with Cashless Toll Collection

Link to story in TOLLROADSnews:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4097

9) Automating HOT Lane Enforcement

Link to story in Surface Transportation Innovations:

http://old.reason.org/surtrans66print.html#4

SPACE

10) NASA Astronaut Tweets About Mission

Link to story in Federal Computer Week:

http://fcw.com/articles/2009/04/08/web-nasa-twitter.aspx

Link to Mike Massimino’s Twitter feed:  http://twitter.com/Astro_Mike

SAFETY / SECURITY

11) Mississippi DOT to Use Twitter for Hurricane Evacuations

Link to story in the Hattiesburg American:

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20090409/NEWS01/90409019

TRANSIT

12) Calls to 311 Prove a Drag on San Francisco Muni’s Budget

Agency charged $1.96 each time a caller requests bus arrival times.

Link to story in The Examiner:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Calls-to-311-prove-a-drag-on-Munis-budget-42722122.html

13) New York City Fare-Hike Revolt Rising Up on Facebook

Link to story in amNew York:

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/urbanite/blog/2009/04/mta_angst_floods_facebook.html

VEHICLES

14) Cars Gone Wireless

Automakers and tech companies are adding a growing array of information and entertainment extras such as Web access in vehicles

Link to story in BusinessWeek:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc2009049_588284.htm

News Releases

1) Social Networking Shifts Car-Sharing Into High Gear at Stanford University

2) US Department of Transportation Secretary LaHood to Speak at ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition on June 1

3) FCC Adopts Rules to Expand, Enhance First Responders’ Use of Broadband Communications

4) National Center for Atmospheric Research Tests System to Steer Drivers Away from Dangerous Weather

5) Trafficmaster Supports AA’s New 84322 Traffic Information Service

6) Luxury Automaker Takes the HD Radio Fast Lane

Upcoming Events

mobil.TUM 2009 – ITS for Larger Cities – May 12-13 – Munich

http://www.vt.bv.tum.de/mobil.TUM2009

Today in Transportation History

1959 **50^th anniversary** – NASA introduces the Mercury Seven, the first group of American astronauts.

http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~5~5~22981~127221:Original-7-Astronauts-in-Spacesuits

=============================================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday. 

To subscribe send an e-mail to:  TCNL-subscribe@googlegroups.com

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to:  TCNL-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Questions, comments about the TCN?  Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast ati95berniew@aol.com.   

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast