NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s twitter account shared this awesome infograph this afternoon, detailing the stats/numbers behind the Citibike Bikesharing Program as it completed its wildly successful 1st month.  At this rate, NYC can be assured that it is a smashing success and will remain a key part of the city’s transportation infrastructure for decades to come.  Check it out the infograph below (also check out the comments in the embedded tweet below)

Image Courtesy: twitter.com/mikebloomberg

Check out the one month report card for NYC’s latest transportation option: @CitiBikeNYC http://t.co/xQ851RT1Dc pic.twitter.com/UoKot3BMUg

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) July 1, 2013

And someone just posted this “Rush hour”  pic. on twitter

New NYC Rush hour (via Instagram.com/gudphoto)

via Visual.ly

Here is a nice infographic that tries to answer one simple question reg. fossil fuels and their emissions..

What if we burned all the fossil fuels we have? infographic by OpenCanada.

Reference 130316 or search for ‘Sustainability’ on WMATA’s career site

Note the 3/21/13 closing date.

Responsibilities:

This is a high level professional and technical position involving the development and analysis in support of Authority-wide sustainability planning, initiative development, and performance measurement. Incumbent uses innovative analysis, corporate/transit best practices, and in-depth evaluation. The incumbent analyzes current performance, identifies new business models and markets, develops implementation strategies and plans, and provides project management support.

Results provide refined critical information to enable effective organizational decision making, performance management, and leadership. Incumbent communicates regularly with executive staff and other Authority personnel. Incumbent conducts special studies to ensure efficient management of resources. Incumbent produces presentations that communicate Authority¿s stance and leadership in sustainability practice.

English: Washington, DC Metro logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MAJOR DUTIES:

• Develops, evaluates, and supports sustainability initiatives, programs, policies, and procedures for the Authority.
•  Independently conducts analytical studies.
• Serves as a project analyst and provides project management support to resolve problems and to meet PLAN objectives and Authority strategic goals.
• Conducts special studies focusing on life-cycle costing, cost benefit analysis, and return on investment calculations for potential investments.
• Researches and summarizes selected policy areas related to sustainability.
• Prepares reports on transit issues such as sustainability best practices, impacts of transit on regional sustainability, and summarizes selected policy and technical areas related to sustainability innovations in the transit industry.
• Researches and drafts responses to inquiries from members of Congress; federal, state, regional, and local officials; the Board of Directors; and the public.
• Prepares and presents reports and recommendations for a variety of internal and external customers.
• Attends meetings, hearings, high-level planning sessions, and other activities essential to the execution of the functional responsibilities of PLAN.
•  Maintains effective working relationships with individuals and organizations with whom interface and cooperation are required.

The above duties and responsibilities are not intended to limit specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. It is not intended to limit in any way the right of supervisors to assign, direct and control the work of employees under their supervision.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of sustainable business practice and sustainable development.
• Knowledge of and experience in leading interdisciplinary teams to facilitate effective policy and initiative planning, development, implementation, and support.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of strategic business planning, performance metrics, and innovation management.
• Knowledge of financial analysis including: life-cycle costing, cost benefit analysis, return on investment calculation.
• Knowledge of the sustainability and environmental policy context in which transit systems operate. Familiarity with sustainable design, green building, and energy planning in a transit context.
• Knowledge of public transit principles and practices and the application of new technology and other innovations to transit agencies.
• Demonstrated success in completing difficult assignments, displaying innovative solutions to complex problems.
• Ability to acquire and maintain current knowledge of major transit systems and changes in the public transportation field that may be of benefit to the attainment of the Authority’s goals and objectives.
• Ability to effectively analyze and present findings on various assigned studies.
• Ability to prepare concise technical reports and engaging presentations for a variety of internal and external customers.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of management and organizations with who interface and cooperation are required.
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization.

The employee performs moderately difficult administrative and office management work assignments for the head of an entity whose staff consists of one or more subordinate branch management level persons who are responsible for key functions and/or programs. Incumbents in this class perform a full range of administrative support duties which affects the efficacy of work processes performed by others. Contacts are maintained with members of other departments with whom the Director level maintains working relationships. Some situations require the use of persuasion and tact to maintain the Director¿s viewpoint. Written guidelines are generally available, but require interpretation.

To be considered for the position, you must meet minimum qualifications. It is, therefore, very important for you to include on your application any education/experience you have had that is described in the minimum qualifications. Incomplete information may delay the assessment process.

Qualifications

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in planning, public policy, business administration, or related field. A Master¿s degree preferred. A minimum of five (5) years progressively responsible experience in sustainable business practices, sustainable development, or related field.

MEDICAL GROUP:

Ability to satisfactorily complete the medical examination for this position. The incumbent must be able to perform the essential functions of this position either with or without reasonable accommodations.

High School Diploma or GED and a minimum of 5 years experience in office management activities that involved providing administrative/secretarial services within a diverse organizational entity. Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in word processing on the standard software currently in use by the Authority based on a computerized word processing skills evaluation which measures efficiency at various levels; demonstrate proficiency in communication and clerical skills based on a computerized skills evaluation which measures proficiency in spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria may include one or more of the following:

1. Education, training and experience
2. Personal Interview
3. Medical examination which may include alcohol and drug testing
4. Performance attendance record
5. Background check to include criminal, education, work and driver’s record

Closing Statement

Posted salary ranges and offers are subject to Union contract agreements and Metro salary administration guidelines. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is an equal opportunity employer, and encourages applications from minorities, females and persons with disabilities.

Please apply before: 03/21/2013

Reference 130316 or search for ‘Sustainability’ on WMATA’s career site

America’s energy security gets a boost from the White House. President Obama proposed the creation of Energy Security Trust during his visit to the Argonne National Research Lab to talk about American energy security. The Energy Security Trust, a$2 Billion investment over 10 years, uses revenue generated by oil and gas development on federal lands to support new research and technology that will shift our cars and trucks off of oil for good.  Below is an infographic that outlines how this works:

Energy Security Trust Infographic via Whitehouse.gov

Here is an excerpt from the White House Blog:

So how does it work? The Energy Security Trust will invest in research that will make future technologies cheaper and better – it will fund the advances that will allow us to run cars and trucks on electricity or homegrown fuels, and on the technology that will enable us to drive from coast-to-coast without a drop of oil.

Over 10 years, the Energy Security Trust will provide $2 billion for critical, cutting-edge research focused on developing cost-effective transportation alternatives.The funding will be provided by revenues from federal oil and gas development, and will not add any additional costs to the federal budget. The investments will support research into a range of technologies – things like advanced vehicles that run on electricity, homegrown biofuels, and domestically produced natural gas. It will also help fund a small number of real-world experiments that try different transportation techniques in cities and towns around the country using advanced vehicles at scale.

If it is worth something, President Obama has indicated his desire to use the executive powers to curb climate change impacts should Congress fail to act.  According to Bloomberg, the president is also thinking of using a Nixon-era law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970, to instruct all federal agencies to consider the impact of climate change when approving “major projects, from pipelines to highways.”  Of course, this can have some serious implications for large scale projects and some constituencies in the business sector are already freaking out over this mandate.

While we are busy discussing this issue, I’d like to share with you an address by President Obama from March 2011 in which he outlined his goals for reducing American energy dependence, heavily emphasizing new technology and alternative sources in addition to “safe and responsible” offshore drilling. A lot of what he outline in his blue print for change is already starting to take effect and I can only say that we are poised for a big change in the way we power our vehicles and industries.  Fossil fuels are definitely beginning to see a slow demise (but it will be decades before they are completely phased out in the transportation sector).

Related articles

• Obama at Argonne: Energy Security Trust fact sheets here
• In an America ‘can do’ speech, Obama introduces Energy Security Trust for transportation innovations
• Obama to unveil alternative energy proposal – CBS News
• The White House On Energy Security Trust And POTUS Obama’s Israel Trip Preview
• What You Need to Know About the Energy Security Trust
• Obama wants to create an Energy Security Trust with $2 billion for R&D
• Obama to Announce $2 Billion Plan to Get U.S. Cars Off Gasoline

This vintage photo dates back to 1939 and was posted on the new Tumblr blog, FOUND, created by National Geographic in honor of its 125th anniversary.

A cowgirl puts a nickel in an El Paso parking meter to hitch her pony, October 1939. PHOTOGRAPH BY LUIS MARDEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

As Mashable.com reports, the non-profit has joined Tumblr to showcase “FOUND,” a collection of rare photos from the National Geographic archives. According to the site, most of the photos have never been published, and were rarely seen by the public until now. National Geographic hopes digitizing the archive will also help identify the original date or location of the photos, since many are missing that information.

(Source: Natgeofound.tumblr.com)

Do you have any vintage Transportation pictures that you would like to share? Drop me a note in the “Comments” section below and I’ll reach out to you.

via WUSA9

The latest transportation bill from Virginia legislature (HB2313), signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell has got a lot of Hybrid vehicle owners miffed. Under the new regulations, drivers of hybrid vehicles would have to pay a $100 annual fee.  So, the irate hybrid owners and other opponents of this measure have have started an online petition urging the governor to veto the fee now has more than 4,000 signatures (hoping to get to 10,000 by end of March) .  WUSA9’s Monika Samtani has done a nice report covering this issue. Check it out.

Critics are pointing out that :

via InsuranceQuotes.org

Here is a neat infographic that shows the benefits of moving towards autonomous vehicles.. Though some of the statistics seen in the graphic are old and needs revision (esp. fatality numbers, which continues to see a steady decline every year), it still reminds you of the sheer size and scope of the problems we encounter in the current scenario of human-piloted vehicles.  Oh, Google Cars is not the only game in town when it comes to autonomous vehicles.  Not anymore.  Most auto OEMs are ramping up their research to make sure they remain relevant when Google’s project materializes. That said, the transportation systems that are currently developed for the coming decade looks quite promising!

Today TTI had released its latest edition of the popular product – Urban Mobility Report (2012). The 2012 edition introduced for the first time,  a way to measure that degree of unreliability in planning a trip, as part of the annual Urban Mobility Report (UMR).   The press release explains it succintly:

The Planning Time Index (PTI), a measure of travel reliability, illustrates the amount of extra time needed to arrive on time for higher priority events, such as an airline departure, just-in-time shipments, medical appointments or especially important social commitments. If the PTI for a particular trip is 3.00, a traveler would allow 60 minutes for a trip that typically takes 20 minutes when few cars are on the road. Allowing for a PTI of 3.00 would ensure on-time arrival 19 out of 20 times.

Access the whole report (PDF) by clicking the cover photo of the report below.

TTI’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report

As one would expect, the reactions for the report was mixed – both positive and negative from the transportation community.  That said, here are some highlights from the 2012 UMR:

Congestion costs are increasing. The congestion “invoice” for the cost of extra time and fuel in 498 urban areas was (all values in constant 2011 dollars):

• In 2011 – $121 billion; In 2000 – $94 billion; In 1982 – $24 billion

Congestion wastes a massive amount of time, fuel and money. In 2011:

• 5.5 billion hours of extra time (equivalent to the time businesses and individuals spend a year filing their taxes).
• 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel (enough to fill four New Orleans Superdomes).
• $121 billion of delay and fuel cost (the negative effect of uncertain or longer delivery times, missed meetings, business relocations and other congestion-related effects are not included) ($121 billion is equivalent to the lost productivity and direct medical expenses of 12 average flu seasons).
• 56 billion pounds of additional carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere during urban congested conditions (equivalent to the liftoff weight of over 12,400 Space Shuttles with all fuel tanks full).
• 22% ($27 billion) of the delay cost was the effect of congestion on truck operations; this does not include any value for the goods being transported in the trucks.
• The cost to the average commuter was $818 in 2011 compared to an inflation-adjusted $342 in 1982.
  

  English: Traffic congestion on southbound Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland, near milepost 50. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Congestion affects people who travel during the peak period. The average commuter:

• Spent an extra 38 hours traveling in 2011, up from 16 hours in 1982.
• Wasted 19 gallons of fuel in 2011 – a week’s worth of fuel for the average U.S. driver – up from 8 gallons in 1982.
• In areas with over three million persons, commuters experienced an average of 52 hours of delay in 2011.
• Suffered 6 hours of congested road conditions on the average weekday in areas over 3 million population.
• Fridays are the worst days to travel. The combination of work, school, leisure and other trips mean that urban residents earn their weekend after suffering over 20 percent more delay hours than on Mondays.
• And if all that isn’t bad enough, folks making important trips had to plan for approximately three times as much travel time as in light traffic conditions in order to account for the effects of unexpected crashes, bad weather, special events and other irregular congestion causes.

Congestion is also a problem at other hours. 

• Approximately 37 percent of total delay occurs in the midday and overnight (outside of the peak hours) times of day when travelers and shippers expect free-flow travel. Many manufacturing processes depend on a free-flow trip for efficient production and congested networks interfere with those operations.

Related articles

• Commuters’ wasted time in traffic costs $121B
• Houston makes list of top 10 most congested cities
• New Road Congestion Report
• Washington Is No.1 In Traffic Congestion
• Americans wasting billions in traffic jams

Job Title:  General Manager
Job Location: San Francisco, with regular travel to the South Bay

Job Summary
Bicycle sharing is a sustainable, healthy, and community-based transport option that enhances urban livability and mobility. Alta Bicycle Share, contractor to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and operator of the Bay Area bike share program (BABS), is seeking a General Manager to oversee staff of over 50 people and all aspects of launch and ongoing operations. Core program functions include: program marketing; bicycle and station assembly and installation, programming and deployment; bicycle and station maintenance, repair and cleaning; bicycle redistribution; shipping/receiving and inventory control; client and customer service; and budget management.

Reporting to the Operations Director, the General Manager is accountable for overall success of Alta’s Bay Area bike share program as measured by program P & L, performance in core program functions, and client and customer satisfaction. Primary responsibilities include business strategy development and implementation; staff recruitment, training oversight, leadership and coaching; client and customer service; and contract negotiation and compliance. Ideal candidates will be diplomatic delegators with a track record of safety and success managing multifaceted operations with a diverse and committed workforce.

Primary Responsibilities
Manage all aspects of Alta Bicycle Share Bay Area pre-launch activities, including but not limited to:

• Recruitment and selection of key leadership team.
• Branding and marketing plan development.
• Identification of key marketing partners and sub-contractors.
• Property identification and acquisition.
• Acquisition of vehicles, equipment and tools.
• Site selection and planning.
• Contract and client management. Establish strong vendor and client relationships.
• Receive, inventory, and oversee assembly of all bike share equipment.
• Establish or improve policies and policy documents as required.

Manage all aspects of Alta Bicycle Share Bay Area program deployment and launch, marketing, customer service, administration and oversee all aspects of ongoing operations, including but not limited to:

• Hire, train, schedule, and manage a diverse workforce to necessarily and continually accomplish core program functions. Delegate tasks as needed.
• Working with the management and street team to develop strategies to accomplish operational functions including bike and station deployment, maintenance, repair, and cleaning, and bicycle redistribution.
• Working with the local client, management and street team to develop strategies for membership and corporate sales, public relations, and customer service leveraging social media.
• Manage multiple subcontracts.
• Lead collaboration with multiple clients and multiple sponsors.
• Continuous operation with adherence to policies, contracts, and budgets.
• Implement, improve, and share operational best practices.
• Ensure strict adherence to safety policies and procedures.
• Forecast revenues and expenses, and manage a budget.
• Ensure reports, invoices and purchase orders are complete and timely delivered to project officers and managers.
• Maintain strong client and vendor relations.
• Ensure overall success and future growth of Alta Bicycle Share the Bay Area.

Core Competencies

• Communication Skills: Collaborate and communicate effectively; requires listening, strategic context, win-win negotiating, situational leadership; great written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Leadership Skills: Inspire and motivate employees to successfully achieve operational goals; provide a stable, positive environment that challenges and develops employee potential; remove obstacles that interfere with team goals; earns respect of team and clients alike.
• Interpersonal Skills: Maintain confidentiality; remain open to others’ ideas; demonstrate willingness to try new things.
• Resource Management: Find creative ways to accomplish goals in the face of resource constraints; develop and manage realistic operating budgets that accomplish program objectives.
• Continuous Improvement: Proficient in company best practices in each function; looks for ways to improve efficiency and performance; analyzes data to make fact based decisions; incorporates feedback from various stakeholders to improve processes.
• Emotional Intelligence: Self-aware, easily establishes trust and integrity with clients and staff.
• Adaptability: Enthusiastically adapt to changes in the work environment; manage competing demands; maintain team focus and optimism when dealing with frequent change, delays or unexpected events.
• Dependability: Follow instructions; respond to management direction and client requests; communicate frequently; solicit feedback to improve performance.

Requirements

• College degree in business administration, engineering, transportation or related field required. Advanced degree a plus.
• 7+ years of demonstrated success in the areas of general management, sales/marketing, general operations and finance in a fast growth environment. Experience in logistics or transportation industries a plus.
• Prior P & L responsibility in a multi-site/multi-unit operation.
• Ability to identify priorities and focus on critical tasks.
• Must have demonstrated leaderships experience and history of hiring and developing key employees.
• Experience working with government, businesses, and non-profits.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication and problem solving skills.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Passion for bikes, efficiency, or sustainability a plus.
• Sense of humor required.

Note: The above description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities due to the nature of work performed to accomplish Alta Bicycle Share’s Mission. Alta Bicycle Share is proud to be an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer.
To Apply:
Please submit a cover letter and resume to: resumes+SFGM@altabicycleshare.com
Please, no phone calls

Click here for the original announcement.