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A brilliant animated primer from the ASCE explains what’s at stake for the average American as the highway trust fund is fast nearing its end.. For the uninitiated,the Highway Trust Fund is the US federal funding for roads, bridges, and transit systems, and it is on course to become insolvent by August, jeopardizing America’s infrastructure and its economy. Unless our lawmakers get their act together with extreme urgency, we might be in for some serious trouble and may lose some of the hard fought economic gains quickly…Learn more:http://www.fixthetrustfund.org/

In case you are wondering why the highway trust fund is running out of money, take a peek at this article from Washington Post..

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(via Bicycle Dutch)

The Dutch are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to make cycling appealing to their population (all the while adding to the jealousy of many around the globe).  This time around, they have built the a fantastic bike parking facility in Utrecht that is a beauty to behold.. What I like about the facility is how functional, clean, airy, well lit and accessible it is (awesome design) for users. The lanes are clearly marked with easy to navigate aisles and lanes.  And what’s more? It accommodates all kinds of bikes, even the ones with the baskets upfront and the saddles in the back.  All this at an affordable price –  the first 24 hours of parking are free. After that it costs €1.25 per following 24 hours (€2.50 for larger bicycles).If you are a regular users, might as well consider getting annual subscription for €75/year.

Check out the video below to see how awesome it is and head over to Bicycle Dutch to read a thorough narrative that explains everything you may want to know about this facility.

The Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) seeks a Program Manager to manage its membership program and aspects of the annual conference. The position is located in Washington, DC. See www.ampo.org for information regarding AMPO.

Job Duties

Membership

• Manage membership program, working directly with over 200 MPOs and transportation consulting firms.
• Answer inquiries and build and maintain relationships with members.
• Maintain membership database.
• Work with bookkeeper to generate, send, and track membership invoices.
• Provide membership report to AMPO Board.

Annual Conference

• Responsible for the planning of AMPO’s Annual Conference, working directly with AMPO Technical Committee to develop program content.
• Manage all logistics onsite at the Annual Conference hotel.
• Solicit and secure sponsors and exhibitors.
• Work closely with the host MPO member organization to develop mobile workshops, organize volunteers, and other Annual Conference logistics.
• Assist executive director with managing and monitoring conference budget.

Communications

• Compile news from federal agencies, associations, MPOs, and policy and technical updates to include in a biweekly electronic newsletter, aMPO eMAIL.
• Edit transportation policy related documents from AMPO; including white papers, letters to congressional and executive branch offices, and updates to members.
• Update AMPO website, using Word Press.

Other

• Assist with organizing AMPO Board and Committee activities.
• Develop and implement annual awards program, honoring organization and individual leaders in transportation planning.
• Represent AMPO at industry meetings with federal and association partners and stakeholders.

Required/Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from four year college or university, with three to five years of work experience, preferably in an association or non-profit setting.
• Ideal candidate should have excellent written and oral communication skills, interpersonal, editing, and organization skills; takes initiative; meeting planning experience; knowledge of WordPress; and ability to work in a small, fast paced office.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications required.
• Occasional travel is required.

Salary and Benefits

AMPO offers a competitive salary, based on experience and qualifications. AMPO provides outstanding benefits (health, dental, disability insurance; retirement plan contribution; vacation and sick leave; pre-tax cafeteria plan; and transit benefit).

To Apply

AMPO is an equal opportunity employer. Please provide a cover letter describing your interest in the position and qualifications, resume, and a short writing sample (no more than 3 pages) to: staff@ampo.org. Place in the subject: Program Manager.

Applications can also be mailed to:

DeLania Hardy
Executive Director
444 North Capitol St., NW
Ste. 345
Washington, DC 20001

No phone calls please.

Project Manager

Serve as Project Manager in the Transit Development Group within NYCDOT’s Division of Traffic and Planning. Manage key planning and implementation initiatives related to improving surface transit within New York City, including implementation of PlaNYC recommendations and the DOT strategic plan. Assist in the planning, design and implementation of Select Bus Service projects, as well as other transit priority and complete streets projects. Work closely with other DOT staff, with other City, State, and Federal agencies (particularly the MTA), and with the general public. Manage consultant work efforts and contracts, as well as capital grants. Create GIS maps, and perform other technical planning analysis. Work with community boards and other public stakeholders in public workshops, presentations, and other settings.

Outreach Coordinator

Serve as Outreach Coordinator in the Transit Development Group within NYCDOT’s Division of Traffic and Planning. Develop and execute plans for community outreach associated with Select Bus Service projects and other related initiatives. Organize community meetings, and serve as the point of liaison with community boards, elected officials, and other project stakeholders. Develop and manage contact lists for projects, and record and respond to community feedback. Prepare materials for online distribution, including regular updates of the Select Bus Service website and other Web 2.0 activities. Work closely with DOT External Affairs, Borough Commissioner offices, and NYCT Government and Community Relations as needed.

Cambridge Systematics is a place where individuals are able to grow and develop both personally and professionally. When you come to work for us, you’ll be joining an independent, employee-owned company, recognized nationally and internationally. Through our world class on boarding process, new hires receive introductory training from our staff subject matter experts. Ongoing learning and knowledge sharing is a hallmark of our culture and our pursuit of excellence. Through our professional development opportunities, staff can branch out into several different career paths. In addition, we offer competitive salaries and superior benefits.

We are seeking a transportation consulting professional with proven project management and business development skills to help drive the expansion of our Transportation Planning and Management practice. This is an excellent opportunity to join an established and growing national team of planners, engineers, and economists recognized for innovative work in transportation planning and policy analysis.

The successful candidate will work with CS professionals around the country to address transportation challenges faced by Federal, state, and local governments, with a particular focus on clients in the western U.S. You will manage complex client projects, create and implement business development strategies, conduct leading-edge transportation research and analysis, and train and mentor other staff.

Qualifications: Master’s degree in planning, engineering, public policy, or a related field; 3 or more years of professional experience, including two or more years in a related consulting environment; proven business development, project management, and client service skills; proven writing, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills; and strong analytic and problem-solving skills with fluency in transportation data, planning methods, and analysis tools

http://www.camsys.com

EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability

Qualified Candidates Apply To: https://home.eease.adp.com/recruit/?id=8965851

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Here is a quick summary of  the what, why, who and when:

During April 24th-26th, I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee attending the 5th Annual Vanguard Conference, an experiential urban leadership gathering of 40 of the best and brightest urban leaders under 40, hosted by the national non-profit media organization Next City.  Mind you, I’m probably the least accomplished of this excellent group of 40 promising leaders, all of them working to improve cities across sectors, including urban planning, community development, entrepreneurship, government, transportation, sustainability, design, art and media. We convened in Chattanooga for a three-day series of presentations, workshops and neighborhood tours. The Vanguard conference will culminate in the Chattanooga Challenge, an ideas competition sponsored by the Footprint Foundation and designed to jump-start civic local innovation through a $10,000 grant for the winning proposal.

Here are a handful of observations from this conference:

• In a nutshell, it was a life altering experience. I got to learn so many issues associated with urban development, such as housing and economic issues, while further understanding the linkages and the crucial role of transportation systems in building a better urban environment.

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville,com

• Met some of the best and brightest in the country and was in awe from the time I arrived till I left the city (even now I’m in awe of how much knowledge was exchanged and free flowing in that setting).

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com

• When you adopt an unconference format, discussions flow freely and people are at ease to share their ideas. Moral of the story: do not host events featuring powerpoint presentations.  The conversations were engaging, stimulating and at times downright wild (particularly those conversations over the beers and coffees were excellent).

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. A lot of beverages consumed and tons of knowledge exchanged.

image courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Did I tell you it was wild and fun?

Image courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Opening night party on the premises of the Aquarium building.

• People in the government at local levels work together and even when they work together to solve problems they are constrained by institutional biases and money shortfall.  The city owns a strategic piece of digital infrastructure – Chattanooga offers the fastest Internet connections in America through the city-owned fiber-optic network.
• City of Chattanooga is a great place and certain parts of it, like in most urban areas, has bad things going on.   As part of the Vanguard Conference’s Chattanooga Challenge, we were all divided into four groups and sent to explore different corners of the the city (East, West, North and South) by foot, bikes and transit.  I was part of the walking tour (Team West) that hit the West side and got to see up close the economic disparities that exist on either side of a major elevated highway (U.S. 27) that literally bifurcates the communities more details on the West Side tour in a different bullet below).

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Team West, posing for a picture, moment before announced as Winners of the $10k Chattanooga Challenge.

• City of Chattanooga has a great bikeshare system, fantastic aquarium and an excellent set of touristy things like the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel (pictured below), great restaurants and watering holes across the town.

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com. Click image to see an entire set of image from a fellow Vanguard, Ennis Davis at Metro Jacksonville

• The city’s low-income residents, particularly those in the West side neighborhoods such as College Hill courts, are somewhat caught in a bad situation. These communities, slated for redevelopment within a decade or so, live quite close to the economic heart of the city. But they do not have a meaningful direct access where they can walk to their jobs and they are cut off by a major thorough fare. This has resulted in poverty and the usual accompaniments of crime and lack of education.  I was part of the Team West in the Chattanooga Challenge that visited these communities and pitched a strong proposal to connect the divided communities.  Our team, bolstered by three strong local young leaders, gained very illuminating insights that helped  us understand the situation at hand.  We suggested that the City of Chattanooga offer free Wi-Fi service to a public housing community on the city’s west side and develop a new pathway to connect the city’s downtown to the highway-marooned neighborhood.  I’m borrowing the narrative from Next City to explain how this is laid out: Right now, area residents, (shown in image below total population of 2481 with a median income of $9277) many of whom are children and downtown workers commuting from public housing developments to school or jobs in other parts of the city, must trek by foot on a dirt path and across highway ramps to reach the city’s center. Where the path enters their neighborhood, residents must pass through a hole in a chain-link fence.  Our teammate Marlon Brown, a city councilman from Mason, Michigan put it succinctly “the neighborhood is physically divided from the downtown at the same time as it is digitally divided from opportunities there. You have to remember, a city is only as strong as its least connected neighborhood. ” These next two images below came from our teammate John Bilderback, who quickly generated them to show how this community  is strategically located and yet remains far removed from better opportunities. What’s better – our winning idea will get a $10,000 boost from the local Footprint Foundation and the City will get to implement the proposal. And the local newspaper did an excellent article covering our winning proposal.  Yay!

• 

  Image Courtesy: John Builderback. Picture1 – Westside – Where the Resources are.

•  Last but not least I got to ride a bicycle after almost 15 years.  I am a regular transit user living in Washington, DC metropolitan area, where we are blessed with better transportation alternatives and a fantatistic world-class bikesharing system.  But I never had a reason to ride a bike because of my living and commuting options. Thanks to Chatanooga and my fellow Vanguards, I got to commandeer a bicycle one afternoon. It was a lot of fun and I reached my destination without embarrassing myself and an exciting story to tell (yeah, our group got yelled at by an older gentleman in a pickup for occupying a full lane on a main thoroughfare).  Sadly, despite the presence of a bikeshare system in the city, the number of bicyclists on the city streets were relatively low.

• 

  Image courtesy: http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/. Click image to see an entire set of image from a fellow Vanguard, Ennis Davis at Metro Jacksonville

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com

OFFICE OF PERFORMANCE: SR. PERFORMANCE ANALYST (#140519)

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
WMATA provides transit services in the National Capital Region covering a 1,500 square mile area  (5 million residents) including Washington, D.C.,  two suburban counties in Maryland, and three counties and three cities in Northern Virginia. WMATA operates the second largest heavy rail transit system, sixth largest bus network and fifth largest paratransit service in the United States.

The Office of Performance was established in 2009 to bring a performance-based management approach to the agency, increase Metro’s accountability and transparency and respond to the national focus on performance measures. The office serves as an internal consulting team working across the agency to develop tools that turn data into information, tackle areas facing performance challenges and effectively communicate results. The Office of Performance has also developed external performance material including the Vital Signs Report and scorecard to track progress towards WMATA’s strategic goals (Scorecard).

Sr. Performance Analysts Responsibilities
As a member of the Office of Performance, this position will assist in the formation of a range of performance products to expand the use performance information to guide decision making, promote WMATA’s benefits in the region and to unify employees toward achieving the agency’s strategic goals. The Senior Analyst will serve as the primary liaison between departments responsible for delivering and maintaining rail, bus and paratransit services. The incumbent will be responsible for collecting, analyzing, documenting, and communicating performance information in cooperation with other departments. Through cross-agency collaboration, the overall purpose of this position is to improve the safety, reliability and quality of WMATA services. The Senior Performance analyst will operate with broad latitude and independent judgment under the guidance from the Director of the Office of Performance.

We are looking for someone who can effectively work in an unstructured fast paced environment by applying strong analytical and communication skills with strategic thinking.

Salary Range
$88,700 to $133,000; plus excellent benefits package.

TO APPLY
Please see WMATA website for full information and to submit an application and resume

Via @YPTransportation

Check out this infograph from Pembina Institute that clearly lays out the case for public transportation (i.e., Rapid Transit) and shows how much money can be saved..

Source: Pembina Institute.

My favorite numbers guy, Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight has poured over the census data and published an intriguing article that shows how the workforce in US cities begin its work day. I’ll share Nate’s findings through the graphs he published but I highly recommend that you read the full article over at his site . This insightful analysis will be definitely useful for transportation systems operators and managers.

Here are a few data nuggets from this analysis:

• New Yorkers are pretty relaxed and get to catch a few more winks  than many in the country. The median worker in the New York metropolitan area begins her workday at 8:24 a.m. 
• A quarter of the workforce in Atlantic City doesn’t begin its workday until 11:26 a.m. or after (understandably because the AC workforce is dependent on a recreational economy).
• The metro area with the earliest workday is Hinesville, Ga. The median worker there arrives at work at 7:01 a.m.

Let’s first see the US metro areas that are slow to roll

Source: FiveThirtyEight.com

Now let’s look at the those cities with the earliest median arrival times to work

Source: FiveThirtyEight.com Click Image to learn more.

And finally the Median arrival time in your local time zone

Source: fivethirtyeight.com. Click the image to learn more

Interesting, isn’t it? Go over to Fivethirtyeight.com to soak up the brilliant write-up from Nate.