TransportGooru

Communities for Transit (“CFT”) is a newly formed non-profit organization dedicated to public eduation to cultivate and harness enthusiasm for transit and smart growth to build support for a planned rapid transit network in Montgomery County, Maryland. CFT will employ a range of strategies to catalyze support for making Montgomery County a national leader in using transit systems to transform “urbanizing” suburbs from congested, auto-centric neighborhoods into more environmentally and financially sustainable communities.

• Build and maintain CFT’s contact databases
• Develop content for CFT’s blog, fact sheets and social media accounts
• Catalog research and media regarding existing transit systems around the world
• Assist in new research projects relating to the proposed rapid transit network
• Create public education materials that are responsive to a wide variety of audiences and concerns
• Organize logistics and outreach around CFT’s public education events and community discussions
• Administer office and organizational functions as needed on a day-to-day basis
• Implement fundraising projects to sustain CFT’s efforts into the future

• Passion for transit, smart growth, planning, and/or environmental issues strongly preferred
• Excellent computer skills and experience with mass email communications, social media, and/or web development
• Ability to self-start and work independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Fast learner with attention to detail and ability to turn-around projects on quick timelines
• Strong writing and interpersonal skills; Comfort with public speakin
  Demonstrated comfort conducting public education campaigns, particularly for diverse communities, including youths, renters, immigrants, businesses, environmentalists, etc
• Experience working in a 501(c)(3) non-profit environment or other community-facing organization preferred

Communities for Transit (“CFT”) is a newly formed non-profit organization dedicated to public education to cultivate and harness enthusiasm for transit and smart growth to build support for a planned rapid transit network in Montgomery County, Maryland. CFT will employ a range of strategies to catalyze support for making Montgomery County a national leader in using transit systems to transform “urbanizing” suburbs from congested, auto-centric neighborhoods into more environmentally and financially sustainable communities.

• Work with web development, media and design consultants to develop high-impact simulations of the proposed transit network
• Build a program of public education events and community discussions around transit-related issues
• Conduct outreach to stakeholders and communities impacted by the transit plan
• Draft and design fact sheets, brochures, and other educational materials
• Establish and maintain regular communications with journalists, opinion leaders, blogs, and other news outlets
• Facilitate formation of a diverse coalition of local organizations that support high-quality transit systems
• Help manage office and organizational functions ranging from fundraising activities, intern supervision, and more
• Develop and maintain website and social media strategy for CFT
• Devise and implement a fundraising plan to sustain CFT’s efforts into the future

• Passion for transit, smart growth, planning, and/or environmental issues strongly preferred
• Prior experience at a public advocacy, non-profit, or policy organization, especially in a field related to CFT’s mission
• Project management experience, with demonstrated organizational abilities and attention to detail
• Ability to self-start and work creatively and independently in a fast-paced environment, including comfort with tracking multiple complex projects simultaneously
• Solid work history involving public speaking, writing and interpersonal skills
• Experience conducting public education campaigns, particularly for diverse communities, including youths, renters, immigrants, businesses, environmentalists, etc
• Excellent computer skills; Familiarity with mass email communications, social media, and web development preferred; Experience with graphic design, CRM, video editing, and blogging software a plus

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced this week it is seeking a Director for its Office of Program Administration, located in Washington, D.C. The Director in the Office of Program Administration will be tasked with providing executive leadership, policy direction, and oversight in guiding implementat

USDOT HQ, located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ion of the Federal-aid highway program and MAP-21 legislative requirements. The successful candidate will oversee the development and implementation of the policies, regulations, parameters, and general guidance by which all division offices and state transportation departments carry out the Federal-aid highway program.

The position requires the Director to lead national transportation efforts and develop and implement national policies and performance standards to allow for a successful delivery of the Federal-aid highway program. The Director will also address program issues with members of Congress, state elected officials, and other executive departments as an FHWA representative.

Additional information on the position, including application instructions, is available here. Those interested may also contact Mark Harris in FHWA’s Office of Human Resources at 202-493-0955.

Click here for more information regarding this position

This is bat s**t crazy..Whew! French daredevil, Francois Gissy, set a new speed record on a bike – an astonishing 163mph, besting his own previous record of 150mph set in 2002. How did he do it – by strapping a hydrogen peroxide powered rocket to it!  Want to know something more crazier – it is still not the fastest bicycle speed record. While Gissy broke the record for rocket-powered bikes, he was still 4 MPH off the fastest cycling speed of 167 MPH that Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg set in 1995 while riding in a slipstream, sans rocket! Clearly, my life is quite boring. Read more here.

Image courtesy: Discovery News

Found this floating on my news feed.. Too cool to not share.. Enjoy!

Apart from the ability to show how cool you are, this new innovation from Monkey Light Pros (currently in Kickstarter), will make you  quite visible to motorists and other road users during the night time.. That said, I’m really not looking forward to the possibility of too many Nyan cats flooding our city streets..Hey, as long as it saves lives and gives you a reason to get on the bike, I’m all for it :)

Image via Gizmodo

Gadget/tech stuff blog Gizmodo offers the following details:

• It utilizes a quartet of LED-impregnated bars that fit along the the spokes inside of your wheel. As the wheel spins, the bars rotate and generate the 256-color animated GIFs by exploiting the persistence of vision effect.
• Each unit weighs just 500 grams and fits on a 26 to 29 inch rim using the standard 32 or 36 spoke pattern.
• The system can load up to 1000 frames in a variety of media formats (JPG, GIF, PNG, AVI, MPEG, MOV, QT, FLV) onto a web-based playlist for display (think about blitzing around the town with a different GIF every day! AWESOME!)
• Users can also download the Mac/Linux API to create custom light shows though the system comes preloaded with 10 animations.
• The integrated 7000mAh Li-ion battery supplies 3 – 8 hours of power at full brightness (up to 48 hours on lower settings).
• Cost: a single light system with a $700 and a pair for $1400. They’ll retail for $895 a pop if and when the program funds

Not sure what happened to this motorcyclist to create such a ruckus on the street.  But one thing is damn clear – he/she is not fit to operate a motor vehicle, EVER. Ridiculous!

 via Reddit

(Source: Imgur via Reddit)

A photo series that walks you through the story of a memorial built in a  remote corner of the globe.  It is beautiful and moving tribute to the victims of UTA Flight 772, a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo to Paris CDG airport in France. On Tuesday, September 19th, 1989 the aircraft exploded over Niger in the Tenere region of the Sahara Desert. French investigators determined a suitcase bomb planted by Libyan terrorists to be the cause. All 170 people on board died. You will appreciate the efforts that went into building this memorial for the perished..

A new study from the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) led by Georgia Institute of Technology is looking at how transit agencies can use web-based tools including online polls and surveys, social media, mobile applications, and crowdsourcing to gather feedback from customers and other stakeholders. The project team is inviting transit operators to participate in a survey about their current and future uses of web-based feedback.

The survey is open to all transit agencies regardless of size or transportation modes offered. Even if the agency does not have a web-based presence, agencies insights will be valuable to the research effort. The final survey results will be incorporated into a report that will be published by the Transportation Research Board. This is a web-based survey that should take 10-15 minutes to complete and the survey deadline is May 31, 2013.

For queries please contact

Kari Watkins, the PI, by phone at (404) 385-4213 or email at kari.watkins@ce.gatech.edu.

Human subjects inquired can be directed Melanie Clark, Georgia Institute of Technology, at (404) 894-6942.

Here is the link for the survey http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1190592/5ac76b6bebb0

Source: Imgur

A bit of background: This image is part of a safety campaign by Canadian provincial agency Societe de l’assurance automobile (SAAQ) urging people to wear seat belts in the car. SAAQ (whose translation in English roughly equates to Quebec Automobile Insurance Corporation) developed a set of  posters,including the one below, for displaying in bars and restaurants from August 27 to September 23, 2012..

Very clever driving safety ad.. Source: Imgur via Reddit

Click here to see the other posters in this campaign.