TransportGooru

Say hello to Honk, a neat little app (now available on iOS platform for $0.99) that solves two of the biggest headaches (especially in urban environments that you are unfamiliar) – remembering where you parked and also remembering if your meter time is up.  Here are some  of the features as mentioned in the app store:

• Simplest interface to set the parking meter alarm. A single swipe for most situations!
• Updates your remaining time on its App Icon. A quick glance at your home screen, your mind at peace.
• Smooth handwritten memo/photo/voice memo to mark the parking spot.
• Honk uses the highest level accuracy available for the phone and marks your location when you set the meter alarm automatically. Manually move the parking pin on the map when the GPS accuracy falls short. Shows how far the car is from your current location.
• Innovative bread-crumb trails to help quick orienting yourself as well as built-in compass.
• Different types of meter with long (up to 24 hours) and short time limits.
•  Soft, regular as well as the Library- and the Shopping Mall- alarm level options.
• Uses the background processing and local notifications for reliable, accurate alarms. Supports Retina display.

Pretty cool, right? Check out the little video from Mashable that explains all this:

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!

Moral of the story, don’t hesitate to use your darn mobile phone when you are standing at that unassumingly boring plain vanilla bus stop.  In this campaign, mobile electronics firm Qualcomm put up a poster featuring a URL and waited for people to visit the mobile site. When the visitors got to the website, the fun began. Watch to see what happens at probably what I call the best bus stop ever. Sigh! I wish my bus stop would offer something like this to spice up my sleepy mornings.

Related articles

• Qualcomm’s New Ingenious Web Ad Series Shows the Merits of Waiting at a Bus Stop
• Qualcomm asks: sled dogs or the bus today, ma’am?
• Qualcomm’s new ‘Born Mobile’ ad series makes the bus stop fun again
• Qualcomm details ‘always-on’ Snapdragon voice activation features

(Source: via YPTransportation.org)

Associate Project Manager/Senior Associate

NelsonNygaard Consulting Associates (NN) seeks a highly organized, independent, forward-thinking professional for its newly formed Washington, DC office. The selected individual will play a key role in the firm’s growing multi-modal practice. This is an outstanding opportunity for the right person to become involved in the continued growth and service of one of the nation’s most innovative transportation planning firms.

NelsonNygaard has a long history of sustainable planning for livable, and successful, communities. NN’s work emphasizes quality, creative transit/transportation planning that addresses wider community goals such as economic growth, social equity, strong communities, environmental and energy conservation, and quality places. NelsonNygaard was established with an emphasis on transit service planning and system design, but has since become a national leader in multi-modal transportation planning and engineering.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will work as part of a small professional team focusing on transit and multimodal transportation planning, policy development and/or design. The position requires quality work and individual initiative. Candidates must bring demonstrated technical experience in the transportation, design, or policy fields as well as excellent visual, written and oral communication skills. The individual will have the opportunity to assume key roles in project management, marketing and business development.

Specific expectations of the position include the ability to:

• Function as a project manager for small projects and lead planner for complex components of large projects.

• Organize, conduct and supervise data collection activities in the office and in the field

• Analyze public transit, parking, and multi-modal travel data including models, surveys, and operational plans

• Prepare quality technical reports and recommendations

• Frame and conduct independent research

• Track and work within budgets and assist senior managers with project delivery

• Formulate strategies for and assist with community outreach activities

Though most of the work will come from projects on the East Coast, there will be numerous opportunities for the candidate to contribute to NN projects across the United States and internationally. Candidates must be willing to travel (on average 2-4 overnight stays per month plus numerous day trips) and must have a valid Driver’s License.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate should have at least five years of increasingly responsible experience in a broad cross-section of transportation, urban planning, or engineering. Private sector consulting experience is highly desired but is not a requirement. Minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. A Master’s Degree in planning or engineering is preferred, however candidates holding a Bachelor’s degree with at least two additional years of direct work experience may be considered.

Potential candidates must have demonstrated problem solving skills and be able to perform detailed technical analysis and feasibility studies with proven expertise in at least two of the following areas:

• Transportation master planning

• Transit/shuttle planning and operations

• Transit facility planning

• Bike/pedestrian planning

• Site planning in urban environments

• Transit Oriented Development

• Transportation Demand Management

• Parking Management

• Multi-modal circulation studies

• Corridor planning and design

• Policy research and development

• State or regional planning

• Transportation performance management (including return on investment) and evaluation

Salary and Benefits

All employees are paid an hourly rate. The annual salary range equivalent for this position is $70,000 to $85,000, depending on qualifications. Benefits include fully paid health and dental insurance, a 401K/profit-sharing program and Paid Time Off (PTO).

Please send cover letter and resume to jobs@nelsonnygard.com by March 18, 2013, with the subject line DC Associate Project Manager/Senior Associate.

English: Flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an organization of the United Nations Deutsch: Flagge der Internationalen Atomenergieorganisation (IAEO), eine Organisation der Vereinten Nationen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a team leader reporting to the Section Head, the Unit Head develops the IAEA‘s programme on the safe transport of radioactive material and leads the Unit’s activities to ensure the efficacy of the IAEA’s programme on a global level.

The Unit Head has several roles:

1. a programme coordinator in a specialized, multilateral environment with diverse views on the issues, finding practical solutions and presenting arguments that can achieve results;
2. a senior specialist whose extensive experience in and knowledge of the area form the basis for mutual respect vis-à-vis high-level regulators and operators in Member States,
3. a manager ensuring that programmes and tasks are implemented effectively;
4. an adviser/promoter conveying to multiple audiences the IAEA’s vision and mission in this area; and
5. a facilitator of inter-organizational cooperation in transport safety and cooperation with other organizational areas in the IAEA dealing with this area of work.

The Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety develops and maintains standards for radiation protection, radioactive waste safety and safety in the transport of radioactive material that enable the beneficial uses of radiation to be exploited while ensuring appropriate protection of workers, the public and patients. It also assists Member States in the implementation of these standards and provides related appraisals and services.

The Regulatory Infrastructure and Transport Safety Section (RITS) is responsible for developing and providing Member States with safety standards, guidance and tools to foster regulatory infrastructure for the control of radiation sources, for the safe transport of radioactive material, and for managing information on the identification of needs in Member States that would be used to improve radiation, transport and waste safety.

The Transport Safety Unit is responsible for establishing and maintaining safety standards related to the worldwide safe transport of radioactive material, including the IAEA’s Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, and to appraise the application of the safety standards in Member States. This includes efforts to foster the harmonized incorporation of the Transport Regulations and other associated safety standards by international organizations, and dangerous goods and modal organizations. In addition, the Unit manages projects concerned with key aspects of the Transport Regulations, provides training related to the safe transport of radioactive material, and operates and maintains databases relating to transport issues. The Unit convenes meetings to guide its activities, involving experts from Member States and associated international organizations, including the periodic convening of the Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSSC). It is also involved in the provision of technical cooperation for Member States, including training activities.

The environment of the Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety is dynamic, participative and interactive with continuous inputs received from internal technical counterparts and external counterparts in Member States, from other international organizations and from the international scientific community.

Click here to learn more.

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Description:

The Department of Transportation is seeking a talented and exemplary professional to join a dynamic work group. The selected individual will need to have exceptional communication skills, be able to provide excellent customer service, and have solid technical and analytical skills. This position will review complex development applications for compliance with County policies and regulations; formulate and communicate transportation recommendations to the staff, appointed and elected officials; scope and review Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA); attend and represent the Department at Planning Commission, Board of County Supervisors, and other transportation related meetings; provide planning and technical solutions to complex problems or situations; work with other County agencies and community groups to achieve County and Departmental vision and goals. The successful candidate will need to be enthusiastic, organized, creative, team-oriented, and have a positive can-do attitude. This position will perform under the direct supervision of the Transportation Planning Manager.

TRB’s Technical Activities Division has an opening for a Senior Program Officer (SPO) to work in the areas of preservation and maintenance of transportation facilities, with an emphasis on highways. Specifically, the SPO will work in the areas of management, personnel, equipment, and materials for preservation and maintenance; preservation and maintenance of structures, bridges, pavements, roadsides, and signs/markings; corrosion; work zone traffic control; and winter maintenance.

Responsibilities include keeping abreast of issues and technical developments affecting the preservation and maintenance areas, providing staff support to TRB standing committees and the Operations and Preservation Group Executive Board; planning and delivering sessions and events for the TRB Annual Meeting program; planning and managing conferences; reviewing and processing reports and papers; traveling to state, local, and federal transportation departments, transportation-related industries, and universities to exchange information about problems and potential solutions and about current and proposed research programs; maintaining ongoing relationships with major TRB sponsors (including the state Departments of Transportation); developing new program areas; serving as liaison to TRB Cooperative Research Programs; responding to inquiries; and performing other related duties as assigned. Supervises work of support and other program staff associated with the projects.

A listing of minimum requirements, full job duties, and application information are available on the National Academies’ Office of Human Resources webpage.

Submission Deadline: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 5pm.

The Northeast Corridor Commission seeks a graduate student to support all aspects of the Commission’s work. Working closely with a small team of highly motivated transportation professionals, the intern will have the opportunity to shape project work in coordination with Commission staff. The Commission is currently developing key reports on the current and future value of the NEC, while participating in the major short- and long-term planning efforts that will guide the development of the NEC. The intern will be responsible for policy research, transportation planning and analysis, report preparation, website content development, assistance with day-to-day office management and administration, and other tasks as assigned. Successful candidates will demonstrate a willingness to undertake unfamiliar initiatives and strong enthusiasm for the Commission’s work.

The Commission maintains a full-time staff in Washington, DC. The Commission is accepting intern applications from current graduate students in the Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York metropolitan areas. This paid internship includes term-time work in spring 2013, with the possibility of extending into summer 2013.

Qualifications

Candidates should be pursuing a masters degree in public policy, urban and regional planning, transportation, business, or a related field. Candidates should have:

• Experience collecting, evaluating, and interpreting quantitative data;

• Excellent skills in written, verbal and graphic communication of quantitative and qualitative information, including the ability to clearly express technical concepts to wide audiences;

• Strong computer skills in data analysis, word processing, and graphic design – experience with the Adobe Creative Suite, data visualizations, and/or geographic information systems (GIS) is preferred; and

• An ability to build relationships with all levels of an organization, work in a fast-paced office environment with tight deadlines, and stay organized and detailed-oriented while working on a wide range of tasks.

Application Instructions

Interested candidates should email a cover letter, a resume, and a one-page writing sample to: Jeremy Steinemann, Transportation Analyst, jsteinemann@nec-commission.com . Successful writing samples should emphasize strong writing skills and the ability to communicate technical concepts to broad audiences. Writing samples may pertain to transportation, city planning, public policy, or related issues, but need not demonstrate proficiency in a particular content area. Submission Deadline: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 5pm.

Congress created the Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Operations Advisory Commission (NEC Commission) in recognition of the inherent challenges of coordinating, financing, and implementing major improvements that cross multiple jurisdictions. The Commission’s goals are to lead the creation and implementation of a visionary, long-term, regional investment strategy for the Northeast Corridor; advance near-term projects; coordinate regional planning and communication; and educate stakeholders and the public about the Northeast Corridor’s investment needs and its role in the future economic growth and development of the region.

The NEC Commission is comprised of representatives from each of the NEC states, Amtrak, and the U.S. DOT, with non-voting representatives from freight railroads and states with connecting corridors. For more information about the Commission, visithttp://www.nec-commission.com.

Source: Center for American Progress

Amidst all the exhaustive and bitter political battles that rage day after day over the weak fiscal health of the nation, there are so many little things that slip away from the attention of tax paying public. And here is one such that I happened upon via twitter.

Guess what?

Just by eliminating a tax loophole that gives special treatment to corporate jets, for example—at a cost to taxpayers of $3.2 billion over 10 years – Congress could avert cuts that would cost thousands of jobs, hurt millions of disadvantaged students, and force hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families to lose critical nutrition and housing supports this year.

Information nuggets such as this make me wonder why our Politicians find it so difficult to act to avert painful cuts (in $$ that eventually affect middle and lower-income families) by taking a more balanced approach to deficit reduction.  Corporations are people too?  Not really (but the highest court in this land says otherwise). As CAP notes, “Unless Congress acts, on March 1 automatic and indiscriminate spending cuts will hit key programs, costing our economy more than 1 million jobs and cutting essential services for millions of low- and middle-income families.” That leaves me with this question: Will the politicians be rational for a change and do the right thing for the country? Or, will they continue to squabble and be addicted to doing their habitual partisan battles?  Time will tell. Sigh!