TransportGooru

There is so much confusion and variation in the estimates/predictions when you hear the industry experts and forecasters talk about automated vehicles. Despite the challenges, there has been significant progress in the recent years and it is only getting more intense as the auto OEMs as well the tech geeks in Silicon Valley ramp up their investments and the research in the race to reach the holy grail.. Amidst all this chaos, comes this bold prediction.. 180,000 self-driving cars will be shipped globally by 2020.

Based on Frost & Sullivan estimates charted for us by BI Intelligence, there will be about 180,000 self-driving cars shipped globally by 2020. The market research firm adds that “you are likely to commute in autonomous cars” by 2025, which is a pretty bold statement considering that’s only a decade from now. 

And of course the source article doesn’t clearly articulate whether it is all Level 4 autonomy (no human input needed for operation)?  Do you agree with this prediction? Click here to read the article

Image Courtesy: Business Insider

Image Courtesy: NVTC

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission seeks a resourceful, transportation professional skilled in bringing teams together across transportation agencies on technology projects and planning efforts. This position will work with NVTC’s jurisdictions which include Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties and the Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church. Combine your skills in project management and knowledge of policy and planning to support regional efforts to expand capacity, improve connectivity and ensure high quality transit service in Northern Virginia. The Projects and Policy Manager will coordinate a regional working group on the New Electronic Payments Program, other contracts and state and federal grants as well as support regional planning activities.

POSITION DESCRIPTION
The position combines planning, coordination and project management of contracts and state and federal grants for six jurisdictions and the region as a whole. Existing projects include bus rapid transit (BRT), Metrorail station improvements, light rail and other multi-modal facilities. The position will develop funding strategies for ongoing and new initiatives as well as preparing all phases of funding applications. The Projects and Policy Manager will facilitate regional working groups, participate in planning activities of other regional working groups, and support the work of Commission. This position reports to the Director of Programs and Policy.
The ideal candidate will have experience with local or state government, project management, and transit and related fields including communications, research & analysis, regional transportation planning, and federal contracts and grants management. This position requires a college degree and at least five years of relevant experience supported with strong references. Excellent written and oral communication, experience in facilitation/meeting management, and skills in spreadsheets and graphics are mandatory.

DUTIES INCLUDE
 Manage New Electronic Payments Program (NEPP) project including:
o Facilitating regional partners working group o Serving as Project Manager for the regional Technical Assistance contract
o Staffing grant applications and procurements
o Serving as the liaison with WMATA and their contractor for NEPP

 Manage other projects, which may include the following:
o Vanpool Alliance Program
o National Transit Database (NTD)

 Represent NVTC on regional studies & with other regional organizations
 Develop partnerships on collaborative research and technology efforts
 Manage and/or provide oversight for approved NVTC contracts
 Identify new projects and develop applications for state/federal funding
 Draft requests for proposals and invitations for bids for new NVTC projects, direct selection and procurement, and manage contractor performance and payments
 Work with the Executive Director and board members on special projects
 Serve as DBE compliance officer
 Prepare informative materials for commissioners, local staff, and regional partners on new and existing NVTC projects including memoranda, web content, and e-newsletter text
 Participate in ongoing strategic planning efforts and organize outreach efforts on behalf of NVTC and regional projects

SELECTION CRITERIA
Mandatory:
 Bachelor’s Degree in public administration, planning, transportation, economics, business management, civil engineering, or related field, plus five years of professionally progressive experience with project management in transit, planning, or a related field.
 Demonstrated interest in transit or rail project development, policy, or finance.
 Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
 Experience in meeting management and facilitation.
 Skills in graphics and spreadsheets.

Desirable:
 Advanced degree in economics, public sector management/administration, public policy, planning, technology policy and law or related field;
 Additional work experience beyond the minimum five year requirement;
 Experience with FTA grant and contract requirements highly desirable;
 Experience in writing talking points, preparing presentations, meeting agendas, and drafting reports, analyses, and recommendations for board action and comments to legislative and regulatory agencies;
 Experience with local or state government;
 Experience with developing and making presentations to elected officials, business leaders and community groups;
 Experience in designing and/or conducting community outreach efforts; and
 Experience working closely in a small team environment.

How to Apply
The job will remain open until filled. NVTC is an equal opportunity employer. Please provide a complete resume including your salary history and requirements, as well as a letter describing your qualifications and interest in this specific position. Please describe examples of your relevant experience, include links to or attachments of relevant work product:

Email: opportunities@nvtdc.org
Director, Programs and Policy
NVTC
2300 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 620
Arlington, VA 22201

ABOUT NVTC
NVTC has a small staff located in offices in the Court House area of Arlington. NVTC is a leading expert on performance metrics and transit finance, coordinates regional planning studies and evaluations, partners with other regional entities including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. NVTC encompasses six cities and counties, Virginia Railway Express (a commuter rail service), six bus systems including MetroBus, Metrorail and the Vanpool Alliance.

SALARY and BENEFITS
Outstanding benefits are provided (life, health, dental, disability insurance; pension; pre-tax child care and medical cafeteria plan; free parking or parking cash-out; tax-free transit benefit). The competitive salary depends on experience and qualifications.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additionally, work hours may vary based on business needs and may include evening and occasional weekend hours as necessary.

Applications will be reviewed on a continuous basis. Interviews will be scheduled with those candidates whose qualifications best fit our needs. The application process will close when the position has been filled or when a sufficient number of qualified applications have been received.

Image Courtesy: Bikewalkalliance.org

The Alliance for Biking & Walking seeks a talented Communications Manager responsible for raising the profile of the grassroots state and local biking and walking advocacy movement.

• Location: Preferably Washington D.C., but can be remote with periodic travel to D.C.
• Deadline: Open until filled – candidates are strongly recommended to apply before Jan. 16, 2015
• Compensation: Commensurate with experience and includes generous vacation time, health and retirement benefits.

About the Alliance for Biking & Walking
The mission of the Alliance for Biking & Walking is to create, strengthen and unite state/province and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. The Alliance is the only national organization that trains, assists, empowers and strengthens community leaders and their organizations to transform communities through better bicycling and walking. With more than 200 state and local bicycle and pedestrian organizations employing hundreds of professionals in nearly every city and state, our people powered movement is transforming communities and the country.

Position Description
The Alliance for Biking & Walking seeks a talented Communications Manager responsible for raising the profile of the grassroots state and local biking and walking advocacy movement. The Communications Manager will help to meet the organization’s overall mission-driven direction with regards to messaging and communications strategy. The selected candidate will manage and implement the Alliance’s organizational communications, including website, email, print, social media, and press relations work. This person will be a storyteller for the active transportation movement, for our member organizations, and for people who walk and bike in North America. The Communications Manager will also oversee the Benchmarking Project, a biennial data collection project and report that the Alliance undertakes in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Duties and Responsibilities
Communications and Design:

• Set and manage the organization’s overall media, digital, press, and branding approaches.
• Write, edit, design, and manage print materials, including an annual report, brochures, sponsorship guides, and other materials.
• Direct and implement email communications, including a monthly newsletter and non-newsletter mass emails.
• Oversee the organization’s website, blog, and digital presence.
• Promote the Alliance’s work and the work of our member organizations through traditional media, social media, mass email, and organizational partnerships.
• Serve as the organization’s representative in the media; shape the organization’s media strategy and conduct proactive press outreach when appropriate.
• Help write and edit fundraising materials, including grant proposals and appeal letters.
• Oversee and add to the Alliance for Biking & Walking photo library; organize occasional photo contests to make more photos of walking and bicycling available for advocates.
• Conduct trainings, facilitate group calls, share resources, and give advice for state and local biking and walking advocacy organizations members on media relations, communications strategy, and digital strategy.
• Supervise interns and independent contractors as needed.

Benchmarking Project:

• Supervise the Benchmarking Project Manager, who oversees project planning, vision, research, writing, and data collection for the Benchmarking Report, the Alliance’s biennial report on biking and walking data in the United States.
• Design and implement release strategy, marketing, distribution, and presentations.
• Assist with fundraising for an online version of the 2016 Benchmarking Report. If funding is secured, select vendors and manage process for building digital components of the Benchmarking Report.

Qualifications
Essential:

• A strong commitment to the mission of the Alliance for Biking & Walking.
• Two or more years’ experience in communications, digital strategy, or a related field.
• One or more years’ experience in project and staff management.
• Experience managing an organization’s brand and social media for a brand.
• Experience with media relations; comfortable speaking on the record.
• Strong editorial, oral, and written communication skills.
• Proven success with managing and operating CMS and CRM software.
• Working knowledge of HTML; some knowledge of CSS preferred.
• Familiarity with InDesign and the Adobe Suite.
• Familiarity with Salesforce.
• Ability to work on self-directed projects in a flexible work environment with limited supervision, as well as a track record of working well on team projects.
• Comfort working in a learning organization that values meaningful contribution, collective feedback, and process evaluation.
• Cheerful, friendly and upbeat outlook; strong interpersonal and organizational skills.

Helpful:

• Specific experience working with national non-profit organizations.
• Familiarity with the state and local walking and biking advocacy movement.
• Experience producing newsletter content and curating stories representing a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences.
• Experience writing grants and fundraising letters.
• Experience with marketing, publications, and copyediting.
• Experience with Joomla and/or Nonprofit Soapbox.
• Experience working on advocacy campaigns and an understanding of basics of the political process.

How to Apply

Candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to Applications@BikeWalkAlliance.org. In addition, please submit a design sample (e.g. an annual report, poster, report, pamphlet, or website), as well as a 500-1000-word writing sample written for a general audience that conveys your writing skills and communication style. No academic papers please. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis – candidates are strongly encouraged to apply by January 16, 2015. Finalists will be contacted for interviews.

The Alliance for Biking & Walking is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity, disability, sex or age.

Photo by Aimee Custis Photography

Position Title: Research Analyst

Number of Open Positions: One, full-time.

Hiring Organization: Mobility Lab, a program managed by the Destination Sales & Marketing Group, Limited on behalf of Arlington County Commuter Services.

About the Mobility Lab Program

Mobility Lab is a program of Arlington County, Virginia’s transportation demand management bureau, Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS). The program has four main functions. One is hosting and co-sponsoring events related to transportation demand management (TDM) and transit-oriented development (TOD). The second is sharing news and information about TDM and TOD via the mobilitylab.org web site. The third is educating policy-makers about TDM.

The Research Analyst will help fulfill Mobility Lab’s fourth function, conducting research. At present, Mobility Lab’s primary research efforts focus on the following four categories:

1. Evaluation and measurement of other ACCS programs.
2. Public-opinion and other market research related to transportation.
3. Fulfilling data and information requests from ACCS programs, as well as groups outside of ACCS and Arlington County government.
4. Special projects.

Prior Mobility Lab research studies may be viewed at http://mobilitylab.org/research/mobility-lab-research-catalog/

Since TDM is an inherently public-facing transportation specialty and the companion elements of the Mobility Lab program are oriented towards outreach and communication, the research program must continuously strike a balance between serving the fast-paced, ever-changing needs for information from colleagues, and maintaining high standards of quality for projects that span many months or years. The program must also provide information to ACCS staff that is, technically sound, easy-to-understand, and actionable.

The research program is highly visible and receives considerable scrutiny from within ACCS.

Why are We Hiring for this Position?

The Mobility Lab Research Director and colleagues have identified a need to integrate program-evaluation-and-measurement research functions further into the day-to-day work of ACCS programs.

As one example, Mobility Lab will work with Arlington Transportation Partners (the business-outreach program of ACCS), to measure the impact of new transportation benefits or outreach on mode shift by analyzing small-scale pre- and post-intervention datasets in partnership with ATP staff as they engage employers regarding offering or expanding TDM benefits to their employees.

The research program will also enhance its integration with other ACCS programs by supporting information gathering for those programs. This will include providing regular written and oral synopses of relevant academic and public research to program staff, with key takeaways that the programs can use to enhance their work. The research program will also provide streams of regularly updated market information, such as demographic and transportation-related Census data, news of business relocations, and new residential construction.

In order to fulfill these new functions, Mobility Lab needs to expand its in-house capacity for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing data and making informed, evidence-based, data-driven recommendations. The Research Analyst will add knowledge of quantitative-research data collection, statistics, and data management.

Adding in-house capacity will complement existing and future research work managed by Mobility Lab but conducted by consulting firms.

The Research Analyst will report directly to the Research Director. The Research Analyst will also interact with other Mobility Lab and ACCS staff.

Responsibilities

• Draft survey questionnaires for approval by Research Director and other stakeholders.
• Assist with programming and monitoring of internet-based surveys.
• Analyze survey data using descriptive statistics and significance tests, and compare that data with other spatial and non-spatial data.
• Summarize and present analysis findings through written, visual, and oral communication.
• Assist the Research Director and ACCS-program staff with analysis of contact databases, including query and report writing.
• Track and report on outside research relevant to ACCS programs, as well as employer, labor-market, transportation, and demographic data.
• Assist in the creation of a database for the collection of performance metrics for ACCS programs. Lead maintenance and updating of the database for reporting to the Commonwealth of Virginia and other stakeholders.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Strong critical-thinking ability and capacity to build evidence-based arguments.
• Excellent analytic and technical skills that support critical thinking and evidence-based arguments.
• General knowledge of common primary and secondary sources of data, as well as a curiosity for exploring, discovering, and using new sources.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to be proactive in identifying and offering solutions to problems.
• Proficiency with common statistics packages (such as SPSS, SAS, R, or similar), Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Access.
• One to three years of professional experience in research analysis.
• Proficiency with any geographic information systems (GIS) software is strongly preferred.
• Experience designing and fielding internet-based surveys and analyzing collected data using common statistical tests preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in geography, business, public policy, economics, sociology, psychology, computer science, statistics, or urban planning. Candidates with degrees in economics, business, sociology, psychology, computer science, and statistics, must demonstrate an interest in cities, transportation, and/or marketing. 

Salary and Benefits

Salary will be commensurate with experience, but in the range of $50,000 to $65,000 per year.

Participation in DS&MG’s 401(k) plan, health insurance (including dental and vision), short- and long-term disability, as well as direct payment of transit/vanpool costs up to $130 per month (up to $1,560 per year) OR bike-commuting costs at $20 per month ($240 per year), and payment of annual Capital Bikeshare membership fees ($75 per year). A “compressed” work schedule that allows employees to take every-other Friday as a day off after six months of employment per supervisor approval. Total paid time off for vacation and illness of 128 hours (16 days) per year. An additional 10 paid holidays per year.

Note that this is not a position with Arlington County Government.

To Apply

Please send a letter of introduction, resume, three professional or academic references, and one writing sample that demonstrates your ability to communicate quantitative information. One sample of any work that demonstrates your ability to communicate quantitative information through visuals is also welcome, though not required.

Send materials in PDF format to stephen.crim@mobilitylab.org. Please include the phrase “Mobility Lab Research Analyst” in the Subject line. No phone calls please.

Photo by Elvert Barnes

The Special Projects Officer will assist with the implementation of Metro’s approved Public Participation Plan (PPP) to improve two way communication to boost inclusiveness of the public for all major initiatives.   This position will develop communications plans as well as plan and host opportunities for riders, the public, community organizations, advocacy groups, and special interest groups to provide feedback on major service, capital projects, and policy initiatives under consideration at Metro.

This position will schedule, coordinate and track public activities and ensure outreach is conducted in the appropriate service areas.  Traditionally hard-to-reach populations must be engaged.  This position will also serve as a brand ambassador for Metro at a wide variety of events and meetings, which includes setting up events, giving presentations, taking surveys and other communication strategies.

The ideal candidate is a self-starter and well organized. Has experience working with community groups and non-profits; understands minority, ethnic and religious populations and possesses a high level of cultural sensitivity.  Candidate also has excellent presentation skills, is comfortable in front of large and small crowds and has the ability to simplify complex information based on the audience.  Additional preferences include bilingual, flexible work schedule (evenings, weekends, and early mornings), valid driver’s license and ability to lift 25lbs.

www.wmata.com/careers  JOB ID: 141282

Apparently, the American public have the least amount of trust in their political overlords. New polling from Gallup shows car salespeople actually maintain a decent-sized advantage on Congresspersons when it comes to “honesty and ethical standards.” What’s more interesting? That’s actually a slightly smaller gap in than in 2013, when it was 66-47. So, it is not all that bad, right? Click here for  the full story.

Image Courtesy: Washington Post. Click the image for full story.

Subtlety is not his game, I guess. Poor chap gets caught reading this book on the subway, while sitting next to a lady. It makes you wonder what was his “success rate” meeting women on subways after he finished reading this book. Guys like this are one reason why you can’t help but fall in love with public transportation, right? I bet you can never catch someone reading this in a car.

step 1: hide that book

A photo posted by Loni (@lonidee) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:35am PST

Google gets a taste of what it is like to ride the slow lane, literally. Volunteers from the group SumOfUs put Google buses in the slow lane to demand Google support Net Neutrality, and say no to Internet slow lanes around the world! It was a gentle nudge to the internet giant to come out in support of the Net Neutrality issue. Clever campaign indeed. The group’s website says SumOfUs is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy.  Check out their call to action here: www.callongoogle.net

Related articles

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• Net Neutrality, Obama, and Why You Should Care
• Internet’s civil war spreads to Europe as Merkel speaks against net neutrality
• Google Still Doesn’t Want to Talk About Net Neutrality –