Center Updates

Transportation Workforce Development Comes to the Top of Federal Agenda


On October 7, 2014, close to 200 participants attended a federal forum on Strengthening Skills Training and Career Pathways across the Transportation Industry. This  major convening of transportation workforce development experts was held by U.S. Departments of Transportation, Education, and Labor to delve deeply into the present and future workforce needs of all transportation modes. In addition to the general sessions individual workgroups addressed topics relevant to maritime, aviation, transit, trucking, railroad and highway workforce development including retention, recruiting and training. Center Director of Research Xinge Wang presented an extensive data set of future workforce needs for the overall transportation�  industry which served as a foundation for  modal group discussions.

Jobs for the Future and the Transportation Learning Center worked under contract to the federal agencies to produce the data analysis and to organize the forum. Center staff Jack Clark, Brian Turner, Mark Dysart, Pat Greenfield and Tia Brown also facilitated and supported the modal group discussions, drawing out industry stakeholder input on workforce projections, gaps, challenges and solutions.  Dr. Beverly Scott, General Manager of MBTA, Stuart Bass, Director of Keystone Development Partnership,  Martell Dyles, Program Manager of Denver WIN and Kristy Wood, Transportation Program Coordinator for Mountwest Community College sat on panels with other experts and shared the collaborative effort by transit employers, unions, communities and educational partners to develop the next generation of transportation workforce.

Final data on the transportation industry's job projections, skills and training needs, and the implications for workforce development will be released in the near future.

This first of its kind meeting sets the stage for a new effort to bring the U.S. workforce up to world class standards and create a new paradigm for U.S. workforce development. The Center is proud to have been a part of this milestone development and looks forward to playing a major role going forward. 
Public Transportation
New York Times - October 3, 2014
Thomas Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, last week described his vast network of subways, buses and commuter trains as the "engine" for a regional economy that accounts for 11 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Without the M.T.A., he wrote, "New York as we know it could not function."  Mr. Prendergast's assessment, was the prelude to a plea to city, state and federal officials for more money.
Minneapolis Public Radio - September 18, 2014
For the first time, transportation projects vying for federal dollars in the metro area will be judged partly on whether they benefit the poor and people of color. Some suburban representatives argue that their cities could lose funding because of the new funding formula.  Committees of the Metropolitan Council pushed forward the proposal for a new formula for federal transportation project funding at meetings on Wednesday.
International Transportation News
Clean Technica - October 2, 2014
North American cities are primarily designed for automotive traffic. There has been more attention to bicycles, buses, and trains, but most people still look upon them as a poor person's transportation. Traveling in Germany I found a different model: how public transit should work!  "If I want to drive a car, I rent one," a young Berlin based executive told me.  The same sentiment was echoed by an executive in Hamburg. 
Transit System/Partners
UpRoxx - September 30, 2014
Mike Fuller is something of a legend in Southwest Philadelphia. Although I've personally never had the pleasure of riding one his trolleys, I've heard stories about the SEPTA Trolley Operator who keeps passengers entertained with his bizarre and hilarious narrations as if he's a local tour guide - giving Frank Reynolds a run for his money for "most popular Philadelphia tour guide." And now finally a Philadelphia area website has interviewed Fuller about the motivation behind his daily grind.
University City  Review - October 1, 2014
Skeptics sometimes accuse politicians of making promises they can't keep.  But when it comes to installing elevators on the Market Frankford El Line at 40th Street-that couldn't be further than the truth.  West Philadelphia leaders City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, State Senator Jim Roebuck and State Representative Vanessa Lowry Brown helped make those fabled elevators become a reality.  And those elevators were a long time coming.
Curbed - October 1, 2014

Everyone's understandably agog about the new West Station in Allston. The commuter rail stop, slated to open in 2020, will connect the area to Back Bay, South Station and maybe even tech-heavy Kendall Square. It might also become a trolley stop routing Allston residents all the way through to North Station. Such connectivity via public transit, of course, makes the environs of West Station all the more desirable as a place in which to buy or rent. What other transit stops, planned or recently launched, have also opened up a box of real estate goodies?
Safety
The Transit Wire - October 1, 2014
On October 3, TriMet (OR) will wrap up a seven-month test of bus warning systems that alert pedestrians and bicyclists when the vehicle is turning.  The Portland agency received a $400,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration to test multiple warning devices. TriMet installed the following devices on 45 buses running on five routes:   Protran Technology Safe Turn Alert™: Combines both an audible and visible warning. When the steering wheel is turned a minimum of 45 degrees, an audible alert outside the bus declares "pedestrians, bus is turning" and LED strobe lights on the side of the bus flash. The volume automatically adjusts based on the ambient noise level.
Aljazeera America - October 6, 2014
New York City has launched a Web page aimed at curbing sexual harassment on public transportation, joining a number of cities worldwide that have taken the fight against assault online.  The page went live on Oct. 1 on the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) website. It features a reporting tool for victims of harassment that allows passengers to file reports anonymously, submit of photo evidence and listen to safety tips.  
Salt Lake Tribune - October 6, 2014
Here's a quiz: Is it legal to drive through a rail crossing once the warning gates start rising?  Actually, it's not.  Drivers are supposed to wait until the flashing red lights stop, even if the gates are fully raised.  That's because sometimes a second train from the opposite direction can retrigger signals. Cars that don't wait for the flashing to stop may find that partially raised gates quickly reverse and lower on their car. Worse, motorists could crash into that second train. This isn't a hypothetical situation.
Labor News
TeleSur - October 6, 2014
Workers can think and act like trade unionists even if they don't have a union contract, have lost a government-supervised representation vote, or don't plan to petition for such an election.  In a widely-reported speech last year, AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka declared that the U.S. "system of workplace representation is failing to meet the needs of America's workers."   
Green News
The smell of diesel fumes in the morning may soon not smell like commuting for some New Jersey bus riders.  NJ Transit is scheduled to buy the largest number of hybrid buses in it's history. The agency's board is scheduled to award a contract of $35.2 million Wednesday to Motor Coach Industries for 37 buses that would replace aging coaches built in 2001 and 2002.  NJ Transit officials said those buses have reached 500,000 miles or more and are at the end of their economic life.
Workforce Development
On a Friday afternoon last spring, Dennis D'Amelio, an artist and teacher in late middle age was presiding over a class in color theory at LaGuardia Community College, whose location in the immigrant hub of western Queens makes it one of the most ethnically diverse colleges in the country. It was the end of the semester and the students were tackling a challenging assignment - a test of the reactive properties of color, which required the meticulous rendering of small sequential blocks of paint, an exercise that would serve as a lesson in deductive reasoning and consume hours.
Building Transportation Infrastructure

BART Develops Game for Public to Comment on Agency's Future Plans   

Progressive Railroading - October 7, 2014

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has launched an interactive game as part of an effort to solicit public input on the agency's spending decisions and planning for the next 40 years.  The public is being asked to weigh in on projects such as a fixing a backlog of needed repairs on the BART system. They may do so with staff and BART board members this month at one of several station events, where they can play the game and ask questions, BART officials said in a press release.   

Atlanta Streetcar Deems First Test a Success  

Progressive Railroading - September 29, 2014

Railway Track and Signal - October 3, 2014
On October 1, Atlanta Streetcar1001 made its first trip around the system's 2.7-mile route under its own power.  The electric streetcars are powered by an overhead wire carrying 750 volts DC; all four streetcars must undergo and pass specification, performance and safety tests to be ready for passenger service later in 2014.

How Denver Leaders Pulled Off a Public Transit Miracle  

National Journal - October 1, 2014 

Bill Sirois describes the first four months of 2007 in his office as "chaotic." The regional transit authority where he works as a senior manager had just learned that they were $1.5 billion over budget on a light-rail system that they had promised to deliver within a decade. Three years earlier, Colorado voters had approved a high-profile ballot measure to raise $4.7 billion through sales taxes to build the train system called FasTracks.

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