Volume 5, Issue 2 summer 2013

Young Professionals in TransPorTaTionhttp://yptransportation.org

▶

In thIs Issue:• GradStudentsImpress

inHays‘OutsidetheBox’TransportationBusinessandPolicyInnovationsCompetition...................1

• GetanAirSagePASS!......2

• EngagingHighSchoolStudentsinTransportationEngineeringwithRealWorldActivities..............3

• MemberSpotlight:DevonParsons-ChasingDreamsinTransportation................4

• TheAirSage2013TransportationIndustrySurvey:AnIndustryontheMove..............................6

• YPTPortland’sCityChapter’sCorner............................6

• YPT:HowItAllBegan.....7

• YPT:LookingTowardtheFuture.............................8

• PutYourMessageinTheirPocket............................8

• InterviewwithJamesWong,RunnerUpinHays‘OutsidetheBox’Competition......9

• Editor’sColumn............11

• YPTPhotoAlbum.........13

Grad StudentS ImpreSS In HayS ‘OutSIde tHe BOx’ tranSpOrtatIOn BuSIneSS and pOlIcy InnOvatIOnS cOmpetItIOn

By Jenny Henderson, Administrative Support Manager George Mason University, School of Public Policy

The Cameron Rian Hays Competition for Outside the Box Transportation Business and Policy Innovations is a competition for young transportation professionals and students 35 years of age and under. Run by the George Mason University School of Public Policy, the award provides financial prizes for creative ideas addressing current, real-world challenges in the realm of transportation. The competition is a memorial tribute to Cameron Rian Hays, a graduate of the School of Public Policy noted for his innovative way of thinking.

This spring marked the competition’s inaugural year. The competition drew 38 entries from all over the United States, as well as Canada,

Austria and India. An advisory board selected 7 finalists to go to the final stage of judging by a blue ribbon panel. The panel, chaired by Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton, and including venture capitalist Hooks Johnston of Valhalla Partners, and Ad-ministrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration, chose the top three submis-sions. The three finalists came to the Arlington, Virginia campus of George Mason to present their innovative ideas to the panel and a crowd of transportation enthusiasts. The panel an-nounced the winners after hearing presenta-tions and questioning the finalists. A total of $17,500 was awarded, with first place taking $10,000, first runner-up $5,000, and second runner-up $2,500.

The Winners

This year’s winner was submitted by Josephine Kressner, a doctoral student at Georgia Tech. Her proposal focused on collecting data about household travel in such a way that individual privacy could be protected, while near real-time data about individual travel is collected, and provided for decision-makers.

The first runner-up was submitted by Margaret Carragher, Aaron Gooze, Landon Reed and James Wong of Georgia Tech. The proposal,

TheBlueRibbonPanelJudges:SchoolofPublicPolicy(SPP)Dean,MarkRozell;VASecretaryofTransportation,SeanConnaughton;SPPProfessorandDirectoroftheTransportationPolicy,OperationsandLogisticsProgram,JonathanGifford;VentureCapitalistandPartneratValhallaPartners,HooksJohnston;FTAAdministrator,PeterRogoff;FatherofCameronHays,BrianHays

Competitionwinner,JosephineKressner

2

M obility Matters

titled “Pop Transit” focused on the benefits of BRT in six cit-ies. An interview with James Wong is featured later in this edition of Mobility Matters.

The second-runner up was William Bacon, a transportation planner with the San Francisco County Transportation Au-thority. His proposal focused on creating a reward program for transit riders that could be used to pay for highway tolls.

Future of and Goals for the Competition

The competition is currently organized to run for 5 years. The School of Public Policy hopes that with continued and growing interest from the young transportation community, and with the help of sponsors, the competition will continue

to grow and will last beyond the original five-year plan. The inaugural year was a great success, and the school is opti-mistic that subsequent years will bring an even wider range of outside-the-box ideas. The goal of starting, and continu-ing, the conversation about the future of transportation in a new and innovative way is at the heart of this competition.

If you or your organization would like to help sponsor this program, please contact Craig Rocklin, Director of Develop-ment at the School of Public Policy by email at crocklin@gmu.edu or phone at 703-993-7527.

Full information on the competition, including rules, submis-sion guidelines, and previous years’ entries, is available on the Outside-the-Box website at http://outsidethebox.gmu.edu/

Get an aIrSaGe paSS!

Announcing the ProfessionAl AdvAncement & success scholArshiP exclusively for young ProfessionAls in trAnsPortAtion

Has there been a conference or class you really wanted to attend but just couldn’t make it work out financially? AirSage wants to pro-vide resources to help you become better transportation professionals and thought leaders in your indus-

try. So, in order to help you achieve your goals and further develop your career through training, conferences, seminars (or other methods of advancement), AirSage has created a new program exclusively for YPT members – the AirSage PASS: Professional Advancement & Success Scholarship.

Each quarter, AirSage will award scholarships to help cover the cost of registration, tuition, travel expenses and other fees associated with events that can help you grow profes-sionally.

AirSage will award a minimum of one scholarship per quar-ter. The amount of each individual grant will depend on the specific project, need, and availability but most awards will fall in the range of $500 to $2,500. If there’s an event you have your eye on, act fast… the next deadline is approach-

ing! You can check out all the details and apply online here: http://www2.airsage.com/AirSagePASS

WIN A T-SHIRT! To celebrate the launch of this exciting program, the first 10 people to submit an application will receive an AirSage PASS t-shirt! Also, if you tweet about the program, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a coveted AirSage travel speaker. (You can steal some of our tweet-samples here.) Tweet to your chapter for bonus points!

New #scholarship awards for @YPTVoice members! You can apply today here http://bit.ly/177ekwi from @AirSage #AirSagePASS

#transpo @YPTVoice members can win a grant for confer-ence travel from @AirSage! Check it out the #AirSagePASS here http://bit.ly/177ekwi

YPTmembers,SanFranciscoChapter@YPTSFBay(lefttotoright):PaulSupawanich,DarrylJones,KruteSinga

3

M obility Matters

▶

enGaGInG HIGH ScHOOl StudentS In tranSpOrtatIOn enGIneerInG wItH real wOrld actIvItIeS

By Ruben Hovanesian, EIT, Studying Civil Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, class of December 2013. Past president of the ITECPP student chapter, having initiated/led many of the outreach programs and projects described here.

It’s a Friday afternoon at Esteban Tor-res High School in East Los Angeles,

and the 38 students in Ms. Harwood’s Geometry class are nervously adjusting their ties in the school’s library. It’s finals week, but that’s the least of their worries. They’re about to present their multimodal bridge designs to a panel of engineering professionals. How did they develop their cross-sections? What type of foundation was used? How are they accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians? And that light rail line, where did that come from?!

Transportation Engineering is an amazing field, one with a great sense of “family”. As students, we receive plenty of guidance and mentorship from folks in the industry through Institute for Transportation Engineers (ITE), Young Profes-sionals in Transportation (YPT), Women in Transportation (WTS), and many other transportation organizations. At Cal Poly Pomona’s ITE student chapter, we have been passing-on that mentorship to younger generations, encouraging

them to pursue careers in civil engineering and introduc-ing them to transportation engineering through hands-on activities, projects, and games!

So how did these 38 students come up with their designs? Over the last three months, the students learned about the different aspects of Civil Engineering through sessions prepared by students at Cal Poly Pomona. An overarching group project ties everything together; it includes design-ing a multimodal bridge to accommodate cars, buses, bikes, pedestrians, and a light rail line.

Each session begins with a “KAPOW” video, something that shows the amazing immensity of our infrastructure. For example, seeing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, or the world’s largest shake test in Japan, really excites students and prepares them to learn about structural engineering. We then go into a fun game for the students to better grasp the concept of that week’s lecture. To learn about structural engineering, they are given paper and a bit of tape, and told to design a structure that can hold the most weight. When they have to stand on a chair to stack over 20 books on their structures, that’s when you really have their attention! For the transportation section, we borrowed the online traffic signal game “Gridlock Buster” by University of Minnesota. This allows them to see just how applicable the topic is, giv-ing them a reason to pay attention. The lectures are short, and are prepared by Cal Poly Pomona students specifically for kids who have no engineering background, with plenty of pictures and examples. But here’s the best part: after a lec-ture is over, the students break into groups, and apply what they’ve learned to their own bridge design. Each group is guided by a mentor as they decide on the overall bridge type, perform number-of-lane calculations, determine what

RubenHovanesian

ZakiMustafa(LADOTExecutiveOfficer-ProjectDelivery)givesamotivationalspeechtothehighschoolstudentsduringatourofLADOT’sATSAC(AutomatedTrafficSurveillanceandControl)center.Shortlyafter,wegotstuckintheelevator…butthat’sadifferentstory.

SaïdYahya,MinnatPatel,andJesseMortonsetuptubecountersattheentranceofCalPolyPomona’sparkingstructure.

4

M obility Matters

type foundation to use given certain soil types, decide just how to accommodate the different modes of travel, and a lot more. We teach the students how to use SketchUp to develop 3D designs from their sketches, as well as how to put together a proper PowerPoint presentation (including how to speak to the audience).

During their final presentations, with their parents and friends looking on, the students answer questions from the profes-sionals on why they made certain design choices and their overall thought process. For us, it’s a profound experience to watch a group of high school students tell you just why they used a cable-stayed bridge, operating at a LOS of C, with bike lanes in both directions. And when they put up their cost-esti-mates, that’s when we know these students have an excellent chance in succeeding beyond their peers in STEM.

Other Outreach

We’ve also partnered with the Society of Women Engineers student chapter to help with the annual Youth Engineer-ing Success (YES) program, a day where over 100 kids visit our campus and tour the labs. It provides kids with another chance to explore what careers in engineering are like. We use a special presentation that introduces them to Civil Engineer-ing and dispels the myths that scare students away, such as that engineering is only for boys, or that you need to love math to be an engineer.

Programs at Cal Poly Pomona

For our own students, we’ve just completed a very new initia-tive, where we took on twelve transportation engineering projects that Cal Poly Pomona needed done. It was a win-win; our students got real world experience as if they were traffic engineers for a consulting agency, and the school received several engineering studies completed for free.

We initially spoke with decision makers about what our capa-bilities are as students and what their needs are. From there, we identified a couple projects that we could do: parking, intersection and roundabout studies, a policy review for bik-ing and skateboarding on campus, and creating a GIS traffic control device database. The projects, and the relationship between students and administrators were very successful, and we took on several more studies the next quarter dealing specifically with traffic safety and multimodalism on campus.

These opportunities have benefited our students by provid-ing great learning opportunities, experiences in the field, and the satisfying feeling of being able to serve our community. Asking kids at the end of an outreach event “who wants to be an engineer?” and seeing those hands go up is a very warm feeling of accomplishment.

You can find out more about our program at http://itecpp.wordpress.com/ or follow us on twitter @ITECPP. If you are in-terested in learning more, or have an opportunity for us, we’d love to hear from you: ite@csupomona.edu

memBer SpOtlIGHt: devOn parSOnS

chAsing dreAms in trAnsPortAtion

By Devon Parsons

Devon Parsons is on the Operations Management Leadership Program with GE Transportation and is based out of Erie, PA. He is involved with the Global Service Operations which supports thousands of locomotives worldwide for GE’s customers and has worked at numerous railroad shops around the U.S. in both operation and project

management roles. Devon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from the University of Florida.

There is hardly a kid that does not undergo a professional identity crisis throughout his childhood—especially when constantly bombarded with questions like “What do you want

to be when you grow up?” Changes come a mile a minute with desires to be a policeman, banker, firefighter, CEO, or anything else under the sun. I must admit I had moments where I wanted to fly Boeing 747’s internationally for a living or thought about being a comedic late night television host a la Stephen Colbert, but for my story it boiled down to one word that has empowered so much in my life: trains.

Most young boys have train memorabilia in their early years but I was that one who never outgrew Thomas the Tank En-gine. In fact growing up in New Hope, PA, a small town about an hour north of Philadelphia, I had local inspiration: the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad where a 1926 Baldwin steam loco-motive puffs across W Bridge Street on a daily basis during the season. This awe inspiring machine captured my attention like no other with mesmerizing moving parts (the technical term being Walschaerts valve gear), hissing and billowing white steam, and wheels that towered over my head. And who couldn’t love the sweet whistle that pierced and echoed through the valleys of southeastern Pennsylvania? It was a tourist attraction that drew thousands, but I had it right in my backyard. My parents helped me discover that the magic of

DevonParsons

5

M obility Matters

these beasts could also be built on a table and soon I had a Li-onel basement empire that any railroader would be proud of. As I grew older, my family joked that I would eventually turn into a locomotive and they probably are not that far off.

Fast forward to high school—I had a successful CCTV comedic news show, supportive friends, and top of the class with an acceptance to the University of Florida. Do I choose my new-found hobby of journalism, or pursue that itch I was never go-ing to scratch of going into the railroad industry? I attempted the latter and settled on an Industrial & Systems Engineering degree when I learned that process and efficiency can be driven to any business including those on the rails. Through showing genuine interest and passion, I had acquired some excellent mentors in the railroad sector who confirmed that engineering was a great foundation (The career counselors were not much help: “Trains? Isn’t that a dead industry? Who travels by train anymore?” If that happens nowadays, I gladly rattle off Association of American Railroads statistics and Amtrak’s revival does not hurt the public image either.). After an internship at Frito Lay, I finally had a great opportunity with General Electric Transportation back in my home state where I would get to work as a lean manufacturing intern in the main building where diesel electric locomotives are as-sembled at GE’s Erie locomotive plant. The best part was that they were paying me!

The summer internship was a success and, after learning that GE not only made locomotives but serviced and maintained them under warranty for the railroads, I migrated to GE Trans-portation’s Global Service Operation and over the next two years worked with railroads CSX Transportation and Union Pacific in offices and locomotive shops in Albany, Jacksonville, and Denver. My office was literally the engineer’s seat in the cab, examining our repair practices and maintenance cycles and how to decrease down time and make tooling readily accessible to the employees. In addition to my day job, I spent my off hours at museums working with railroad preserva-tion societies and operating historic railroad equipment to ensure future generations will get to see those same, power-ful, majestic steam locomotives that captured my imagina-tion alongside the modern diesel locomotives that move our freight economy today.

After graduating with my degree in December 2012, I joined GE Transportation full time on a new leadership program focused around locomotive services for our customers. Each time I climb onto a 4,400 horsepower, 75 foot long, 216 ton lo-comotive rumbling idly as it awaits its next command, I think back to that little boy captivated by these powerful machines and realize that the situation is not much different today.

As young professionals, we are always encouraged to follow our dreams and I like sharing my story to prove it is entirely

possible to have a flourishing career doing something that invigorates you every morning. Albeit, not without challeng-es, and I want to share some of the advice I learned along the way that I hope you can adapt to your situation:

• There were multiple times I reconsidered my choice in Engineering and contemplated business or a similar path—especially after Differential Equations! However I stuck to my intentions and internalized that the path of least resistance is rarely the most rewarding.

• As you build your career, do not be afraid to look outside your immediate industry to learn new things. Although I was focused on the railroad industry, I did some con-sulting work my senior year at Crowley Maritime and was amazed at some of the operational similarities that crossed over with railroad repair.

• I attempted multiple times to secure an internship with a Class I railroad, but the hiring process was usually at the end of the school year and fairly last minute. I exhausted multiple resources to get into the industry and decided to attend a campus networking fair knowing that no trans-portation industries were going to be represented. There I stumbled upon a GE executive, not fully understanding GE’s role as a railroad supplier. As they say, the rest is his-tory; therefore simply showing up can occasionally make all the difference.

• If you do not enjoy what you are currently engaged in at work, pick up a side project that piques your inner pas-sion whether it is inside or outside the office.

• Continue to be a lifelong learner (pursue that advanced degree!) and read literature related to transportation, business, or your career path. I am astounded how much can be applied from books and publications and in ad-dition it usually serves as a good discussion point with those more senior in the organization.

• I have also learned that not everything about trains is rosy. Modern day freight railroading is a massive industry that is very resistant to change and young ideas, but it makes the extra effort bearable when you like the job. In addition, the sacrifice of operations occurring 24/7/365 anywhere in the country can oft intrude into personal life.

I am always eager to meet fellow peers in the transportation industry that truly love what they do—it shows that passion, happiness, a stable career, and a desire to make a difference can indeed intertwine favorably. After all, it is our generation that will upgrade America’s infrastructure, build the fuel-efficient locomotives of tomorrow, and lead transportation on land, air, sea, and space into the future. And what’s not to love about that?

6

M obility Matters

tHe aIrSaGe 2013 tranSpOrtatIOn InduStry Survey: an InduStry On tHe mOve

Did you know working with different generations is a top concern for 21% of young professionals? Or that 64% of those under the age of 29 strongly prefer new technology (and that 81% of those over 57 are extremely skeptical of new technology)?

We wanted to know how transportation professionals view housing development (what will vs. should happen), government policies, “green” infrastructure, social media, and new vs. tried and true technology solutions. But we couldn’t find any statistics or data answering these ques-tions. So we thought, “Why not us?”

As a technology company that provides data to the trans-portation industry, we feel we have a responsibility to pro-vide you with a deeper, technology-driven understanding of your market and peers. Through our new survey, we’ve uncovered some interesting findings that show different perspectives depending on age, gender, and even where you work.

You can download a copy of An Industry on the Move, in eBook format, for insights into how transportation profes-sionals view themselves, the sector, their organizations, and the future of the industry – how it’s changing and what you can expect to see down the road.

We plan to make this an annual event (with even more detailed, hard-hitting questions next year) and your sug-gestions and involvement are crucial to its success. At the end of the eBook, there’s a link for you to provide feedback, ideas for survey questions, or to reserve your spot for par-ticipation next year.

We’d also like to thank those of you that took the time to participate in the survey; your feedback was insightful and vital to the project. In addition, based on participant votes, we were able to award the “on the move” donation of $630 to the LeadershipITE Scholarship Fund. Sign up now to take our

survey next year so you can give your vote to YPT. We had a lot of fun doing this and we look forward to hearing from you again in 2014!

ypt pOrtland’S cIty cHapter’S cOrner By Jesse Boudart: Portland YPT Chapter Chair, Transportation Analyst at Kittelson & Associates, Inc., and Portland State University Alumni

Portland, often referred to as the City of Roses, Bridgetown, and Rip City, has joined YPT National as yet another chapter in a rapidly growing organiza-

tion. We are happy to participate in this national effort to bring transportation professionals together to share ideas and create experiences as peers.

The Portland metropolitan region is renowned for its pro-gressive land use laws, its diverse investment in transporta-tion options, and of course, its cycling culture. The diversity of these transportation innovations has brought with it a number of transportation groups such as ITE, WTS, and ACEC. Even so, the founding members of YPT Portland saw a niche to bring together the ‘young at heart’ transportation crowd in the Portland metro region. And so we reached out to those building their transportation careers and hit the ground running.

Our inaugural happy hour was a resounding success with over 65 attendees, indicating an abundance of ‘young’ folk looking to connect. Inspired by this initial success, we con-tinued to bring together local transportation professionals by playing to some of Portland’s better-known strengths: gastronomical diversity, cycling, and amateur sports leagues. We held a ‘Speed Networking’ event to quickly learn about our Chapter’s breadth of backgrounds. We sponsored

JesseBoudart

YPTPortlandHappyHour

7

M obility Matters

a History of Portland Architecture bike ride, which is one of many themed rides in Portland during the month of June. We participated in ‘Kickball Without Borders’, a fundraiser for Engineers Without Borders. Our team ‘New Kicks on the Block’ went undefeated, representing the young transporta-tion professionals well!

Moving forward, we will develop new ways to engage lo-cal transportation professionals by highlighting Portland’s unique transportation innovations and professional capital.

We have many events in store and look forward to collabo-rating with other local transportation organizations and young professional groups. We expect to have a busy year!

If you are visiting Portland and would like to explore Port-land’s food/drink and transportation wonders, be sure to drop us a line. Reach us on Facebook (‘YPT Portland’), Twitter (@YPTPortland), LinkedIn (‘YPT Portland’), or via email (ypt-portland@gmail.com).

ypt: HOw It all BeGan

Joung Lee: Associate Director for Finance and Business Development, AASHTO

The origin of YPT can be traced back to the fall of 2007, when I first noticed the demographic representation—i.e., the relative lack of younger industry profes-sionals—at a biweekly luncheon of the venerable, and now 71-year old, highway society known as The Road Gang in Wash-ington, DC. (Full disclosure: I currently

serve as a Vice Chair of The Road Gang.) Given this perceived need, I set out to establish a wholly independent group for young professionals looking at all modes of transportation rather than to setting up a “young members division” within The Road Gang.

In March 2008, once the organizational mission, basic institutional framework, and website were in place, I sent an email to my contacts and posted notes on the AASHTO Journal and TR News to increase awareness and interest in the new organization. In addition, YPT’s Board of Advisors—comprised of some of the most respected leaders in the industry—lent us instant credibility in addition to providing general guidance. Once the word was out, it was a huge relief to see that folks were indeed interested in something like YPT. We had 14 individuals participating in the very first Business Meeting in April 2008, followed shortly by the first Networking Happy Hour with about 30 people, and then a Leadership Seminar featuring Jack Basso of AASHTO.

In the following months, the founding Board of Directors started hosting regular events, incorporated as an official

non-profit based in DC, began securing federal tax-exempt status, developed the accounting and membership frame-work, adopted bylaws, began publishing the quarterly newsletter Mobility Matters, and planned for regional chap-ters around the country.

As one can imagine, there were some serious growing pains. For example, it took a lot of stumbling around (and pa-tience) to get through the bureaucratic process that over-sees non-profit incorporations at both the federal and local levels. The original website was so crude that we outgrew its basic functionality in a matter of months. Keeping track of membership dues was done manually on an Excel spread-sheet, and we had virtually zero resources of our own to fund YPT’s operation or activities.

Despite these hiccups, thanks to the tireless work of our all-volunteer Board of Directors—from inception to today, and all around the country—YPT continues to build on its main motivation: to encourage all the young, bright, and ener-getic peers in our generation to come together beyond our respective organizational silos to not only meet each other, but collectively build the foundation for carrying the trans-portation industry forward as we become leaders ourselves.

For me, some of the most rewarding experiences over the years have been making personal connections with so many of you who see your jobs not simply as tasks to be done, but as living your passion. I’m sure many of you can relate when you’re at a social event and people ask, “So, what exactly do you do again?” Well, YPT is the one place that will always understand what you do and help you find new opportuni-ties, as it has done since starting out as a hazy side project in 2008.

Focus on YPT: Five Years of Hard Work and Strong Growth

JoungLee

8

M obility Matters

ypt: lOOkInG tOward tHe Future

Katherine Kortum – TRB

In 2009, YPT incorporated as one small organization in Washington, DC. In 2010, a second chapter began in Boston. Today, as we close out the summer of 2013, YPT has over 7,000 members and friends in 19 chapters around the coun-try, from the East Coast to the West Coast to the Gulf Coast. Our growth has been

explosive, and we don’t expect to slow down anytime soon. Young professionals around the country have a desire for an organization that meets their needs for networking, mentor-ing, social events, and career advancement.

Each of the nineteen chapters has its own personality, and that’s part of the appeal of YPT. New York has strong connections with the finance industry and San Francisco

with technology startups. Chicago has coordinated with planners, Austin and Minneapolis with local universities, and all of the chapters have worked with other national organizations to assist with national conference planning and promotion. From small northeastern cities (Albany) to sprawling Sunbelt cities (Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix), each chapter reflects the flavor of its local area while provid-ing the opportunities and benefits available from a national organization.

In the next year, we hope to welcome our inaugural inter-national chapter, transforming what was recently a small unknown group to an international professional organiza-tion. We still have plenty of room for domestic growth, but transportation professionals are worldwide, as are new and innovative ideas to move people and freight. Whether you’re in the United States or abroad, or in a city with a chapter or not, we’d love to have you join us as we continue to grow and become the premiere organization for young professionals in transportation.

KatherineKortum

put yOur meSSaGe In tHeIr pOcket

Brittney Kohler, Deputy Chair of YPT and the Manager of Infrastructure Initiatives at the American Society of Civil Engineers

If you need information on an issue or have a question, what do you pick up? Your phone or tablet. What do you have with you at all times? Your

phone and maybe your tablet. Now, if you happen to want your organization’s message to be easy to use and always available, where should you place it? In an app for your tab-let or phone! Asking these questions is what led the Ameri-can Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to completely change

their release strategy for one of their most well-known publications – the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. This year marks the first year that ASCE released the Report Card on Apple and Android compatible devices.

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers puts together a Report Card just like the one you remember from grade school, with an A to F scale, except this one cov-ers our nation’s critical infrastructure – roads, bridges, transit, and 13 other types of infrastructure. The Report Card has been quoted by President Obama in his State of the Union

address, appears in publications from the New York Times to the Columbus Dispatch, and earned over 10,000 media mentions in less than a month after it released in March. While it has at its core become an industry benchmark,

the Report Card is primar-ily developed as a public education tool about how 50 to 100 year old infrastruc-ture that doesn’t get a lot of TLC (A.K.A. maintenance) isn’t passable. The Colbert Report said it best when they

covered the Report Card shortly after the release - “There is a 3 out of 4 chance that if you cross a bridge, you will make it to the other side… We should hang this Report Card high for everyone to see it—but not a bridge, it may not be able to handle the load.”

While many organizations taking the lead on policy are still putting out paper re-port after paper report, many never stop to connect that the options have greatly expanded to put your message into a digital format. As wildly jaw-dropping as

it would be in today’s world to have an organization without a website, in the future not having alternatives to a paper report should be equally wowing. While an app may not be the right format for every report or message, the options for digital and mobile pushes are expanding and will continue

BrittneyKohler

9

M obility Matters

to expand just as the number of users of tablets and smart phones has dramatically increased.

Educating the public about the state of U.S. infrastructure got a lot easier this year, thanks to a mobile app, but what

if the entire policy community made a concerted effort to channel our best ideas to the public in new ways? Wouldn’t changing how we share information make that information more valuable?

IntervIew wItH JameS wOnG, runner up In HayS ‘OutSIde tHe BOx’ cOmpetItIOn

Interviewer: Alexandra Malikova, YPT National Vice Chair for Communications and Analyst with MTA NYC Transit

Alexandra Malikova: I would like to ask you a few questions about plac-ing first runner up, along with your group, in the Cameron Rian Hays Out-side the Box Competition. Can you tell me a little about your background in transportation?

James Wong: I started getting interested in transportation when I was an undecided engineering major at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania. I eventually studied Electrical and Systems Engineering, which had a particular focus in transit and cities with Dr. Vukan Vuchic. He provided a great foun-dation and a lot of background as far as being an engineer but also understanding the context of which transportation is not simply just traffic counts and understanding the flows and vehicles, but actually about the people and cities. Then I worked as a transportation planning engineering consultant for three years with Kittelson and Associates, which is a small engineering/planning firm that specializes in transporta-tion in the Mid-Atlantic. I was working in Baltimore and then in D.C., and one year between I actually got to go abroad to do the same kind of work in South Africa, which was a nice getaway to experience new culture and new ways of thinking about things. When I got back, I went back to D.C. and worked there for a year, and then I started grad school, which is where I am now. The grad school is Georgia Tech, and I am studying dual masters in City Planning, and Civil Engineering, both in transportation. So that’s where I am now! I have been doing internships for the last two sum-mers, and this summer I am with MTA New York City Transit.

AM: Tell me a little bit about your team.

JW: My three colleagues are Margaret Carragher, Aaron Gooze, and Landon Reed, all of whom are in what we call

UTIL, Urban Transportation Information Lab, at Georgia Tech. It’s sort of a new group that we’ve created with our advisor--we all share the same advisor, Dr. Kari Watkins. We’ve been focusing on the planning and the engineering side of [trans-portation].

AM: Can you briefly summarize your idea for Pop Transit?

JW: Sure! So the prompt was very vague. It said, “Think out-side the box, think of some idea that advances transporta-tion.” We spitballed, we brainstormed, and we spent two and a half hours in a room, thinking, “What in the world are we going to do?” We had to come up with an idea and submit it, because there was some prize money (Laughs). And then we got to talking that we wanted to be exciting yet we wanted to be practical. We looked at bus transit because it’s so prolific in places and not everyone has capacity for subways and metros. Then we wanted to think about why we have so much BRT Light, or cruddy versions of a BRT system. You know there is no shortage of them; I’ve worked on many myself. We talked about how there is a bus that cuts out half of its stops but still boards at the front, or how a bus that has signal priority but doesn’t have its own lane; they’re all some sort of branded bus that they put a wraparound and call it something nice. We were thinking that while [the practice] is OK, we thought it was diluting the BRT brand (something that Dr. Vuchic used to complain about).

AlexandraMalikova

JamesWong,AaronGooze,andLandonReedwithSecretaryConnaughton

▶

10

M obility Matters

What we came up with is this idea called Pop Transit. We thought that it’s important to prove the idea of BRT to the public, to the agencies that implements it, and the federal agencies who would have to support it from a capital per-spective. We thought that BRT was taking too long to deploy and cost too much money. People were not able to tangibly understand BRT, because if you look at other cities and see that they have the subpar versions of it, you wouldn’t invest in it. So what we wanted to do was ask ourselves, “how do we show people that BRT could work and be quite a bit faster than what you have there already?” So we decided to have a competition amongst cities in the US, similar to Google Fiber, which had a competition where cities got very excited. [The competition] allowed them to come to the table and bring forth requirements that they were willing to fulfill and make other accommodations. This meant that if Google brought their project to the city, the city would in turn support it. We wanted to build that support from the community and the government to create a supportive environment that would allow the creation of these pop-up transit systems.

The idea is to have this competition and select a couple of cities based on the metrics that we created. And then the cities that win will get a full BRT route for three months, or 90 days. Ideally, being a federal program, we would roll out six to eight new, articulated, three-door buses in each city. All the city had to do was dedicate the lane, and clear out the space at the future stops. Then we would put up plastic bollards at the lane, just enough to make sure that cars are not going into it. There would be two fully dedicated lanes in each direction. There are no if, ands, or buts. You can-not have temporary exclusive lanes, you can’t have right turns. We wanted to make sure that this was the full thing, where you really see the benefit. We said that we would use lightweight infrastructure there, borrowing the idea from bikeshare. That infrastructure can be picked up and moved a couple of times a day if you really needed to, but it’s still somewhat permanent. We wanted to use a similar type of kiosk for the ticket validation, the fare payment system you would create if you had a real BRT system. This way, you have off-board fare payment, and thus boarding at all doors. We thought that this could effectively be deployed over-night since we will be providing the buses, the bus drivers, the ticket machines, everything if you are a chosen city. All the city would have to do is provide the lane. In a day or two, we can essentially deploy a full, fast Bus Rapid Transit.

Service parameters are that it has to come at least every ten minutes or faster, based on the length of the route and the buses we provided. We want to make sure that if we provide enough service, even if the ridership doesn’t make up for it; we want as much service as possible. If it’s fast and frequent,

people would then see the full value if you did make real investment in bus transit, and you’ll be able to see the time savings in bus transit.

It’s politically feasible since it’s a pilot project. Even though you’ll be taking two lanes and people will be upset, they will get them back in 90 days. If they don’t like it, it’s fine. This is the opportunity to try something and be more innovative. We thought that this has so many positive elements, on the agency side, on the public sector side, and the community side.

AM: Throughout the process of creating this idea and working on it with your teammates, what sort of lessons did you learn from this?

JW: We learned a bunch of lessons. One was probably don’t start four days before the deadline. We were in a crunch at the end, which was foolish, but then again, that worked out well for us, so we were glad that we could do that. We did devote quite a bit of time in those four days.

It’s a pretty straightforward idea, but it has a lot of important details. I think we benefited a lot from having the diverse experience within our group, who had worked on propos-als, who worked on writing, and who were clear and had really good communications techniques. We had a 2,000 word-limit for the proposal, which had to be very readable, very clear to a lay audience that was not particularly transit oriented. This was something that we felt was very impor-tant. We were told that our proposal was very accessible and very readable, and that was one of the reasons that it often floated to the top of different rounds, which was good for us. So the proposals and the technique of actually just creat-ing a proposal is a good skill to have and to pursue.

AM: And not just for the competition, but also in general for transportation projects.

JW: Yeah, absolutely. As far as the other lessons, we made tactical decisions on where to be more specific. For example, our budget was a top level budget, rounded to the nearest $10,000 or $50,000 for each element. The reality was that we wanted to prove an idea, not prove the specific cost-benefit analysis; this is not what this competition was about. This competition was about presenting the ideas. But I think that we struck the right balance of looking at the cost, where we wrote down our assumptions and judgments, such as why the bus cost this or how much we will be paying per mile. There was a certain level of abstraction that needed to be made in order to keep what we were talking about at the right level. And I think that understanding what kind of level of discussion you need to get out of it is important when you’re showing off or proving these ideas to people.

11

M obility Matters

AM: Tell me about the inspiration for this idea, other than your frustrations with BRT. How did you come up with temporary BRT system, as opposed to something else.

JW: We actually were inspired by the idea of pilot projects. They are great. We’ve seen them used by a lot of different agencies, DOTs, to try an idea and say [they] will review what happened. [They] will try something and [they] don’t have to go through hoops to try that idea, as long as [they] say that [they] will take it out after a certain time.

The experience that I had was that I lived in D.C. around the time that they were trying their first bike share. This was a dinky, little goofy bike system, I even forgot what it was called, Bike USA? It had eight stations, or something on that scale. The idea was there though, and if it was scaled, it might have gone up from there, but they found problems with the bicycle, problems with the check-in and check-out system, and they realized that scale was an issue. But those were all really valuable lessons to what would eventually become the successful bikeshare systems to start off in the US. Now we see Hubway in Boston, CitiBike in New York, Divvy Bikes in Chicago, most largely building off the lessons learned for the US context. This has popped up in Europe

before, but we had to try some things out and see what worked in the US. They served as a perch to the pilot project, trying something and admitting that there will be problems and that we will revise them. When you look back at the blogs and news, you will see people saying that [SmartBike DC] is stupid and that it doesn’t work, because of this or that, but the revisions of bike share were very positive. We really built off of that. The New York corollary is the pedestrian plazas that we have seen, all built with operational funds and no capital dollars.

AM: Sounds like a very interesting project. Hopefully it will catch momentum! Any closing thoughts?

JW: So Peter Rogoff, the Federal Transit Administrator, was the guy we were presenting to. Initially we didn’t know who our judges were, but then we realized that we will be presenting to one of the few people in the US who can actually make this idea happen. He didn’t laugh us off the podium; he indulged us and said that it’s an idea that has merit. He recognized that there are a lot of challenges, and he said that it was an interesting idea that under the right circumstances and under the right priorities of a policy position might be interesting to pursue. We were really excited about that.

edItOr’S cOlumn

hitching A ride on dc’s Booming trAnsPortAtion tech scene

By Bryce McNitt, Editor of Mobility Matters

On a recent September evening I found myself among dozens of jean-clad, smartphone toting, young tech entrepreneurs milling about in a large, open workspace with unfinished con-crete floors, a dozen tech startup ki-

osks, and a tub of ice cold beer. Large tables, both high and low, sat ready to facilitate open collaboration. Two meeting rooms, the Jobs room and the Gates room (yeah, those guys) were poised to incubate the next tech breakthrough. Where was I? San Francisco? New York? Nope. DC.

The event was Transportation in the City, organized by Smart Growth America, and focused on the explosive pro-liferation of transportation tech startups in the city. When I arrived in DC just four years ago, my transportation op-tions were the metro system, taxis, and zip car. Today the

list is long; here’s a rundown of some of the options that the transpo-tech sector in DC is offering:

Buying a Ride: Heading somewhere? Don’t want to wait for the metro? Tired of trying to hail a cab, or more likely, you don’t have any cash on you? Just @Uber. With your smart-phone, you can have a black car pick you up in minutes, and know exactly what you’ll pay with the credit card you have attached to your account, tip included. Nice. Still prefer a cab but want to do it the smartphone way? @Hailo, @taximagic, and @Hitch_Rides offer basically the same service as Uber, but it will get you a DC taxi instead of that fancy black car.

Hitching or Sharing a Ride: If you’re a commuter and are tired of paying to drive yourself to work, you can get connected with commuter vanpools around you using @vRide2work and potentially save yourself some dough, and the hassle of traffic on 95. Looking to make a long trip but don’t want to rent a car? @RidePost is dedicated to helping you make a road trip, and potentially meet your new BFF, and write the 21st Century edition of On The Road (spare us the beat poetry though, please).

Getting your own Ride: Need to get there yourself? Pedal your way through the suddenly bike friendly streets of ▶

BryceMcNitt

12

M obility Matters

DC on an @bikeshare cycle. Prefer the four-wheeled, gas-powered variety of transport? @car2goDC probably has a smart car parked within a few blocks of you, just check your phone. Need a real car to haul your new Malm bedroom set from Ikea? @ZipcarDC, and the new-comer to the market Enterprise CarShare (@carshare), both offer you a car parked somewhere nearby to assist you in your millennial furniture hauling endeavors.

Deciding how to get there: Overwhelmed with transporta-tion options? @goDCgo, an initiative of the District DOT, is a trip planning site that provides tools to help you determine which mode is most appropriate for you. @RideScout is an app that lets you put in your origin and destination, and then shows you the availability, proximity, and cost of op-tions ranging from car2go, to bikeshare, to metro and bus.

Why is this explosion of innovation happening in the trans-portation sector in DC and other large American cities? Pan-elists at the event had a number of theories, ranging from the advent of mobile technology, to the influx of millennials to the urban core, to people being tired of sitting in traffic on congested roadways. What is your mode of transporta-tion? Do you utilize the bevy of tech-driven transportation options in your city? Or are you still sticking it out with your VW Golf to the sweet indie-pop driven end? If you have an opinion, info you want to share about another new service, or research you want to share related to this topic let Mobil-ity Matters know, mobilitymatters@yptransportation.org.

13

M obility Matters

YPT Photo Album!

YPTFounderJoungLee,FormerSecretaryofTransportationNormMineta,andYPTNationalChairKatherineKortumatYPT’sLeadershipSeminar

YPTBostonMembersataDataVisualizationeventhostedthissummer.

YPTSanFranciscoBaynarrowlyavoidingalandingplane.

FormerSecretaryofTransportationNormMinetaspeakingattheYPTLeadershipSeminar

YPTNYCattheoriginalCityHallmetrostation.

YPTSanFranciscoBayatarecentevent.

YPTSeattlememberscheckingouttheWestSeattleTODsite.

14

M obility Matters

Mobility Matters Editor:Bryce McNitt

Federal Transit Administration, United States Department of TransportationMobility Matters Design and Layout: Alpha Wingfield

Visual Information Specialist, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, United States Department of Transportation

Mobility Matters is a quarterly publication of Young Professionals in Transportation. The views expressed in the articles published in Mobility Mat-ters represent only the views of their authors, and not those of YPT. YPT strives to incorporate articles in Mobility Matters that represent a diverse range of perspectives on transportation and cover all transportation modes. If you are interested in contributing to Mobility Matters please email Bryce McNitt, Editor, at mobilitymatters@yptransportation.org for more information.

YPT National Chapter Board of Directors, 2012-2013

Katherine Kortum, YPT Chairchair@yptransportation.orgTransportation Research Board

Brittney Kohler, Deputy Chairdeputy@yptransportation.orgASCE

Stephanie Dock, Vice Chair for Administration – Secretaryadmin@yptransportation.orgDDOT

Alexandra Malikova , Vice Chair for Communicationcomms@yptransportation.orgMTA NYCT

Bud McDonald, Vice Chair for Finance – Treasurerfinance@yptransportation.orgAASHTO

Aimee Custis, Vice Chair for Membershipmembership@yptransportation.orgCoalition for Smarter Growth

Sophie Guiny, Vice Chair for Programsprograms@yptransportation.orgBooz Allen Hamilton

Candace Brakewood, Director at Large – Chapter Developmentchapters@yptransportation.orgGeorgia Tech

Alek Pochowski, Director at Large – Sponsorshipsponsorship@yptransportation.orgKittelson & Associates

Board of Advisors

YPT’s Board of Advisors are preeminent public and private sector leaders in transportation with a wide range of exemplary experience in the field. We are grateful for their participation and willingness to assist the development of a new generation of transportation professionals.

Bud Wright, Executive Director, AASHTO

Mortimer Downey, Chairman, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Emil Frankel, Bipartisan Policy Center

Jane Garvey, North American Chairman, Meridiam Infrastructure

Jonathan Gifford, Professor and Associate Dean for GMU’s Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics Masters Program

Art Guzzetti, Vice President for Policy, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

Janet F. Kavinoky, Executive Director, Transportation & Infrastructure, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Mary Peters, Former Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation

Joshua Schank, President and CEO, Eno Center for Transportation

Bob Skinner, Executive Director, Transportation Research Board (TRB)

15

M obility Matters

Thanks to our 2012–2013 YPT Sponsors

NIC and eGovwww.egov.com

AirSagewww.airsage.com

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)www.transportation.org

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB)www.pbworld.com

American Public Universitywww.apus.edu

Mercator Advisors LLCwww.mercatoradvisors.com

Eno Center for Transportationwww.enotrans.org