Public Transportation Committee Article
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From left: Jean Claude Ziv, Steven Jones, Walter Kulyk,
Murthy Bondada. Rachel Liu, Luis Ferreras, David Chase, not pictured: Matthew
Lesh
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T&DI’s Public Transportation Committee (PTC) fosters the sharing of information about public transportation”, which closely follows the T&DI Mission “…to enhance the professional knowledge and skills of its members. Our committee chair is Walter Kulyk, PE, M.ASCE, vice chair is Steven Jones, PE, M.ASCE, and David Chase, PE, M.ASCE is the secretary.
The PTC’s annual meetings are held in conjunction with TRB’s annual meeting each January in Washington, DC. Committee projects and proposed activities are discussed at the annual meeting. The last annual meeting was on January 13, 2013. Major discussions included welcoming of new members, the appointment of Steven Jones as vice chair, PTC’s re-scheduled 3rd International Conference on Urban Transportation Systems, completed BRT webinars presented in 2011 and 2012, potential future webinars, other means of distributing PTC work products (particularly to developing countries), and continued need to recruit new members.
The 3rd International Conference on Urban Transportation Systems, “Civil Engineering Applications in Public Transportation”, has
been re-scheduled from last November to November 17-20, 2013 in Paris,
France. The PTC has been actively engaged with T&DI staff in
attracting sponsors and speakers, paper reviews, developing the
Conference program, outreach and advertising for the event, and planning
site tours. The Conference program includes four tracks: Planning,
Environment and Financing; Operations and Maintenance; Infrastructure
and Design; and Innovative Systems and Practices. Technical site tours
in and around Paris focusing on public transit facilities are also being
planned. Most papers from last year’s postponed event are anticipated
for presentation. A Call for Papers was recently issued to fill out the
new program.
Last year the TPC updated and presented three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Webinars. The webinars followed three that had been originally presented in 2011. The webinars addressed: 1) Overview of BRT; 2) BRT Running Ways; and 3) BRT Stations. The focus was on potential activities involving design and operations of particular interest to civil engineers. The webinars were all well received. The TPC feels that presenting webinars is an excellent means to share information, and it will consider updating the BRT webinar series for presentation in 2014. The PTC is also exploring other potential topics for webinars, including those addressing Safety, State of Good Repair, and Enhanced Mobility.
The PTC has had an active and rewarding year in 2012, and it looks forward with great anticipation to 2013 with the 3rd International Urban Transportation Conference in Paris (mark your calendars) and other activities. We are looking for more members to allow enhanced committee activities and to establish a succession plan. Anyone interested in joining the TPC may contact Walter Kulyk at walter.kulyk@dot.gov.
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