Paul Balmer, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Earl Blumenauer

More than 50 ACT members and supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., March 23 for three days of policy-oriented professional development and interaction with Congress and key federal agencies during the 2015 ACT Public Policy Summit and Education Forum.

While airline snafus sidelined planned keynoter Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the congressman sent legislative assistant Paul Balmer to deliver opening remarks. "You could not have picked a better time to come to Washington to tell your important stories," Balmer said. "The 10-month extension of surface transportation legislation expires in about two months."

Balmer added that the "important conversations we should be having about what kind of country we want to be, planning for future growth--100 million people by 2050--planning for future freight movement-twice as much freight on transportation network by 2050-planning for changing travel trends, have been put on hold by the lack of funding." Speech highlights are posted in the Advocacy section of actweb.org (PDF).

Following Balmer's keynote, participants heard from a valuable line-up of speakers addressing:

• Advocacy 101
• What's New in Active Transportation & Safe Routes to School
• TNCs: Disrupting Force or New TDM Tool
• Think Globally, Act Locally
• TDM & Emergency Preparedness; Getting to Know ACT Policy Positions
• Performance Measures: How TDM Stacks Up
• Mobility Management: Integrating TDM & Transit
• Program Funding
• Telling Your Story

The 2015 Leadership Academy class held its spring session in conjunction with the summit, as well. Thanks to Penny Menton for facilitating the program, and to ACT Secretary Jim Barr for his assistance.

ACT thanks all of the Summit's speakers, including Katy Hartnett (People for Bikes), Margo Pedroso (Safe Routes to School National Partnership), Katie Sihler (RideScout), Creighton Randall (Shared Use Mobility Center), Maureen Farrell (GVF), David Judd (Edenred), Jon Martz (vRide/ACT Public Policy Chair), Paul Mackie (Mobility Lab), Martin Di Caro (WAMU), Joe McAndrew (Transportation for America), Howard Jennings (Arlington Transportation Partners), Paul Dean (Dean & Dean), and Jason Pavluchuk (ACT).

A special thanks to Host Sponsor, ACT's Chesapeake Chapter, and the Program Sponsor, vRide.

See photos from the event here, and feel free to submit your own if you attended by emailing images to info@actweb.org with 'Summit Photos' in the subject line.

Mass Transit magazine online included coverage of the ACT Public Policy Summit and Education Forum in Washington, D.C. including this quote: "ACT is ready to assist in passage of legislation that identifies long-term and sustainable funding solutions," said ACT President Rob Henry. "Making the commute better is often a truly bipartisan issue, but it isn't always on the front burner as it should be and we are working to prevent roadblocks - literally and figuratively." Read more here.   

The Association for Commuter Transportation turned 30 this year. Watch for fun facts on our history -- and our special anniversary logo on a variety of communications -- throughout 2015.

Ohio State announced it will negotiate with Zagster to bring a bikeshare program to the Columbus campus. Pending negotiations, the 115-bicycle, 15-station program could launch this summer with full implementation by fall 2015.

In conjunction with the bicycle-sharing system, the university reportedly plans to expand safety education and implement a helmet program, supported by a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

See more details here.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is soliciting applications for educational institutions that are designated as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, community colleges, and those that are designated to serve people with disabilities to apply to administer the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program. Visit the fellowship program's web page for details.

Tyler Simpson, CTO for Luum, will join Jamie Cheyney, manager of transportation systems at Seattle Children's Hospital, for a 60-minute webinar on April 15 at 2 p.m. EDT. Hosted by the International Parking Institute (IPI), the webinar will explore Seattle Children's Hospital's transportation strategic plans and the role Luum plays as the underlying technology platform supporting its parking/shuttle/commuter initiative. Learn more and register via parking.org.

• Paul Steinberg, Carma (Northern California Chapter)
• Wendy Scholtz, CBRE/Microsoft (Cascade Chapter)
• Bonnie Hawley, Providence Saint John's Health Center (Southern California Chapter)
• Eric Tucker, San Jose State University (Northern California Chapter)
• Donna Alexander, Trek TMO (Lone Star Chapter)