Have your riders asked if they could use an online trip planner within your service area? Did you know your agency's schedule could display on smart phones, once you have standardized your data? Thinking about a no-cost trip planner like Google Transit, Bing/Yahoo or Apple Maps but not sure what it takes to create General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) files? 

Learn from local agencies like yourself and their experiences using National RTAP's GTFS Builder. This 45 minute webinar will be a discussion with three local transit agencies that provide fixed route service and have been successful in creating and maintaining GTFS files using GTFS Builder. A 15 minute Q&A session offers you an opportunity to get the answers you need. Register here.

We need your help to shaping the content we will offer at our 2015 Technical Assistance Conference, Reaching New Heights in Rural and Tribal Transit. What are the issues most important to you? Which conference workshops would you attend? Please fill out this short, four-question survey by May 1st. 

Speaker proposals are still being accepted through May 31st. We are looking for good programs and ideas that will fit into our main routes so please consider submitting a presentation abstract even if you haven't spoken at a national conference before. Visit our conference website for more information. 

The National Center for Mobility Management's description of the updated DOT policy on ADA and reasonable accommodations is a very good read. Scroll down to the article.

The White House Conference on Aging is hosting regional forums around the country. Although you won't be able to attend in person, you can watch a live webcast of all of them. The next is Thursday, April 2nd at 8:30AM PDT (11:30AM EDT). Transportation is not a focus of the forums, but is of course the backbone upon which the topics depend. 

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 116: Practices for Establishing ADA Paratransit Eligibility Assessment Facilities reviews best practices for determining paratransit eligibility through in-person assessments.

Co-Monitoring for Transit Management is a report from NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation that examines using data analysis, staff reports, and public input (through social media and the internet in general) to monitor field conditions. While many of the applications may be too intensive for many rural transits, the general ideas are valuable ones. 

This Transportation 4 America report, Measuring What we Value, covers innovative practices in performance measurement with the goal of fostering public support using the data.  

Metro Magazine posted blogs on a new pilot program involving therapy dogs on buses, and safety and surveillance in transportation. Although focused on urban transit, this Metro Magazine blog post has some time-honored marketing suggestions for increasing bus usage. 

The National Center for Mobility Management will be hosting a poster session at CTAA EXPO. Find out more and submit a poster proposal by April 16th. Conference stipends available to the first 15 accepted posters!