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New Best Practices Spotlight: Fuel Efficient Driving

View our newest best practices spotlight article on fuel efficient driving. The article identifies simple, easy to implement changes in driving behavior that can help reduce costs by improving fuel efficiency. Read our current and previous best practice articles on our site.
Notes and Recording now available from National RTAP 101 Webinars Series: Title VI Requirements

Thanks to those who joined us last week for our webinar on Title VI Requirements. The presentation and slides have been posted on our Webinars tab.

 

National RTAP Technical Assistance Conference

Tuesday-Friday, October 27-30, 2015 in Denver, Colorado

Registration: Register now for the conference and reserve your Westin Denver Downtown hotel room on our Conference Website. 

When registering you can also sign up for the following workshops (included in the fee, but require an RSVP) taking place on Tuesday: 
  • AARP Pedestrian (Livability Index) Workshop
  • Intercity Bus Route Development 
  • National RTAP Web Apps - GTFS Builder
  • National RTAP Web Apps - Website Builder
  • Tribal Transit Assessment Workshop
Here is a draft agenda - sessions and times still subject to change. 

Vendors: Interested in exhibiting?  Contact us for more information.

Federal Transit Administration and US DOT Updates

A Roundtable held by the DOT released its report on how to improve the quality and accessibility of transportation safety data. 

The DOT continues to focus on supporting small businesses by celebrating Small Business Day and announcing that last year almost 45% of its procurement went to small businesses. Read more.

FHWA Livability Metrics Tool

 

At National RTAP we are always looking for ways to communicate the value of rural transit, explain what it is, and integrate rural needs into planning discussions. FHWA's recent Fostering Livable Communities Newsletter highlights a new web tool, called Community Vision Metrics, that can help in this area.  The tool can help with assessing mobility and then that information can be used in the transportation planning processes.

 

In testing out the  Community Vision Metrics tool, we put in mobility > county > rural > transit and got a great list of metrics that should be collected for a transit mobility assessment in a rural area.  One metric is the non-single occupancy vehicle (SOV) rate.  In rural areas of Eastern Oregon it was between 20% and 36%. (To get that number, use the Journey to Work data from the U.S. Census to get the drive alone rate and subtract it from 100.)  For many communities in Eastern Oregon, the carpool rate made up around a third of the non-SOV travel.  Many people also walk and ride bikes. These people are doing something different and may be open to new travel options.

 

This is data you can include in reports and presentations to local/regional governments during the transportation planning process to get them thinking about rural transit and other mobility options, to create a more livable community.

 

Resources and News

Publications

N4A published Falls Prevention Awareness in Public Transportation, a brochure targeted at drivers and other transit professionals. 

Transit Safety information is important for understanding what causes accidents. The NHTSA's Traffic Safety Fact Sheet compares urban and rural traffic incidents and breaks down the predominant causes of accidents in each area.

APTA released its July Transportation Savings Report, noting that the average person who changes to commuting by public transportation would save $9,941 a year.

Opportunities

Let's Talk Performance: Telling the Performance Story, the final webinar in a series presented by the FHWA will address topics in transportation performance management, as well as providing a venue for practitioners to collaborate. Register, or view previous topics in this webinar series on the FHWA website.

National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) Capability Maturity Model Webinar Series starts on August 11 with a session on Organization and staffing. Organization and Staffing is a critical institutional dimension of transit capability. The webinar series will address the identification, development, and maintenance of essential staff capabilities.To learn more, view the Series Fact Sheet.

The TRB is seeking nominations for the Sharon D. Banks Award for Humanitarian Leadership in Transportation. The award recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on those who use, provide, or support transportation services.

The Military Transportation Committee (AT035) is accepting abstracts for poster presentations at the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, January 10-14, 2016. Submissions are due August 31.  
August 6, 2015
Events
South West Transit Association (SWTA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
Tribal Transit Drug and Alcohol Training
August 11-13
Durant, OK

Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
Small Urban Network Conference
Denver, CO
August 12-14

Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
16th Biennial State Program Managers Meeting & State Public Transit Partnerships Conference
August 12-14
Washington, DC

National Transit Institute (NTI)
NTD Safety and Security Reporting: Basic Setup/Non-Major Event Reporting
August 18
2-4PM

National RTAP
Peer Call: Topic: TBD
August 19
2:30PM
Registration Coming Soon

National Transit Institute (NTI)
NTD Safety and Security Reporting: Major Event Reporting
August 20
2-4PM

South West Transit Association (SWTA)
Community Mobility Workshop (with NCMM Dialysis Transportation Workshop)
August 24-26
Austin, TX
Workshop

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Telling the Performance Story
September 8
2-3:30PM

Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
Design, Engineering, and Management Planning Workshop for Major Capital Projects
September 15-16
San Francisco, CA

Easter Seals Project ACTION Consulting Introduction to Travel Training Workshop 
September 15-17
Washington, D.C.

National RTAP
Peer Call: Topic: TBD
September 16
2:30PM
Registration Coming Soon

18th Annual National Tribal Transportation Conference (NTTC)
September 21-14
Myrtle Beach, SC

National Transit Institute (NTI)
Transit Trainers' Workshop
October 11-13
New Orleans, LA

National RTAP
Reaching New Heights in Rural and Tribal Transit
October 27-30
Denver, CO

For a listing of all National RTAP and other national events, view our Calendar. If you'd like to submit an event, please email info@nationalrtap.org.

All event times listed as Eastern Time
Resource Spotlight
Check out National RTAP's most recent technical brief on Oversized Wheeled Mobility Devices which covers issues related to transporting mobility devices and offers best practices for securing devices.

Visit the News tab of our Website for our current best practices article on Fuel Efficient Driving as well as archived articles on Safety, Employee Wellness, Used Oil Recycling, and Bike Share programs. 
National RTAP is a program of the Federal Transit Administration dedicated to creating rural and Tribal transit solutions through technical assistance, partner collaboration and FREE training materials.

Contact us:
Main: 5 Wheeling Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801, 888-589-6821
Washington, D.C.: 122 C Street NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20001