ITE Talks Transportation

Why do you want to be ITE International President?

Jennifer Toole, ASLA, AICP, Founder and President of Toole Design, discusses the implications of COVID-19 for Complete Streets in communities and whether they will last beyond the pandemic. She also talks about starting a business from scratch, and how she and her staff work to promote a spirit of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and beyond.

Shelley Row, P.E., CSP, CEO and Founder, Blue Fjord Leaders, discusses effective professional development within this new virtual landscape brought on by COVID-19. Hear her advice for those wanting to develop their leadership traits and perspective on how well transportation professionals have adapted their communication and interpersonal skills to the new environment. As the facilitator for LeadershipITE, she also highlights the adaptation of LeadershipITE to the virtual format for 2021 and discusses the engaging features that participants can expect from the program.

Robin Phillips, Executive Director of the National Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP), discusses the challenges of delivering safe and effective public transportation in rural and tribal areas, and highlights some of the challenges faced by these communities, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. National RTAP serves as a training and technical assistance resource for agencies across the United States to facilitate more efficient use of public transportation resources, and Phillips highlights how the program works to ensure a high quality of life for communities through access to jobs, healthcare, education, shopping, and other services.

Futurist Garry Golden shares how he sees the global COVID-19 pandemic shaping future outcomes for the transportation industry as a whole and for professionals. Garry was a Plenary Speaker at the 2020 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibition and the session was sponsored by the ITE Consultants Council.

David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute, joins the ITE Talks Transportation podcast to discuss connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and two new studies conducted by the traffic safety research organizations. The first study cites data that illustrate the growing benefits of advanced driver assistance systems; the second reveals possible limits of automated systems in reducing crashes. He also addresses criticisms of the second study, and discusses the future of safety and CAVs.

Vincent Valdes joins the ITE Talks Transportation Podcast to talk about the role of mobility as a service (MaaS) and mobility on demand (MOD) in public transit and how innovation can improve travel for users and transportation networks as a whole. The podcast was recorded while Vince was at the FTA Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation. This summer, he transitioned roles to become president and CEO of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

Robert Wunderlich, P.E., ITE Fellow and Director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, discusses the Safe System approach to reducing serious injuries and fatalities on roadways. He highlights various aspects of the Safe System, including roadway design that reduces user error and lowers impact forces, and explains what transportation professionals can do to help implement a Safe System approach.

Paul Skoutelas, President and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, discusses both the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transit and how the industry is responding, as well as how funding from the CARES Act will be used to assist transit agencies throughout the recovery.

Annie Chang, head of New Mobility at SAE and director of the Mobility Data Collaborative, joins the ITE Talks Transportation podcast to discuss the mobility landscape and her research in the mobility as a service/mobility on demand field. She also shares the challenges and potential solutions regarding safety around micromobility, and talks about the shared taxonomy for mobility recently released by SAE International.