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Center for Urban Transportation
Research
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Florida’s 1999 Vanpooling Net Conference Brings TDM Training to Your PCTechnological applications in transportation demand management (TDM) extend beyond integration of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and the creation of web pages. Technological and communication advances provided an opportunity for TDM workshop participants in Florida to view presentations from panelists from four cities across the country over the Internet, while other workshop participants attended the meeting on the phone and viewed the presentations on their PCs. In the quest to be more effective, TDM programs of today are required to know how to improve performance quickly and efficiently. However, more TDM programs also are feeling the pressure to reduce travel costs and minimize the time out of the office. For some, this means meeting colleagues at national or regional conferences to learn of new or improved methods or attending multi-day training programs are no longer viable options. To help fill the need to improve performance, bring in additional expertise, and keep travel costs down, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) sponsored an advanced conferencing option that provided an alternative to the traditional conference session or training workshop. On Friday, July 16th, the FDOT-sponsored net conference, 1999 Internet Seminar on Vanpooling, was hosted by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. The seminar interspersed in-person presentations on vanpooling programs in Florida, including Space Coast Area Transit Vanpool Service, with presentations from 4 speakers around the country conducted over the Internet. By net conferencing, Florida TDM programs stood to realize important benefits associated with virtual, electronic-based meetings - whether they’re held on the phone, via video or on the computer. By offering efficient, productive and cost-effective ways to bring people together the net conference enables TDM professionals to attend more training programs, hear from presenters from across the country more easily, or simply accelerate the exchange of day-to-day information. The workshop used a combination of onsite instruction interspersed with two net conference panels. The first panel session, Vanpool Marketing, participants heard on the phone from Byron York with 2Plus, Inc. in Cary, North Carolina focused his presentation on Vanpool Myths or Legends and Jon Martz with VPSI in Detroit discussed Vanpool Marketing. Onsite and remote participants were able to view their presentations over the Internet via their PCs. The afternoon panel session, Vanpool Operations, similarly linked Shamus Misek with Pace in Chicago who discussed The Pace VIP Experience and Syd Pawlowski with King County Metro in Seattle who spoke on King County Metro Vanpool Operations with participants in Tampa and several other locations around the country. "Participants found this net conference very helpful," said Michael Wright, FDOT’s commuter assistance manager. "We really like the idea of involving guest speakers from around the country to supplement our on-site training programs". "Like any workshop, much of the success was due to the high quality presentations from the four panelists. Workshop participants told us that it helps to hear first-hand how other parts of the country deliver TDM services", said Philip Winters, TDM Program Director at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. "The success of this conference means we will continue to examine the use of net conferencing and other delivery methods for bringing our TDM training programs to those unable to attend". Winters sees net conferencing applications extending beyond TDM training programs. "We also expect to use net conferencing as a collaborative tool to edit documents with colleagues or clients in real-time over the Internet -- while discussing the revisions on the phone", said Winters. "Groups like ACT could use this technique to create virtual chapters or councils." For more information, contact Philip L. Winters, TDM Program Director, Center for Urban Transportation Research at winters@cutr.eng.usf.edu or (813) 974-9811 |
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Center for Urban
Transportation Research · University of South Florida · 4202 E. Fowler Ave., CUT
100 |