The transit industry has recognized that transit lags behind the commercial sector in effective adoption of information technologies in the management and delivery of its services. In an industry that is constantly in the public eye, an aversion to the risk-taking involved in implementing operational and stakeholder information technologies is understandable, but detrimental to the mission of transit in today's society.
Tools are needed to assist transit agencies in obtaining information on technologies and their potential risks and rewards in a more timely fashion. One such tool that could assist is an "Electronic Magazine" (e-Zine ) that provides concise, timely information in an electronic format. Newsletters, magazines, and other publications that are distributed via email are often called e-Zines.
A web-based e-Zine designed to help all levels of transit staff to find objective, informative articles on technology useful to the transit industry would be beneficial.
The objective of this research is to develop, operate, and evaluate an e-Zine that provides information on current, useful information technologies and successful practices for transit. This project will be conducted in two phases: (1) development of a business plan for a 1-year e-Zine prototype and (2) creation, operation, and evaluation of the e-Zine prototype for a minimum of 1 year.
The e-Zine should contain content that is relevant to both transit management and operational personnel. At the management level, an article, for example, should identify a technology application and provide useful information on its deployment. Examples of potential topical areas to be addressed in a e-Zine might include the following:
(1) Application Service Providers –- Describe the current state of the practice and the direction it is heading, issues that may be faced by management (both general and technical) in considering such services, and the types of questions that should be addressed with internal staff and vendors prior to entering into any relationships.
(2) Cost-effective asset management –- How does the use of information technology maximize results within regulatory requirements? Are there areas where agencies and regulators should take a second look?
(3) Supply Chain Management –- Describe a day in the life of a transit agency (a hypothetical one) providing information on what is actually being done in transit today.
(4) Legal –- Are there unique legal aspects for transit agencies doing certain categories of work over the Internet? (If so, an original article would be written; if not, then a literature review article discussing common business issues such as electronic signatures, or lack of confidentiality of unencrypted documents might be published.)
At the operational level, a topic might include a discussion of how the use of a particular integrated information technology changes the tasks, mindsets, and outcomes of a function. For example, a discussion of fully integrated maintenance systems might address following:
(a) Technology skills needed for responding to rapidly changing transit business.
(b) Efficiencies gained, such as efficiencies gained through automatic supply chain re-ordering, which delivers electronic purchase orders to suppliers, assists in procurement, and draws down budgets on a real-time basis?
(c) Transit technology "Aha's", such as the surprise that shop floor personnel first experience when they come to really believe in the counter-intuitive practices 'expert' systems suggest as being much more productive.
The e-Zine articles also may provide information of interest to all levels of transit personnel
on topics such as:
(1) Current "working tools" (software and hardware for practitioners). There are numerous
publications recognized by the technology industry as being objective in their testing programs
and expert in their trend analysis.
(2) News about government-sponsored seminars and interesting programs (not commercial advertisements).
(3) Interviews with transit professionals, such as those willing to discuss how failure has served as a stepping stone to success. "What we will do differently next time?" If there are not enough people comfortable with giving such interviews, then the literature review may turn up private-sector stories to be used.
Status: Completed: Follow web address: https://www.thetransitwire.com/
