Preliminary program – October 4, 2013
Wednesday October 23
6:00 pm - 7:15 pm - Welcome Reception at George Mason University
An significant part of making change is to ensure the participation of those who are most affected by it. At each Podcar City Conference we start with a short informal Welcoming Reception. This year we also will honor Mr Martin Lowson who passed away earlier this year. Martin was an extraordinary important person in the ATN development world and we all miss him a lot.
Institutional welcoming committee remarks by:
US DOT Vince Valdes
Trafikverket Bo Olsson
KOMPASSHans Lindqvist & Bo Anderson
ATRA Stan Young
INIST Ron Swenson & Lizie Michel
MTI Karen Philbrick & Donna Maurillo
Lea+Elliott David Little & Erica Brown
Thursday October 24 - George Mason University, Arlington Branch
8.00 Registrations and Exhibits
8.30 Welcome Remarks
Christer Lindström, INIST
Christer is the co-founder of International
Institute of Transportation and main organizer of the Podcar City Conference 2013.
He is a member of the Swedish Center Party and specializes in funding and modeling of
sustainable city development and transportation systems.
Laurie Schintler, George Mason University
Laurie Schintler is Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy at George Mason
University, where she teaches graduate courses on transportation theory and models,
regional development theory, and statistics and econometrics. Professor Schintler has written
numerous articles and papers in her field, including “A Prototype Dynamic Transportation
Network Model” and “Evaluation of the Smart Flexible Integrated Real-time Enhancement
System (SaFIRES)”.
Mary Hughes Hynes, City of Arlington
Chair Mary Hynes was first elected to the Arlington County Board in 2007. As a civic
activist and public servant for more than 20 years, she has consistently and effectively led
Arlington’s efforts to strengthen its government by enhancing civic participation, improving
government management, and increasing investment in the County’s physical infrastructure.
A major focus for Ms. Hynes this year is her PLACE – Participation, Leadership and Civic
Engagement – Initiative, which builds on the community’s valued tradition of civic
engagement known as “the Arlington Way.”
8.50 Morning Keynote Speaker
Mike Honda, US House of Representatives
9.15 Conference Overview and Workshop info
Information about the conference with all sessions presented in a few minutes by the
moderators for each track.
Innovative Transportation Technologies – Running Projects – Stan Young, ATRA
Emerging Transportation Technologies – R&D- Alain Kornhauser, Princeton University
Urbanism & Transit – An overview- Shannon McDonald, Southern Illinois University
A General Transportation System – Kjell Dahlström, GTS Foundation
Planning in practice – Examples- David Little, Lea+Elliott
Software Tools – R&D- Ingmar Andreasson, Logistikcentrum
Economics and Financing – New and old models- Karen Philbrick, MTI
Swedish.US Memorandum of Cooperation – Cities for change – Matthew Lesh, US FTA
Station and Real Estate Transit design – US and Sweden – Bo Olsson, Trafikverket
9.45 ATN Projects today
Moderated by Stan Young, ATRA
What is the status of the operational ATN systems today?
What projects are we to expect in the near future, and what
about the test tracks running?
Presentations of systems Ultra, Vectus, 2Getthere, Minimetro, Modutram and more.
Presented by Alexander Kyllman, Modutram and Peter Muller, ATRA-IG
10.45 Break & Exhibits
11.00 Emerging Transportation Technologies – R&D
Moderated by Alain Kornhauser, Princeton University
A series of projects using self driving cars for new mobility
solutions are emerging. How can this technology promote public
transportation, and what is the state of art?
Dr. Jerome Lutin (former) VP of Research at New Jersey Transit "Opportunities to leverage
advances in driverless car technology to evolve conventional bus transit systems"
Dr. Ingmar Andreasson "Leveraging the advances in driverless cars to jump-start the
deployment of Podcar Transit Systems"
Dr. Samuel Lott, Kimley Horn "Evolving APMs to ATNs using Driverless car technology"
Dr. Adriano Alessandrini, University of Rome, "Evolving today's Low-speed driverless
shuttles to area-wide transit service"
To be named, Mercedes Benz North America "Today's Intelligent Drive Platform and Near-
term opportunities"
12.15 Lunch at venue
Lunch Speaker
Håkan Jansson, Swedish Ministry of Enterprise
Mr Jansson is responsible for the topics around Automation in
transportation and will ypdate us on the current status of the
Swedish-US Memorandum of Cooperation
13.30 Breakout session A1- Main Venue - Urbanism and Transit – an Overview
Moderated by Shannon McDonald,
Southern Illinois University
How do new ideas in transportation solutions play into the
urbanism planning processes?
What are the obstacles and possibilities?
Presentations by speakers Michael R. Grey,Magnus Hunhammar, Brian O'Looney,
Nathan Koren
13.30 Breakout session B1- Exhibit Hall – A General Transportation System
Moderated by Kjell Dahlström, The GTS Foundation
The GTS concept takes podcar technology to a globally standardized level.
What would the implications be of a much larger network than just local feeders
and distribution systems?
- What is GTS, Kjell Dahlstrom and Jan-Erik Nowacki,
- Analysis, Fulfilment of Transportation Objectives, Arne Muñoz
- Development of GTS Technology, Jan-Erik Nowacki,
- GTS General Functionalities, Kjell Dahlstrom,
- My Love for Technique, Per Ahlstrom,
- Discussion, 30 min
14.45 Break, Exhibits
15.10 Breakout session A2- Main Venue – Planning in practice
Moderated by David Little. Lea+Elliott
A lot of experience can be drawn from practical implementations in the
US and elsewhere. Automated systems and new ideas can be challenging
to accept for a transit agency, and the rise of these systems at congested
areas shows potential for much more than what is implemented today.
Presentations by Michele Jacobson, Mike Hewitt, Jeff Davis, Fred Payne
15.10 Breakout session B2- Exhibit Hall – Software Tools for planning
Moderated by Ingmar Andreasson, Logistikcentrum
A general problem with working with new modes of transportation
is the fact that the current planning tools and software packages do not
include such possibilities. However, a series of recent developments has
proven to be effective for change. This session focuses on such ideas,
in practice and theory.
Presentations by Bengt Gustafsson, Nathan Koren, Sam Lott
16.15Afternoon keynote speaker
Fmr. Congressman Jim Oberstar
Congressman Oberstar is a member of the board of directors
of Geronimo Wind Energy of Edina, Minnesota, and the board
of International Student House of Washington, D.C. He serves as
Senior Advisor to consulting firm NSI, of Washington D.C.,
which assists companies with state and local government
procurement and policy issues. He is also an Advisor to medical
technology firm GeaCom, Inc., of Duluth, Minnesota.
16.25Final first day panel discussion
Moderated by former Congressman Jim Oberstar
Participation of Karen Philbrick, Researcher, MTI,
Laura Stuchinsky, Director of Transportation, City of San Jose,
Gösta Norén, Director of planning, City of Upplands Väsby,
Fred Payne, County Commissioner, Greenville SC
Bo Andersson, Center party Transportation spokesperson, County of Stockholm,
Christer Lindvall, Chairman Umeå Social Democrats, City of Umeå
17.00End of Day one
19.00Conference Dinner, Venue TBA
Dinner speech TBA.
Friday October 25
9.00The Swedish – US memorandum of cooperation – current projects and initiatives
Information from Matthew Lesh, DOT and Christer Lindström, INIST
Since the agreement was signed in September 2010, a series
of events and projects are underway. We will hear from DOT,
Trafikverket, KOMPASS, Academia and businesses
on what is going on right now plus from four cities working
on change in Sweden and USA
City of San Jose – Laura Stuchinsky, City of Upplands Väsby – Gösta Norén,
City of Greensboro – Fred Payne, City of Sigtuna, Magnus Hunhammar
CTAA – Beginning plans for ATN
10.15Break and Exhibits
10.40Financing & Risk Management
Moderated by Dr. Karen Philbrick, Mineta Transportation Institute
How do we finance new modes of transportation?
What are the risks and how can we
mitigate them? What is the role of the government?
What Arlington did along Metro - how it created a 50-100 year plan around the
coming of the system and how it has actually successfully worked out [ Density by Desire!]
and is now also doing along Columbia Pike (which will be served by future streetcar)
20 min presentation by Peter Bass, HDR
Also presentations by Sanjeev Shah, Strategic Project Development,
Christer Lindström, Co-founder INIST and
Peter Muller, CEO of PRT Consulting
12.10Lunch and Exhibits
13.30HSR, Station, Transit, Bicycles – Connected Systems and Ideas
Moderated by Susanne Ingo, Trafikverket
-Bicycles and Transit Lead the Way - to a More Livable Community - presentation by
William B. Gallagher Jr., Principal, KGP Design Studio
-Stations in Sweden – 20 min presentation by Paul van Doninck
-From regional visions to local modal change points – Challenges in Sweden - 20 min presentation by Elisabetta Troglio, researcher
-Round Table discusion (Ingo, Gallagher, Van Doninck, Troglio): The point of mode change is one of the strongest drivers of development, but also an achilles heel of the transit system – we prefer not to change!
- What are the key characteristics of modern large railway (incl HSR) stations?
- How can station area planning help HSR fit into existing settings?
- How can connecting networks for transit, bikes, and ATN enhance the design and use of High Speed Rail?
14.45Break
15.00The MTI Report and Next steps for development of ATN in USA
Presentation by Buff Furman, San Jose State University.
The Mineta Transportation Institute is working in collaboration
with San Jose State University professor Buff Furman on a state-
of-the-art study on ATN technology today. The report will be
presented by Professor Furman,collaborators and students.
16.15End of Conference – Final Panel – Solar Skyways Prize
Presentation of the Solar Skyways Challenge and the winner –
Ron Swenson, INIST
Final panel discussion
Moderator TBA.