Maiden Voyage

I welcome you to the first installment of Letters of Transit. This is a new chapter in my 15 year career at Community Transportation Association. When first approached with the concept of using these writings to document my whereabouts on my technical assistance journeys, I honestly was apprehensive. As someone who preaches change is good, I found myself trying to digest my own sermon. With positive reinforcement from Scott Bogren and Dale Marsico I have finally put pen to paper…errr ahh, fonts to files.

Through my employment with Community Transportation Association (CTAA) my colleague, Charlie Rutkowski and I, work with several areas of the Association. Those areas include Training and Technical Assistance and coordination of the National Community Transportation Roadeo. In these areas of the Association, I find myself traveling to parts of this country that few have heard of. I enjoy meeting new people and going to remote places and learning the history of these communities. Thus, you will never hear me complain about my job.

Most of my travel is to rural and tribal areas in need of transit planning assistance. Each community is different and I try to drive that point home when helping them develop a service plan, or start a new system or build a transit facility. So each visit is customized and presents unique challenges and rewards.

This blog will allow Charlie and I to share with you some of these challenges and rewards of providing technical assistance or training to communities across America. Reader be warned: I have a laid back writing style. So if it seems a bit stuffy, it’s because the editors got their hands on it before it went live. I hope you enjoy these writings as much as I enjoy helping communities address their transportation challenges.