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Transportation survey – industry on the move

US technology company AirSage has conducted what it says is the first in an annual look at the transportation industry and the professionals in it – with some interesting findings. Just released as an eBook, the AirSage Annual Transportation Industry Survey: an Industry on the Move, provides an insight into how US-based transportation planners and traffic engineers peers view the industry, their organisations, private versus government jobs, gender and age issues and more. Conducted During May and June 2013
August 19, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
US technology company 6178 AirSage has conducted what it says is the first in an annual look at the transportation industry and the professionals in it – with some interesting findings.

Just released as an eBook, the AirSage Annual Transportation Industry Survey: an Industry on the Move, provides an insight into how US-based transportation planners and traffic engineers peers view the industry, their organisations, private versus government jobs, gender and age issues and more.

Conducted During May and June 2013, the company questioned 126 respondents on a variety of issues from how practitioners keep up with industry trends/news to how they use social media, from what motivates them to go to work to where they see the industry should go versus where it will go, and more. Among the transportation planners surveyed, the study found:

•    21 per cent of respondents ages 18 to 28 cited working with different generations as a top concern
•    86 per cent prefer to get their news the old fashioned way (trade associations and newsletters, networking at smaller or local events, and traditional news sources such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, etc.) and only 16 per cent use social media as a primary news source
•    28 per cent  of planners polled were female and 43 per cent of them say there are a number of quiet/hidden challenges for women
•    65.4 per cent of those under 29 and 26.7 per cent of 29-35 year-olds were strongly in favour of new technology, while 81.4 per cent of over 57 year-olds were highly sceptical of it

AirSage says peer-to-peer perspectives, like those captured in this survey, provide a valuable lens through which transportation planners can evaluate their careers, their industry and multi-discipline projects.

“As a technology company that provides data to the transportation industry, we want to understand what professionals in every segment of the transportation industry are thinking, so we can improve our products and services,” said Cy Smith, CEO and Founder of AirSage. “And, we have a social responsibility to provide insights, particularly technology-driven insights, to the industry. The result is the First Annual Transportation Industry Survey.”

Other findings featured in the eBook include: perspectives on government entities versus private corporations; views on technology and how innovative the industry is; insights into how transportation planners view budget challenges and bureaucracy; and the future of housing, infrastructure, transportation planning and urban/suburban sprawl.

“Today’s professionals must keep current in new and emerging technologies to recommend the most cost-effective, site-specific solutions,” said Thomas W Brahms, executive director and CEO, 5667 Institute of Transportation Engineers. “In addition, we need to encourage new partnerships between the public and private sectors to develop collaborative solutions for transportation needs at all stages: planning, design, implementation and maintenance.”

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