MATTHEW DAUS RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TRANSPORTATION REGULATORS FOR 3 MORE YEARS! I am pleased to announce that the International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR) has re-elected me as their President for the next 3 years. This wonderful group of transportation regulators and supportive businesses from around the world strives to promote and educate government transportation officials on best professional practices as well as to support them in their legislative, research and reform endeavors. Our annual conference this September 2011, held in Toronto, Ontario, was a tremendous success with an overbooked crowd of regulators, industry businesses and prominent keynote speakers. The theme of this conference was training and hospitality, and the program was rich with sessions covering the best methods for training taxi enforcement personnel and taxi drivers. The timing of the conference was very appropriate given the leading role Toronto has played in driver training and in current efforts to reform its Ambassador Driver Program. An entire day was also devoted to nightlife transportation issues and the symbiotic role played between the taxi industry, its regulators and the tourism industry. Our keynote speakers included the President of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), Bill Millar, who addressed paratransit reform and establishing a closer working relationship with IATR. Also, Professor Allan Fels of the Australian government, attended with his team of reformers who are conducting a taxi regulatory reform review and inquiry in Victoria. The conference members also had great entertainment from X-Prime with musical performances by taxi regulators including Los Angeles' Tom Drischler, San Francisco's Christiane Hayashi and myself. Also, the IATR held its first ever golf outing where sponsors and regulators broke par together on the beautiful BraeBen golf course.
Left to Right: Matt Daus on Guitar, Christiane Hayashi from San Francisco on vocals, and Tom Drischler from Los Angeles on piano.
Also, the IATR has formed for the first time a Research Advisory Board, and has asked me to appoint professors, consultants and other organizations to this Board that will assign studies to authors and set a timeline for publication to coordinate with the Transportation Research Board. The session members discussed the following areas of research and study for the coming years:
With the upcoming 2012 IATR conference scheduled for the IATR's 25th Anniversary to be held in Washington, D.C., it is appropriate to announce that our organization will be conducting legislative training for regulators and will coordinate a massive "Day on the Hill" at the Capitol immediately following the November Presidential election during the conference itself. All regulators will meet Congressional staff and Members of Congress to promote the IATR's legislative agenda. A session was conducted in Toronto by former Parliamentarian John Nunziata to develop a Canadian legislative agenda for the IATR, and more countries may soon follow. In the U.S., the IATR is also pleased to announce that Barry Lefkowitz, the former lobbyist for the National Limousine Association, has been retained by the IATR to help organize these events and ensure passage of our legislation. There are also a number of new initiatives that I announced at the conference that will benefit our members, including:
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