Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) will host a National Transit Institute Fellows Workshop and the Federal Transit Administration's Advanced Public Transportation Systems Mobile Showcase Friday, Sept. 14, and Saturday, Sept. 15, at the TCAT Facility located on 737 Willow Ave. in Ithaca.

The NTI Fellows Workshop will be led by Catherine Bradshaw Boon, senior research engineer with the Washington State Transportation Center, University of Washington. The main focus of the workshop will be how to plan and deploy a real-time, Internet-distributed, public transit information system. Such a system enables people to know the location of buses using the Internet, electronic displays at bus stops and wireless devices. The workshop will be Friday.

The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) Mobile Showcase will be Friday and Saturday at the TCAT Facility on Willow Avenue. The mobile showcase demonstrates state-of-the-art technologies that advance system operations and improve communications, passenger service and safety. The showcase also serves as a mechanism for educating the transit community by providing hands-on technical courses that give individuals the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about APTS technologies. The showcase is open for visitors Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Information on the workshop and the mobile showcase, including a schedule of tours and courses, is available at <www.co.tompkins.ny.us/transit/Sept14.html&gt;. The workshop and showcase are sponsored by the National Transit Institute, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation.

For more information about the NTI Fellows Workshop or the FTA Mobile Showcase, contact TCAT at (607) 277-9388, ext. 520, or send e-mail to TCAT@cornell.edu.