Shawn Bailey

Old Colony Planning Council

Master of City Planning ’16

I first became aware of the field of urban planning as a sophomore at Westfield State University when I had yet to decide on a major. I stumbled upon their major of Geography and Regional Planning and it sounded intriguing. I looked up what it was about and liked it enough that I decided to sign up for a few classes to try it out. The classes were fun and got me very interested in the concept of urban planning. Once I discovered the aspect of transportation planning, I knew that was the path I wanted to pursue.
Immediately following my graduation from Westfield State University, I started the Master of City Planning degree at Boston University. Nervous and a little scared of going to such a prestigious school, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the professors turned out to better than I expected and when I found out there was a transportation planning course available, I knew I had made the right choice of choosing BU’s city planning program. It was my favorite course in the program and I wished there was another one that continued on. Every course I took in the program helped me expand my knowledge of the field and help me become a better student and worker.
I worked part-time as a Temporary Transportation Technician for the first two years in the program and the summer before my third and final year in the program, I was promoted to a full-time planner. My dream was finally coming true with the assistance of everything I learned in the city planning program as well as all of the wonderful people I had become acquainted with.
Shawn is a Transportation Planner with the Old Colony Planning Council, one of Massachusetts’ regional planning agencies that serves 17 communities in southeastern Massachusetts. His job entails two main projects with multiple additional tasks as well. Shawn is the project manager for the Congestion Management Process, which entails conducting biannual utilization counts at commuter rail and Park & Ride locations within the OCPC region and analyzing current commuter trends and preparing for future commuter trends and needs. He is also the Administrator of the Community Septic Management Program, which allows residents to apply for loans through their community to replace their failed septic systems. Shawn has also recently been assigned to work on Housing Production Plans and Housing Strategy Plans for certain communities in the Old Colony Council region. He also assists other staff with writing reports and is a primary member of the data collection team within the transportation department.