Coordinated Public Transit Human
Services Transportation Plans
In August 2005, President Bush
signed into law the Safe, Efficient Transportation
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, commonly referred
to as SAFETEA-LU. This legislation authorized the
provision of $286.4 billion in guaranteed funding
for federal surface transportation programs over six
years through Fiscal year 2009, including $52.6 billion
for federal transit programs.
Starting in Fiscal Year 2007, projects funded through
three programs included in SAFETEA-LU, including the
Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC, Section
5316), New Freedom (Section 5317) and the Formula
Program for Elderly Individuals and Individuals with
Disabilities (Section 5310) are required to be derived
from a locally developed, coordinated public transit
and human services transportation plan. SAFETEA-LU
guidance issued by the Federal Transportation Administration
(FTA) in May 2007 indicates that the plan should be
a “unified, comprehensive strategy for public transportation
service delivery that identifies the transportation
needs of individuals with disabilities, older adults,
and individuals with limited income, laying out strategies
for meeting these needs, and prioritizing services.”
Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates has been working
with numerous public agencies and their local stakeholders
throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Ohio,
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and elsewhere around
the country to fulfill these new planning requirements.
While each community is unique, the plans have resulted
in some common elements:
Stakeholder Consultation: The coordinated planning
process provides an opportunity for transportation
providers, funders, and planners to collaborate
with their human service agency counterparts, advocacy
organizations and others involved in improving mobility
for older adults, persons with disabilities, and
low-income persons. In many cases, these stakeholder
groups will continue to work together to recommend
projects funded with federal transportation dollars,
or to otherwise implement recommendations emerging
from the plans.
Public Outreach: Outreach can be conducted in a
number of ways, including focus groups, workshops,
presentations at other community meetings, one-on-one
interviews, surveys, and opportunities to comment
on-line. Nelson\Nygaard staff is skilled and experienced
in carrying out public outreach techniques that
are tailored for each community-based plan. Often,
utilizing a combination of outreach techniques is
most effective.
Demographic Profile: The plans provide a “snapshot”
of community characteristics derived from U.S. Census
Data, such as levels of poverty, numbers of households
without automobiles, or numbers of older adults
and persons with disabilities. This data provides
an important baseline of demographic information
to inform the planning results.
Maps: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
technology, demographic information can be mapped
to illustrate community and transportation characteristics.
For example, maps can be prepared to show the location
of key activity centers serving persons with disabilities,
older adults and those of low-income status, and
how well they are served by existing public transit
routes.
Needs Assessment: Each plan documents key unmet
transportation needs faced by the three communities
of concern: older adults, persons with disabilities,
and individuals of low-income status. These unmet
needs are derived from input received from stakeholders,
as well as other needs assessments or documentation
that may have been prepared by other organizations.
Strategies and Solutions: In addition to identifying
gaps, project stakeholders have sought to describe
strategies and solutions that could mitigate the
gaps. Many strategies can be considered potential
projects eligible for SAFETEA-LU funding and may
cover a wide range of transportation alternatives
including shuttles, expanded fixed-route transit,
vanpools, or taxi voucher programs.
Beyond SAFETEA-LU
Many communities are using the planning exercise
as an opportunity to look at broader coordination
issues—how can transportation providers do a better
job delivering services with existing resources?
What steps can be taken to better coordinate services
in order to improve efficiencies? How can human
service and transportation agencies continue their
collaboration to improve public transportation services
for those with limited mobility options?
Mobility management has emerged as a concept
of interest through many of the local planning efforts.
To encourage greater coordination of public and
client transportation services, mobility management
was specifically identified as a strategy in the
new SAFETEA-LU legislation. Federal guidance describes
mobility management as “projects for improving coordination
among public transportation and other transportation
service providers,” and could include, among other
things, the employment of personnel to coordinate
the full array of transportation options through
a clearinghouse function.
Provisions were included that allow mobility management
activities to be funded as federal capital expenses,
thereby eligible to be supported with 80% federal
public transportation funding rather than 50% allowed
to support transit operations. This enhanced federal
share for mobility management projects applies to
the following FTA transit programs:
• 5307 – Public transit assistance to urbanized
areas
• 5310 – Assistance to elderly and disabled populations
• 5311 – Public transit assistance to rural areas
• 5316 – Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC)
• 5317 – New Freedom (supplemental assistance to
disabled)
In general, mobility management supports a more
flexible and holistic approach in providing public
transportation – one that focuses on the needs of
individuals, their neighborhoods and communities.
This shift means moving beyond establishing and
operating traditional fixed-route transit services
to tailoring a network of diverse transportation
services to satisfy customer needs at a local and
regional level. The concept involves designing and
managing a comprehensive and coordinated family
of services and providers to enhance mobility and
connectivity.
Initially, SAFETEA-LU plans have been prepared
in order to access federal sources of funds to support
transportation for the elderly, persons of disabilities
and those of low-income status. In the long run,
they also have set the stage for enhanced collaboration
between transportation providers and their human
service agency counterparts by initiating dialogue
and identifying strategies for enhancing the ways
services are delivered at the local level.
Below are links to examples of SAFETEA-LU plans
completed by Nelson\Nygaard:
