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:
