Public Involvement in Transit Decision Making

TCRP SYNTHESIS 85: Effective Use of Citizen Advisory Committees for Transit Planning and Operations is a must-read for anyone who either works with public involvement and stakeholder groups, recommends them, or whose work is in some way involves public involvement. In fact, though the report is about the use of public involvement and stakeholder advisory groups in the realm of transit, I would recommend the report to anyone who utilizes or suggests these tools in any decision-making arena.

This is a long report, 76 pages, so I do not expect that many people will read it through. However, because it has valuable information, I am going to do more than provide a blurb. Just reading a couple of sections will be worthwhile. Even in the conclusion I found words of wisdom that added to the depth of fantastic information.

What Coordination Efforts Can Learn about Stakeholder Committees

In our work, we often talk about local and state coordinating councils. Public involvement is a legal requirement of SAFETEA-LU and is increasingly used at all levels of government to inform official decisions and projects. Convening a stakeholder committees is one strategy that is widely used for supplying transit agencies and governmental entities with feedback about proposed projects and changes to service. The report discusses how to effectively form, structure, give purpose to and use these committees for transit planning and project implementation.

The report recommends:

• Clear expectations and communication about committee roles and responsibilities contribute to an advisory committee’s success.
• For committee membership the need for representation of all viewpoints can be balanced with the need to maintain a manageable committee size.
• Agencies find value in the input provided by advisory committees and think of them as an indispensable part of the public involvement process.
• Many agencies employ professional public involvement staff to support committees and other outreach activities.
• Committee evaluation can lead to improved effectiveness.

Flavorful Cookbook for Professionals and Citizens

The case studies are well written, not the usual dull text of most reports, and extremely informative, providing a veritable cookbook for residents, political leaders, government personnel, and non-profit staff of all stripes. The case studies offered a range of purposes for the committees, procedures, membership, sizes, and types of projects and project phases for which the committees were utilized.

What was impressive was the political and governmental appreciation for the input of the committees and in some places the expansion of their use. "The agencies featured in the case studies tended to report on advisory committees as a standard, expected part of the process by community members, staff, and officials."

A Taste of the Findings

Strategies for promoting involvement were extensively covered, such as where to hold meetings, as well as an emphasis on and suggestions for effective facilitation of meetings.

Examples of successful stakeholder advisory groups and their roles are discussed in wonderful detail so that a flavor for what they do, how and why, is available from the black and white of the report as well as information about procedures and lessons learned.

In terms of specifics, here is just one set of recommendations in the area of purposes for which such committees are well suited.

Stakeholder advisory committees are effective to use for:

• A policy, plan, or project is being developed on a local or regional scale.
• Technical information is sufficiently complex to require consistent attention and involvement to make a meaningful recommendation.
• Stakeholder input is needed during a well-defined time period.
• The advisory committee has a clear role in providing input to the decision-making body.
• Community buy-in is needed for a controversial project.
• Opposing stakeholders could benefit from the opportunity to hear each other’s views and problem solve in a collaborative environment.

Caveats

Stakeholder advisory bodies can be costly, due to extensive staff time for training, liaison services, facilitation and recording of proceedings. The committees should be subject to size limitations (or else unwieldy), though the case studies offered many different sizes that worked well. These entities are subject to group dynamics, which can limit effectiveness, and require facilitation, the need for which becomes more pronounced as groups increase in size.