NRC Technical Assistance News

Coordination: Regional, at National Parks, for Seniors, and Courses

2012-01-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

National Conference of State Legislatures
NCSL issues its quarterly Coordination Newsletter. News of taxi involvement in accessibility for people with disabilities and low-income populations. The newsletter mentions a few statewide reports, two of which studied mobility needs of older adults. The Michigan report announces a startling statistic. "By far the most common help given by caregivers was related to transportation, with more than 90% of respondents statewide reporting to have provided this type of care."

NCSL also issued Regional Human Service Transportation Coordinating Councils: Synthesis, Case Studies and Directory. The directory lists regional coordinating councils across the country and contact information for each. The synthesis defines these councils as:

... multidisciplinary, in that they coordinate among diverse transportation and human services providers; regional, in that they coordinate across multiple cities, counties or other local jurisdictions; and ongoing, in that they engage in active, ongoing coordination, not just coordination planning or other intermittent activities.

The synthesis also explains the requirements in federal legislation for coordinated transportation planning. The complementary relationship of state and regional coordinating councils is discussed. Different state and regional structures are explored. The case studies are quite interesting. They look at different states, their legal frameworks, how regional councils were created and what they are doing. The publication does not cover the performance results of regional coordinating councils that have existed for several years and whether services to communities are improved and people are enjoying greater mobility.

More acronyms to add:
regional coordinating council - RCC
local coordinating council - LCC
statewide coordinating council - SCC (not to be confused with the SEC, which refers either to football or to regulation of publicly-traded companies).

Getting to and around National Parks

Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks
TA center in the news: Secretary LaHood's Fastlane blog praised the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program (TRIPTAC). The program brings mobility options to park visitors and helps "green" the park experience and environment.

Federal lands in 24 states and the District of Columbia will use funds to enhance transportation choices for a cleaner, greener visitor experience. Projects range from redesigning and widening the Nauset Bicycle Trail at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts to purchasing new buses to transport visitors between Sausalito and the Muir Woods National Monument in California.

Funding for Supplemental Transportation Programs for Seniors

Beverly Foundation
The Beverly Foundation, which fosters senior transportation programs, is accepting applications for awards to 18 senior transportation services program of grants of $10,000 each. Previous applicants (including past STAR Award winners) are eligible.

The eligibility criteria for a 2012 STAR Award include delivery of transportation services to senior passengers; knowledge of the organization's transportation service data (e.g. miles driven, number of drivers, number of vehicles, cost per ride, number of senior passengers, etc.); and ability to describe good practices employed in delivering transportation services to senior passengers. "Senior transportation programs that mobilize (or plan to mobilize) volunteer drivers will be looked upon favorably."

The application deadline is February 1st.

The Beverly Foundation’s mission is to foster new ideas and options to enhance mobility and transportation for older adults. The Foundation’s STAR Search program has gathered information on more than 1,400 services that provide transportation to older adults in communities across America.

Upcoming Courses

National Transit Institute
NTI has many courses listed on its website. Here are a few that are currently available.
Managing Community Mobility - a few classes coming to the South.
Comprehensive ADA Paratransit Eligibility
Paratransit Management and Operations

TA Opportunities for Rural & Tribal Communities

2012-01-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

Community Transportation Association of America
CTAA is currently seeking applicants for its 2012 Rural and Tribal Transportation Technical Assistance Program. Through the rural and tribal programs, CTAA offers free hands-on technical assistance to rural communities and tribal organizations. The assistance can help start new transit programs, expand or enhance existing services, or develop facilities.

Projects will stimulate economic development and small business growth. The results of the Maine project, described below, were featured in a New York Times opinion piece, Thinking Outside the Bus.

Typical Project Gets Attention

The following are some typical projects.

Brunswick, Maine-Technical assistance project developed plan for implementation of new transit service in Brunswick, serving local residents and students of Bowdoin College. The Brunswick Explorer service will interface with extension of Amtrak's Downeaster trains to Portland and Boston. The transit service will also serve the multiuse redevelopment of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station site.

According to the New York Times (the primary news source for my extended family):

In the world of public transit, the Brunswick Explorer is a radical idea. Its genesis came from a coalition of local social service agencies — organizations that work with the elderly, mentally ill, disabled, homeless, as well as with college students and local hospitals. They approached Coastal Transit, a nonprofit regional transit provider to be a part of their coalition. Coastal Transit’s executive director, Lee Karker, had worked on two other rural bus systems that fell apart. Both were designed to fill objectives other than helping riders; one was supposed to clear congestion out of a tourist town, and the other just drove from one end of town to the other without much regard for where riders wanted to go. Karker describes the process of setting up the Explorer as “more organic.” “Before when we looked at bus routes we got input on traffic patterns, not input from the users,” he said. “Now we’re trying to be more entrepreneurial.” Working as part of the coalition, rather than as transit engineers, changed their worldview. “We have a tendency to make a transit system look the way we think it should look rather than what the community needs and what they want,” Karker said.

[Klamath Falls, Ore., where Amtrak meets local transit.]

Sitka, Alaska- CTAA provided service planning assistance that led to establishment of public transit services operated by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Assistance also helped identify facility needs for transit operations and vehicle maintenance.

Rhinelander, Wisconsin- Project enabled community to establish mobility management program to provide coordinated public transit service in three counties.

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina- Technical assistance helped Cherokee Transit enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of its services, including a park shuttle serving the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Assistance also helped Cherokee develop plan for new transit facility.

Guidelines

The Programs provide planning assistance only, from CTAA staff and consultants. Although CTAA cannot provide operating or capital funding through the Programs, potential funding sources for implementation will be identified.

Rural projects must be located in communities of less than 50,000 population, and outside designated urbanized areas. Applicants must be for-profit or not-for-profit entities; potential governmental applicants should contact CTAA for further guidance.

Tribal applicants should be federally-recognized tribal entities.

Deadline Approaching

Applications are for long-term projects and are due at CTAA by February 7, 2012. Long-term projects will be selected competitively. CTAA also provides short-term technical assistance; applications can be submitted at any time. For more information contact Charles Rutkowski at 202.299.6593, e-mail at rutkowski@ctaa.org, or visit the website of the Rural and Tribal Transportation Technical Assistance Program.

Access for Low-Wage Workers and People with Disabilities; Local Mobility Management Stories

2012-01-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

ADA National Network
The ADA National Network distributes an ADA checklist for public facilities - including transit and transportation facilities, with the exception of airports, and social service locations, such as daycare centers and offices. The checklist visually and with minimal text shows the standards, including parking, entrances, hallways, sloped surfaces, handrails, seating and much more.

Department of Labor
DOL releases a Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 21-11, Strategies to Meet One-Stop Career Centers' Business and Job-Seeker Customer Needs for Employment-Related Transportation Services. In case you do not know what a TEN is (I do not), in seven-pages this document explains what workforce professionals can do to find out about transportation needs for employees in the community and what partnerships can accomplish to improve transportation options. The TEN has a how-to approach and links to 25 profiles compiled by the Joblinks program at Community Transportation Association of America.

[Galesburg, Ill. Amtrak station at dusk.]

Local Stories

With federal and state funding, Hopelink in the Seattle area is starting a "Ride Around the Sound program and information kiosks serving veterans and medical facilities, as well as the existing Mobility Management program." Hopelink has travel training; it is working on a one-click transportation website and smartphone apps; and it is part of coordination efforts at the county and regional levels. Programs focus on self-sufficiency, which will save tax dollars. The article, Hopelink secures funding for new and existing transportation programs, appeared on the Bothell and Kenmore Reporters website.

The Broome-Tioga Mobility Management Project, which operates in the area of Binghamton, New York, will be using a mobility management approach to assisting riders with upcoming service cuts at Broome County Transit. "The county is eliminating some late-night runs and instituting longer waits at some bus stops as part of the service changes." The one-call service is staffing two mobility management associates to give riders advice and information about car-sharing and carpooling options. The one-call service is located at the United Way of Broome County. Program aims to help transit riders appeared on pressconnects.com.

Local Coordination News from PA, TX & OR

2011-12-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

A study of transportation in the York, Pa. area recommends coordination as a strategy to improve transit service. Analyzing transit in a nine-county area that has five transit systems, the study, funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), found:

-- Projected population growth between 2000 and 2030 is significant in the southcentral Pennsylvania region.
-- The need for more express services, multimodal linkages and park and rides was identified.
-- A common way to pay for fares on different transit systems is essential.
-- Transit is viewed as a choice for the younger generation.
-- Separate funding for inter-county transit service coordination is needed in legislation with local political support.
-- Partnerships with local government and employers are very important for regional transit coordination.

To encourage transit use, county borders must become seamless, the study recommends. A potential market is young adults.

Amenities like wireless Internet on buses, such as Rabbit Transit express buses that run between York and Harrisburg and to Maryland, appeal to younger riders.

"It seems the younger generation is more open to mass transit and living a sustainable lifestyle," Heilman said.

Source: Study finds need for transit coordination in York region, from the YorkDispatch.com

[Bus outside Chicago's Union Station.]

Texas Partnerships Moving Forward

A disability navigator in Corpus Christi, Tex., a member of the new LinkedIn group for the Partnership for Mobility Management, sent information about his region's experience with the Accessible Transportation Coalitions Initiative, a project of Easter Seals Project ACTION. The ATCI team became the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Mobility Options Project, a
Coastal Bend Center for Independent Living demonstration project, funded by a JARC grant from Texas Department of Transportation that:

partners with Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend and the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitation Services to increase mobility options for people with disabilities seeking employment-related opportunities. The two-year Mobility Options Project advances the plan developed at the ATCI event primarily regarding increasing access for people with disabilities in rural area, and expanding hours and days of service. To further promote new initiatives in their community that promote the team’s priorities, the ACCESS TEAM advocated for the Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority’s successful application for funding through the Department of Transportation’s Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative. This initiative will support the development of a regional call center that will provide a single point of access for regional transportation.

The team hosted a mobility management summit in the fall and discussed creation of a "united mobility management system" by examining "the positive and negative aspects of three models of mobility management: human services/independent living-based, workforce development-based, and public transit system-based."

[Portland light rail train near convention center. Hardly any wait and just a few free minutes to downtown near the federal courthouse (free tour available), department stores and the cute animal fountains.]

Social Media Meets Depressing Transit Choices

In a story of partnering with the public to decide how to make up for revenue shortfalls and inevitable service reductions or fare increases, the Oregonian reports that Portland's TriMet transit agency is asking residents to offer their opinions about how to plug a budget hole of $17 million. The article is entitled Want to tell TriMet how to run a railroad (and buses)? Now's your chance, about a social media campaign survey that is more like a game.

The site is part poll and part make-painful-choices game. "Love Connection" it's not. Think "Wheel of Fortune" meets a version of the "Sims" video game that allows players to manage a transit agency. There's a red bar reading "$17 million." You control a green bar, which moves depending on whatever service cuts and fare changes you click on. The goal is to balance the green and red.
... ... ... ...
(Yes, TriMet riders and payroll tax payers, it may be the most depressing interactive survey you've ever taken.)

"We're hoping to get an idea of what the public sees as the best approach," said TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane. "We also want to help people understand the tough tradeoffs that the agency faces."

The "game" is available at trimet.org/mailforms/budgetchoices.

Can I Borrow Your Car?

One more Portland story that I think is relevant for rural and suburban areas as well, though probably needs a few kinks worked out, is carsharing that is similar to, but goes beyond asking to borrow a neighbor's car. The Oregonian reports that federal funding, changes to the state's automobile insurance law and a venture by a private company will allow cheap pay-by-the-hour car rentals. Basically, you might be able to borrow - for a fee - the old hatchback down the street that has junk all over the front passenger seat or maybe the neat Audi convertible you admire.

With $1.7 million in federal grant money, California start-up Getaround will debut its personal car-sharing service in February, assuming a test period at the Portland State University campus goes well. The pilot starts on Jan. 1.

My source for the Portland stories is my-ever-reliable source, the TransitWire.

Public Participation - Legal Requirement, Resources, TA Providers

2011-12-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

What do you as technical assistance providers say when you are asked for advice about public participation aspects of planning, transit development and creating transportation services? What are resources that are written for laypeople? What staff from within our network can assist you and your constituency? This blog post describes some common issues to keep in mind, legal requirements, just a few recommended resources and a list of staff within the TA Provider Network who can help when public participation issues arise.

Legal Requirement

Public involvement is a legal requirement of SAFETEA-LU and is increasingly used at all levels of government to inform official decisions and projects. A successful public consultation process is proactive and provides complete information, timely public notices in relevant media, and opportunities for early and continuous participation. Early issue identification and cooperative solution-building can reduce the potential for conflict later in the process.

Planning for public participation should account for costs, reasonable timelines, and serious consideration of community voices. To stay in communication with community members, organizations and leaders throughout a planning or other process, establish and maintain a list of all parties interested in transportation in the region or in the particular project at issue.

[Mural near Amtrak station in Galesburg, Ill.]

Outreach

The digital divide looms large for community outreach because methods of outreach, particularly use of social media, email and the Internet, will depend on the lifestyles of the community at large and populations within the community. To rely only on social media and the Internet, however, is to ignore rural populations in areas without good Internet access and people who do not use the Internet and social media.

Effective Participation

Guidance for effective participation applies both to those seeking public input and people who wish to contribute their input. It takes a champion, a committed individual, to identify the players and organize and facilitate meetings in a way that others can see the merit of participation.

Community members should coordinate with other individuals, groups and local and regional political leaders. If possible, it is best to reach a unified position because it is more likely result in success than a lone voice. Newspaper editorials and letters, blogs and comments, Facebook, Twitter, and email campaigns can be useful for publicizing a position and gathering support.

Local political representation should be included from the start so that politicians may take ownership (credit) of the idea and guide it to success. It is best to keep politicians informed all the way through the process, as they can be instrumental in moving the projects along.

[Bus serving what will be Denver's renovated Union Station transit hub; right now the bus appears in the middle of the construction site of the station area.]

Channel Your Inner Boy Scout: Be Prepared

Community members should prepare for a public workshop by obtaining the necessary materials and studying each suggested alternative for any given project. As much factual information as possible should be employed to support a position on a project. Data will be more persuasive and credible than an unsupported opinion. Similarly, enumerating specific concerns and providing explicit suggestions for improving a project are likely to be better received than a general statement of opposition.

Effective participation requires knowledge of the planning process and methods of participating that are proven. Community members may attend the meetings of the MPO or other regional body, its board of directors, technical advisory committee (professional staff from the county and larger municipalities), and its citizen advisory council, all of which are open to the public.

Stakeholder Committees: Convening a stakeholder committee is a strategy that is widely used for supplying transit agencies and governmental entities with feedback about proposed projects and changes to service. Some are used from the planning through the implementation stages of specific projects; some are permanent fixtures.

Resources

Coordination: It’s the Law - explains SAFETEA-LU’s public participation legal requirements.

Public Involvement in Transportation Decisionmaking - a course offered by the National Transit Institute (NTI) that discusses public participation and federal requirements.

How to Engage Low-Literacy and Limited-English-Proficiency Populations - excellent resource for including people who either are unable to read well or are not fluent English speakers. Low literacy is generally a marker for low income populations. The report offers a multitude of methods for reaching people who do not read well, including places to go, people to use, and ways to conduct a meeting.

The Do's and Don'ts of Working with Local Communities: Tips for Successful Community-Based Public Meetings - provides a checklist for effectively leading a public meeting.

A Guide to Transportation Planning for Citizens - explains in simple language the planning processes contemplated in federal mandates and how to become involved.

TCRP SYNTHESIS 85: Effective Use of Citizen Advisory Committees for Transit Planning and Operations - a must-read about public involvement via stakeholder committees. Provides a veritable cookbook for residents, political leaders, government personnel, and non-profit staff of all stripes. Descriptions of a range of purposes for the committees, procedures, membership, sizes, and types of projects and project phases for which the committees were utilized.

Including People with Disabilities In Coordinated Transportation Plans - gives a simple explanation of coordinated planning, benefits of coordination, and improving coordinated planning through the involvement of people with disabilities. This Easter Seals Project ACTION brief includes resources for facilitating the process of coordination.

Contacts

For information about reaching people in rural areas or places where many people are not connected to the Internet, contact Kelly Shawn (shawn@ctaa.org, 202-299-6596).

Remember that including people with disabilities means outreach that is accessible to those populations. Contact Ken Thompson (kthompson@easterseals.com, 800-659-6428) for more information about including people with disabilities.

Convening public meetings and stakeholder groups to discuss issues that will require supporting technology has been a key component of the Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) project. For more information, contact Yehuda Gross (yehuda.gross@dot.gov, 202-366-1988).

Contact Sheryl Gross-Glaser (grossglaser@ctaa.org, 202-386-1669) at the National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination for more information.

You All Work Very Hard

2011-12-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin with news,events, and resources because the TA Provider Network is such a busy crew that I am starting to feel like keeping up is about as possible as being on the candy assembly line with Lucy and Ethel. They keep on going because you of the importance of their work and the need to provide assistance to states, communities, regions, human services agencies, and transit and transportation providers, among others.

I therefore sincerely apologize for the long blog post. These are are all indicative and good examples of the work technical assistance staff produce and how they can assist clients with the resources of TA peers.

[Part of the already-realized multi-modal Denver Union Station project. Exciting at day's end to see all of the commuters and ongoing construction. Thank you to MTAP for the tour.]

New Dialogue and Mobility Management

National Center on Senior Transportation
Online dialogue - Nov. 28 to Dec. 16, 2011 - Intended for individuals and organizations from the aging network and transportation industry. "The dialogue will give the aging network, older adults, advocates, volunteers, policy makers, public and private transportation providers, federal, state, and local transportation agencies, human services agencies, and municipal planning organizations the chance to submit, comment on, and rate ideas related to planning for senior-friendly transportation services." NCST is a technical assistance center administered by Easter Seals Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

NCST also has grant money available for mobility management. It is soliciting proposals for senior transportation projects that demonstrate innovative and effective solutions to enhance the mobility of older adults. Funding may be used to create comprehensive mobility management systems, increase mobility in urban and rural areas, and improve public transit access for older persons. The grants will be $50,000 or less. The NCST anticipates making a total of eight awards. These are the categories:
1. Peer-Mobility Management and Employment
2. Mobility Management in Rural/Frontier Areas
3. Mobility Management Integration within Current Practices
4. Mobility Management Applied to the Family of Senior Transportation Options

All proposals must be submitted by December 23, 2011.

[Chicago's Union Station.]

RTAP Events and New Resource

National Rural Transit Assistance Program
Webinar - Resource Library Overview and Tools - Dec. 5, 2011. The webinar will provide overview of the latest National RTAP web app, the Resource Library. Through National RTAP in the Cloud, this web app can be installed on any transit agency's website and may be used to upload, share and manage resources. You will also learn how you can install the Resource Library web app on your website and use it to upload, share and manage resources. Features of the web app will help you manage, track and report on resources using an easy-to-use web interface.

Conference - Creating Partnerships for Rural Transit Solutions - March 18-21, 2012, Scottsdale, Ariz. The conference will provide technical assistance with RTAP products on four tracks: Tribal, Transit Management, Transit Operations, and RTAP/5311 Program Management.

RTAP releases a new brief, Livable Communities: Tips for Designing Transit Services and Infrastructure that Promote Livability, which explains in simple terms what livability is and what the relationship to and benefits for rural transit are. The brief links to technical assistance resources and federal government information.

What Are the Procurement Rules?

Federal Transit Administration [www.fta.dot.gov]
The FTA has a new page on its site, Third Party Procurement FAQs, which answers questions about a few dozen topics about what procurement rules apply and when. Plus, the sleek look of the FTA site is worth a visit if you have not gone there in a while.

[Galesburg, Ill. train station platform.]

State Coordinating Council Profiles

National Conference of State Legislatures
NCSL has added to its State Human Service Transportation Coordinating Councils: State Profiles. These are in-depth examinations, approximately five to 10 pages, of how the state coordinating councils were created, their goals and evolution, how their objectives are being addressed across the state, and funding details. So far, NCSL's library includes five states.

NCSL also releases a livability brief. Though titled Recent State Livability Initiatives in Minnesota: An Analysis, the brief very much explains the integrated components that comprise livability and the type of projects that fall under its umbrella.

Wayfinding

Easter Seals Project ACTION
ESPA releases a brief about technology to assist people who are visually impaired. Improving Transit Facility Accessibility by Employing Wayfinding Technology discusses tactile maps, detectable warnings, talking signs, smartphone apps and other assistive technology that enables a visually impaired person to navigate streets and transit on his or her own.

Information & Referral Training

National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities
Online training - Basic Training for Aging I&R/A Professionals - This training will give an overview of the broad array of health, social, and long-term services and supports for seniors and individuals with disabilities; tools and strategies to provide culturally appropriate services; and the fundamental phases of the I&R/A process with a focus on learning how to support the decision making of seniors, individuals with disabilities, and their caregivers.

[Photo taken in California from the Coast Starlight train. I was mesmerized by the landscape.]

Local Story

The transit authority in Wichita, KS, is serving a reduced ridership following a 50-cent fare increase. The authority, in response, is soliciting feedback via an

interactive website to learn more about the public’s needs. The virtual town hall seeks community input about public services. The site provides a convenient way for residents to share ideas, offer opinions and make recommendations on a broad variety of Transit subjects including routes, services and possible expansion plans.

The fare increase was due to a budget shortfall.

Veterans and Other Resources on the NRC Website

2011-11-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Veterans Day and 11-11-11!

Today, the Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative officially begins and the National Resource Center (NRC) releases a new report, Transportation for America's Veterans and Their Families. The report showcases the NRC's - particularly, its ambassadors' - successes in assisting veterans by improving transportation through effective partnerships and coordination. Some of these stories involve transporting veterans to VA medical centers and others involve travel to the same places we all need to go to. The report demonstrates what coordination and committed partnerships can achieve to improve transit and transportation services.

For more resources relating to veterans and serving their transportation needs, please visit the NRC Veterans Transportation Bookshelf. Like all of the NRC bookshelves, there is comprehensive information about the topic.

[Snoopy and Woodstock at the Minneapolis airport.]

Upcoming Events & Training; Local Perspectives on Livability

2011-10-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Federal Transit Administration
FTA has upcoming listening sessions and webinars about civil rights and environmental justice. The listening sessions will discuss the proposed circulars about those topics.

National Transit Institute
Strollers, Carts, and Other Large Items on Buses and Trains (TCRP Synthesis 88) - webinar - Nov. 17, 2011. This webinar will highlight practices implemented by transit agencies to manage the capacity on vehicles carrying customers with large items, including wheelchairs; Segways; scooters and other mobility aids; strollers; bicycles; luggage, and miscellaneous items, such as skis and dog carriers. A review of the various types of transit vehicles and modifications agencies have made to their vehicles to accommodate large items will be discussed.
Managing Community Mobility - various dates to March 2012.
Comprehensive ADA Paratransit Eligibility - various dates to March 2012.

Community Transportation Association of America
CTAA Train-the-trainer for driver training, safety and security, and transportation solutions coordinator work. Visit CTAA's training page for more information.

Easter Seals Project ACTION
Accessible Transportation Coalitions Initiative - currently accepting applications. ESPA will select 10 communities through a competitive application process to participate. ATCI is a systems change model designed to improve accessible transportation options for people with disabilities. Selected communities will receive on-site facilitation and targeted technical assistance during a two-day event to learn the ATCI model and develop an accessible transportation plan. ESPA will continue to provide targeted technical assistance over the subsequent year while communities implement this plan.

[Portland light rail station with biker waiting for the train.]

Misconceptions about Livability

A new report from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) looks at perceived barriers to livability projects in rural, tribal and other types of areas. The Regional Livability Workshops report summarizes five workshops held across the country and suggests strategies
"to raise awareness of transportation linkages to livability, and to provide resources to practitioners and the public to more effectively consider livability issues within the Federal transportation planning process."

While most communities do have a set of goals or vision statements, workshop participants noted that the most effective visions are those that emerge from a collaborative visioning, planning or scenario development process. Participants noted quite often, these efforts include a strong outreach process that brings together both multidisciplinary interests as well as public and private constituencies. These processes can spur lasting relationships and coalitions that ultimately help create local keepers of the vision. It was also noted when a strong vision is present, project prioritization and project delivery methods can demonstrate clear policy choices between various alternatives. This direct link helps foster identification and implementation of transportation investments in support of community goals.

Community goals reflect the unique character, values, and priorities of a given place. Participants discussed the need to better align regional, State or Federal goals in transportation and mobility with local community goals. One strategy includes documenting existing goals at each level (Federal, State, regional and local) or across differing agencies and identifying where commonalities or conflicts exist. This can help to understand the tradeoffs or policy issues that need to be considered to more effectively align transportation priorities with local livability goals.

Livability TA

Environmental Protection Agency
EPA’s fall 2011 Request for Letters of Interest (PDF: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/buildingblocks_2011_rfli.pdf) for direct assistance from the agency is now open. EPA will be accepting letters of interest for the next round of Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities from September 28 to October 28, 2011. Subsequent application periods will depend on budget constraints and will be announced on the Smart Growth page.

Local Stories

Twitter brings interesting stories to me and succinctly exposes my brain to useful and inexpensive tools for transit and other mobility options. This article from the Tennessean, More Cyclists, Walkers Counted in Middle TN, demonstrates that a cheap, volunteer tool can provide a snapshot of how people travel at what locations. Since a pedestrian-friendly street network is essential to transit, a one-day audit in a Tennessee community supplied useful information about where people are willing to walk and bike. Although biking is not an option for many handicapped individuals and is not a preference for many others, the bicycling rate is an indicator of how safe the street network feels to non-auto users.

Th Broome County, New York area (Binghamton area) is creating a one-call transportation center. This week, CTAA hosted a Transportation Solutions training, which was covered in the local news. The Broome-Tioga Mobility Management Project (BTMMP) call center will be housed at the local United Way. The BTMMP partnership was created to help meet the need for increased transportation services in both Broome and Tioga Counties. BTMMP will help those in need to arrange and coordinate transportation using all available resources. The BTMMP partners have been planning the project since December 2010.

BTMMP is a multi-agency partnership funded in part by the Community Foundation for South Central New York; the AmeriCorps National Service Program; Tioga Transport, Inc.; and with in-kind contributions from BTMMP partner organizations.

Food for thought: One thing I noticed in reading a local article about transportation options desired in a rural community was that the meeting to air the community's wish list was taking place on a weekday morning during traditional work hours. Well-organized advocates and staff of government organizations were expected. No mention was made of remote access or feedback or why a time that would exclude most working people would be chosen.

[Portland light rail on a Saturday morning.]

State DOT Survey Responses - Effectiveness of Federally Mandated Coordination Planning

2011-10-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

National Cooperative Highway Research Program Research Results Digest 354, A Review of Human Services Transportation Plans and Grant Programs is worth a careful read. While I am summarizing parts of the report here that apply nationally, there are in-depth portions about particular states that are illuminating. This report is part of the series of ongoing research that is performed for AASHTO's Standing Committee on Public Transportation. The NRC Director, Chris Zeilinger, serves as a liaison to the panels that oversee all the work that is conducted under NCHRP Project 20-65.

State DOTs were surveyed to state the effectiveness of the coordinated planning effort (1) in meeting "FTA goals of enhancing transportation access, minimizing duplication of services, and facilitating the most appropriate and cost- effective transportation possible with available resources; and (2) "ascertain[ing] the cost of developing and maintaining these Coordination Plans (in terms of time and money) to ensure that resources are being used wisely and effectively, resulting in the better, more cost-effective and coordinated programs that the plans are expected to foster."

Opinions from 21 states

Twenty-one states responded to the survey. Afterward detailed telephone discussions in six geographically and demographically representative states were conducted with staff from state DOTs, planning organizations, transit agencies, human service transportation providers and non-governmental organizations.

Benefits reported from the requirement to draft coordination plans with stakeholder input were "enhancing transportation access for target populations, increasing commitment/participation in the plan development at both the state and local levels, improving coordination, and creating a general understanding of eligible JARC and NF grants." Disadvantages of the current funding streams and their administrative requirements included burdens on existing staff, while not having the resources to hire additional staff. Another problem reported was the uncertainty of future funding, which inhibited taking advantage of available funding for fear that services could not be sustained.

Specific improvements suggested

Prominent among the suggestions for improving transportation funding to meet coordination goals was "the consolidation of the Section 5316 JARC and Section 5317 NF grant programs with other federal grant programs such as Section 5310, 5311, and 5307."

With consolidation, the respondents indicated that the individual grant program goals could still be reflected in program and planning requirements, including dedicating percentages of funding to each program goal. Section 5310, Transportation for Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities, was the most frequently mentioned program for consolidating the JARC and NF grants, and several respondents indicated that these grant programs could also be consolidated with Section 5311, the Rural and Small Urban Areas grant program. By consolidating the JARC and NF grants with Section 5310 and/or 5311, the respondents felt that the states could manage the program more efficiently, while still developing a Coordination Plan (as required for Section 5310) and serving similar target populations.

The report authors pointed to concern expressed in an AARP report that the needs of target populations would be neglected were funding streams to be consolidated. That report is Policy Options to Improve Specialized Transportation.

Especially interesting is the discussion of the benefits reported about coordinated planning and its limits given the realities of current funding, lack of local control, and the difficulty in meeting the local match requirement. "[M]any of the states noted either that they believe human services transportation did not necessarily improve because of the plan, or it was difficult to tell if it had." There was broad spectrum of sources for local matching funds. Some states supplied the funds, while others did not or did so only in rural areas.

Money and performance metrics

Those involved in the telephone discussions expressed a desire for sustained funding and concrete guidance about performance measures beyond traditional transit rubrics.

[M]any respondents believe the use of standard performance measures fails to sufficiently measure the human services aspect of the projects and often favors urban areas over rural because often rural areas have higher transportation costs due to longer distances, dispersed customers and destinations, and little other infrastructure to support human services customers, which may make rural transportation appear ineffective or inefficient.

One suggestion made would be to tie grants to coordination and performance.

[R]espondents believe that by using performance measures and data, and linking federal funds to the results of this process, coordinated planning could make better use of quantitative information and link plans to results more closely. They believe that stakeholders making use of a performance-driven coordinated planning process would get even more out of the process of developing and working to implement the Coordination Plan.

Has the coordinated planning requirement delivered results?

The qualitative answer - in terms of improved and more efficient service to riders and potential riders - is generally no, or perhaps, not yet. Respondents indicated that the plans have achieved average to little success in meeting FTA's goals of minimizing the duplication of transportation services (81 percent) and facilitating the most cost-effective transportation possible with available resources (76 percent). However, states reported average to moderate success in "enhancing" transportation options for target populations.

Respondents felt the funding level and restrictive federal requirements for the JARC and NF grant programs often make it difficult to attract participants to the process. To increase participation of Section 5310 participants, one state offered an incentive for the participating agencies’ applications for vehicle grants.

Commitment and funding

It could be that in many places, the coordination process is ongoing and leading to improved efficiency and service. The respondents indicated that "the level of commitment/participation in the development of the Coordination Plans has been relatively strong at both the state and local levels. Over 70 percent of the survey respondents indicated that the level of commitment/participation at the state and local levels was average or better." Some states reported that the coordination process did add parties who had not been at the table before.

A pervasive issue the report discussed was funding, its sustainability and adequacy.

Many respondents indicated that the Coordination Plans have a “shelf life” of 4 years for non-attainment areas and 5 years for attainment areas, and they do not anticipate that the costs will be in excess of $250,000 (at least for the state). Additionally, while some states paid for the cost of initial Coordination Plan development, no state responded that the state would pay for the maintenance of the plans.

Later on in the report, responses about funding adequacy and obstacles showed widespread belief that "there is not enough money in these programs (particularly JARC) because the need is significantly larger than the funds. As a result, they report that the funds frequently are used for existing/on-going services (preservation) rather than new projects." There was also a perceived lack of clarity about the "beyond ADA" requirement for New Freedom grants.

Many of the plans were developed by consultants or existing staff, and a very few by mobility managers. There was no discussion about the effectiveness of the process, the plans or the resulting service in terms of what party prepared the plans.

Projects chosen

The JARC and New Freedom projects chosen were, from most to least, Mobility Management, Operating Funds, Capital Purchases, ADA Service, Flex Route Bus Service Travel Training, Expanded Service, Dial-a-Ride Demand Response, Feeder Service and Volunteer Transportation, with the last five each garnering one state response.

Emergency Planning - Collection of Resources & Events

2011-09-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe it was the week of the earthquake and the hurricane that jolted the thought of emergency preparedness to come to the attention center of my brain. We have had a spring and summer with quite a bit of emergency planning, actual disasters and the recoveries that follow. In some cases, the weather events were less than expected and in others, much worse. Here are some resources and events for transportation-related emergency planning issues.

Resources

Preparedness Considerations for Aging Americans - recorded webinar - This webinar provides information about specific preparedness steps for Aging Americans. Speakers will include representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leaders at the forefront of Aging American Preparedness. Advanced registration for this webinar is not required.

This and other emergency planning webinars are archived at http://www.citizencorps.gov/news/webcasts.shtm.

National Association of County and City Health Officials
NACCHO has a Learning Community on Emergency Planning and Preparedness for People with Disabilities. NACCHO’s Health and Disability Project is supported by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Events

How to be FEMA Ready When Disaster Hits (Rebroadcast) - audio/web broadcast - Oct. 11, 2011 - Pointing out that within the last five years, every state has had at least one disaster declaration, APWA presents this program to help identify what should be ready before disaster strikes and what can be expected when dealing with FEMA after the disaster. Participants will learn how to justify the value of a good asset management system that gives quantifiable information to help identify the cost of bringing assets back into use and how to estimate the length of time and resources involved in the recovery process.

National Evacuation Conference - Feb. 7-9, 2012, New Orleans - Conference brings together the fields of transportation and emergency management to discuss evacuation planning to accommodate the needs of all people before, during and after a major disaster. The objective is to foster an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas surrounding a broad range of evacuation issues, particularly mass evacuations.

Public Works Peer Activity

American Public Works Association
APWA is developing an emergency management peer network. It requests that members share their expertise about the different facets of emergency preparedness, response, mitigation, planning, and recovery. The "database will operate as an in-house listserv for APWA members who need advice or information on emergency management matters."

[View from a California train ride.]

Blasts from the Past

Here are some emergency preparedness resources featured before.

Community Transportation Association of America
National Resource Center
The NRC keeps an Emergency Preparedness and Response bookshelf with reports about transportation issues in disaster planning.

CTAA has an Emergency Evacuation page on its site with checklists, toolboxes and other resources that focus on populations, locations, and different types of professionals.

National RTAP - the Rural Transit Assistance Program
RTAP has a free training module, Emergency Procedures for Rural Transit Drivers. The training includes a Learner’s Guide, a Self-paced eLearning Course Disc, an Instructor’s Guide, and a disc with videos and a trainer’s PowerPoint presentation. It can be used in a classroom setting or by a single student, and is appropriate for both new and experienced transit drivers. The training offers information on preparedness for hazards and threats that may be encountered as a transit operator. This training module also offers targeted training on the Seven Steps of Crisis Management.

For more information, please contact Pam Russell DiGiovanni at 888-589-6821 or pdigiovanni@nationalrtap.org.

For those even more involved in emergency planning is FEMA's lessons learned website. For those updates, there is a lessons learned newsletter available at the site.

Webinars and Events

2011-09-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Partnership for Mobility Management

Community Transportation Association of America

Performing For Individual, Organizational and Collective Impact - webinar - Sept. 14, 2011 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The Partnership for Mobility Management and CTAA jointly present this webinar to explore the fundamentals of performance measurement. The webinar will cover results-based accountability to support quality of life, and mobility management measures that gauge success of programs and outcomes for customers.

National Consortium on the Coordination of Human Services Transportation

Creative Solutions to Reduced Funding for Public and Human Services Transportation - webinar - Sept. 20, 2011 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Webinar speakers are representatives of communities that have taken different approaches to solving or alleviating the problem of cutbacks as well as a panel representing national organizations.

Department of Transportation

Digital Transportation Exchange (DTE) - Stakeholder meeting in-person or via webcast or phone - Sept. 16, 2011 at 9 a.m. Eastern time. DTE is being created by DOT as an online platform for transportation solutions. The stakeholder meeting is taking place during the platform's formation to give DOT feedback from stakeholder groups and subject matter experts. Respond by tomorrow, September 2, by email to open@dot.gov and indicate how you intend to participate. Thank you to Easter Seals Project ACTION for this news.

[Angel's Flight railway in downtown Los Angeles.]

Federal Transit Administration

Office of Civil Rights Workshop - Sept. 22-23, 2011, Berkeley, CA. FTA Staff will be available to review DBE Goals and Title VI & Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Programs. There will also be trainings covering Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program requirements, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulations, Title VI Requirements for FTA recipients, and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) rules. (This workshop will be hosted in conjunction with the California Association of Coordinated Transportation (CalACT) Autumn Conference. It is not required to attend the CalACT Autumn Conference in order to attend the FTA Office of Civil Rights workshop.)

National Transit Institute

NTI has upcoming webinars and classes around the country on many topics, including the National Transit Database, reporting to the rural transit database, mobility management, funding for transit maintenance, and small systems waivers.

DOT Developments: Veterans and Bike/Ped Improvements

2011-08-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Department of Transportation
DOT Secretary Ray LaHood promoted the Veterans Transportation and Community Living initiative in his blog, the Fastlane. Meant to improve transportation access to community life, employment, services, and care, the funding will be primarily for development and improvement of one-call/one click services. The deadline for applications is Sept. 16, 2011.

Information about the initiative is also available from staff at the National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination.

Bike/Ped Policy Statement

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a policy statement on the eligibility of pedestrian and bicycle improvements for funding under federal transit law - up to a radius of one-half mile for pedestrian improvements and "all bicycle improvements located within three miles of a public transportation stop or station." The FTA declares a "de facto physical and functional relationship to public transportation." Funding for bicycle or pedestrian improvements at greater distances to public transportation may also be eligible for FTA funding if it is demonstrated that "the improvement is within the distance that people will travel by foot or by bicycle to use a particular stop or station." And that's just the FTA's introduction to the statement.

[Snoopy and Woodstock at Minneapolis airport.]

The funding streams that may be used for these improvements include:
Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Program;
Section 5309 New Starts and Small Starts Major Capital Investment Programs;
Section 5309 Fixed Guideway Modernization Program;
Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities Discretionary Program;
Section 5310 Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program;
Section 5311 Non-Urbanized Area Formula Program;
Section 5311 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations;
Section 5316 Job Access and Reverse Commute Formula Program (JARC);
Section 5317 New Freedom Program; and,
Section 5320 Paul S. Sarbanes Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands.

Other statutory requirements to obtain bike/ped funding specify that the funds be used to "enhance economic development or incorporate private investment; to enhance the effectiveness of public transportation project and relate physically or functionally to that project, or to establish new or enhanced coordination between public transportation and other transportation; and to provide a fair share of revenue for public transportation."

Pedestrian projects may receive up to 90 percent federal share and bicycle ones 95 percent. In terms of bike-sharing programs, bike storage facilities can be funded, but not bicycles.

Free Copyediting

Reading through the document also produced an entertaining moment. The FTA thanked the two commenters who "noted that the word 'complimentary' should be spelled 'complementary.'" And the copyediting was complimentary.

Rural and Other Sustainability News - Grants & Webinars

2011-07-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

There is assistance for rural communities interested in submitting applications for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants and Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.

Planning Grants

PolicyLink announces its updated guide for local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), nonprofits, foundations, and educational institutions. The 2011 Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Guide: How to Incorporate Equity into your Grant Application provides information on how regions can incorporate social equity, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made a significant priority of Sustainable Communities. Please be aware that the guide is not specifically designed for rural communities.

The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program is a great opportunity for rural communities to leverage federal funds for local transportation projects. To help communities apply these very competitive grants, the American Public Transportation Association, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National League of Cities, PolicyLink, Reconnecting America, Rural Assembly, Smart Growth America, and Transportation for America have joined together to encourage rural communities to submit superior applications for this funding.

The TIGER grants are called a "great opportunity for rural communities to leverage federal funds for local transportation projects." A webinar, TIGER Grants and Rural America, on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 2:00 PM EDT, will provide basic tips for outreach and education about the TIGER program, including an overview of TIGER, discussion of innovative rural transportation projects, and examples from two successful rural projects from earlier TIGER grant cycles.

[Abe Lincoln and helper at Metro Center station handing out ticket discounts for Nationals baseball games.]

Funding Available

Below is an announcement from the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. All announcements are posted online at http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov. Funding is from the partner agencies, the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

DOT Federal Transit Administration Livability Grants
Up to $175 million in funding will be provided to increase and improve transportation options for communities. The Bus and Bus Facilities Program will fund up to $150 million to purchase or replace buses and to build bus-related facilities. Remaining funding will be provided through the Alternatives Analysis Program to help communities evaluate and select the best transit options to meet their transportation needs. Timeframe: application period now open, deadline is July 29.

DOT TIGER Grants
DOT’s TIGER program will give funding to capital construction and planning projects in surface transportation around the country. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on infrastructure investment. Estimated timeframe: NOFA available fall, Interim Notice of Funding Availability available online now. Funding levels: $526 million for transportation projects with $140 million set aside for projects in rural areas.

HUD Communities Regional Planning Grants
HUD’s Regional Planning grants, in coordination with EPA and DOT, will provide funding of up to $68 million to improve regional planning efforts that integrate housing and transportation decisions, and increase state, regional, and local capacity to incorporate livability, sustainability, and social equity values into land use plans and zoning. Timeframe: Advanced NOFA available now, final NOFA available in July.

HUD Community Challenge Planning Grants
Up to $28 million will be available to assist communities in amending or replacing local master plans and coding system, with the goal of promoting sustainability at the local or neighborhood level. These grants also support the development of affordable housing through the development and adoption of inclusionary zoning ordinances and other activities such as acquisition of land for affordable housing projects. Timeframe: NOFA available in July.

EPA Brownfields Multipurpose Grants
For FY2012, the Brownfields Office will pilot a "multipurpose" grant opportunity. The grant would give a recipient flexibility in conducting assessment and cleanup activities at a specific site owned by the applicant, and would eliminate the delay that may occur when moving from assessment to cleanup when funding hasn’t been secured. Timeframe: RFP available mid-summer.

EPA Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grants
EPA, in collaboration with HUD and DOT, will provide planning assistance to communities, many in underserved and economically disadvantaged areas, to develop area-wide plans for the reuse of brownfields properties. Timeframe: RFP available mid-summer.

EPA Brownfields Environmental Workforce Job Training Grants
EPA will provide grants to non-profit organizations to recruit, train and employ predominately low-income and minority, unemployed and under-employed residents from solid and hazardous waste-impacted communities. Timeframe: RFP available mid-summer.

EPA Brownfield Assessment Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup (ARC) Grants
Through the ARC, brownfields assessment, RLF and brownfields cleanup grants, EPA will address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Timeframe: RFP available late summer.

EPA Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA)
EPA, in collaboration with HUD and DOT, will provide technical assistance to communities to focus on cross-departmental coordination of policies, cities undergoing economic transition, infrastructure financing, historic preservation and downtown revitalization, and climate change adaptation. Estimated timeframe: RFP available early fall.

EPA Building Blocks II
The Sustainable Communities Building Blocks Program seeks to provide quick, targeted technical assistance to communities using a variety of tools that have demonstrated results and widespread application. This technical assistance will help selected local and/or tribal governments to implement development approaches that protect the
environment, improve public health, create jobs, expand economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life. Estimated timeframe: RFP available late fall.

Transportation Technical Assistance Resources: Seniors

2011-07-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Community Transportation Association of America
CTAA has a senior mobility page with resources about issues that are important to, elders.
* Volunteer driver programs as an in-kind match;
* Maintaining quality transportation in economically difficult times;
* The cost of living at home and using transit versus relocating to an assisted living facility; and
* How long-term care and independent living residents can benefit from community transportation services.

The last resource has information about technical assistance that CTAA and the National Center on Senior Transportation provide. NCST is a technical assistance center administered by Easter Seals Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

National Center on Senior Transportation
Many of the resources that NCST is currently featuring have been covered recently here and in the Express Stop. These include reports and events concerning taxis, Indian country, and, noted above, the resource about transportation aspects of the decision about whether to relocate in old age.

NCST has also posted links to:
* Maturing of America Survey by N4A;
* Aging in Place report by Transportation for America; and;
* Toolkit for One-Call/One-Click Transportation Services and related resources produced by CTAA.

Aug. 3 NCST webinar: Ride or Relocate? Transportation and Housing Options for Senior Adults - Speakers will address results from a study in North Dakota that quantified the cost of living at home and riding transit versus relocating to an assisted living facility and will provide strategies for reaching out to older adults living at home.

Community Transportation Association of America
CTAA's Joblinks program has an older worker page with issue briefs that describe the needs of older workers and suggested solutions.

[My aunt walked up the subway steps by this mosaic in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, during her years commuting, which continued until she was 87.]

Local Opportunities for Transit and Alternative Transportation

2011-07-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

The American Public Health Association has a Transportation and Health Toolkit, which will help those interested and involved with transportation alternatives to explain and advocate for the public health benefits of transit and other community transportation, as well as zero-emission modes. The toolkit offers fact sheets linking public health to transportation choices in a community, outreach materials to the press, advice for dealing with local leaders, and archived webinar and factual material about public health consequences of the local transportation network.

Six Chosen Cities

Investing in Community Change reports that the Administration has selected six pilot cities for a new initiative. The Administration explains that it is encouraging local partnerships and empowerment.

Strong Cities, Strong Communities is a new interagency pilot initiative that aims to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions around the country by strengthening the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies. Strong Cities, Strong Communities bolsters local governments by providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.

The six city pilot locations are:

Chester, PA - the Community Solutions Team will help Mayor Butler diversify the local economy, support small business development and revitalize the downtown.
Cleveland, OH - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will support Mayor Jackson in his efforts to coordinate workforce and economic development and to maximize the economic potential of the Cleveland Port.
Detroit, MI - the Community Solutions Team will partner with Mayor Bing and Governor Snyder to increase coordination and alignment on workforce and economic development issues, and to leverage U.S. DOT's investments in High Speed Rail and the Woodward Avenue light rail project to spur economic revitalization in the downtown corridor.
Fresno, CA - Mayor Swearengin and the Community Solutions Team will work to capitalize on the coming high-speed rail station to improve the downtown area, and will also build on a successful neighborhood development program.
Memphis, TN - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will partner with Mayor Wharton and his team to pursue his vision to strengthen the education system and attract new industries.
New Orleans, LA - Mayor Landrieu and the Communities Solutions Team will work to integrate existing federal resources to improve the delivery of health services, manage public safety and rebuild public infrastructure.

Potential for Transit and Mobility

The highlighted text shows just a few places where there is potential for transit and other mobility components to larger development and revitalization projects.

And here is more from Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation, about how the pilot programs will be conducted.

Earlier this week, Deputy Secretary [of Transportation] John Porcari traveled to Memphis to announce that as part of this new initiative, the Obama Administration will send five full-time federal staff people to Memphis. Their job will be to listen to local leaders, learn what they need from the federal government, and help them secure that assistance or expertise. And the Obama Administration will also work with private partners to create a fellowship program that will connect new graduates looking for jobs with city governments looking for well-trained professionals.

This seems like the kind of technical assistance that many in our network are involved in, with perhaps an opportunity for networking with those new graduates to teach them about the link between a quality transportation network and a thriving town, small city, big city, and a metropolitan area.

[Central Park South with buses during morning rush hour.]

Within Our Network

One example of transportation technical assistance is Joblinks' list of case studies on its homepage. The list, with brief descriptions, gives visitors a good idea of the range of employment transportation programs, with links to detailed information.

Examples of planning in non-auto transportation are featured on NADO's Ruraltransportation.org among the Excellence Award Winners. The 2011 winners include planning for a Safe Routes to School program, sidewalks, bicycling, a volunteer driver initiative, and transit development.

Within our network, there are new events, initiatives, and even great website redevelopment. Feel free to send an email to Sheryl Gross-Glaser (grossglaser@ctaa.org) with information about your technical assistance center's great work.

[Morning taxi exodus from Central Park.]

Postscript: I promise to take transit pictures outside of New York during my travels this summer. I should have taken a photograph of one of the express buses I rode on while in the city, but I was in a rush to and from Queens.

Performance Measures

2011-07-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

What do we measure and why?

What are our goals and are we meeting them? Are we trying to provide access to jobs or encouraging healthy lifestyles or reducing congestion or reducing carbon emissions - or all or some of the above? Are we interested in transit efficiency and measuring costs compared with revenue? Are we assessing safety of workers and riders?

Measuring Transportation Investments: The Road to Results examines whether states are measuring performance and what they are measuring. The report from the Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation does not analyze the performance metrics, but describes what metrics are being utilized across different modes, primarily looking at auto-centric travel.

An interesting section discusses the Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery program, or TIGER grants.

One typical TIGER grant awarded $22 million toward a new station in downtown Normal, Illinois, a city along the Chicago-St. Louis Amtrak Line, which will serve Amtrak, city and long-distance buses and taxis. State officials say the
project shows a potent multiplier effect in terms of economic development.
“Since that project was announced, up to $200 million has been invested in the downtown area by businesses coming into town,” says Joe Shacter, director of public and intermodal transportation at the Illinois Department of Transportation. “This included new hotels constructed right next to the intermodal facility.”

Standardized Performance Measures

If success can be replicated, if success can even be determined, then we have to compare apples with apples and and better yet, one type of Macintosh with another type. TCRP Report 141, A Methodology for Performance Measurement and Peer Comparison in the Public Transportation Industry complements "TCRP Report 88: A Guidebook for Developing a Transit Performance-Measurement System, which describes how to implement and use performance measurement on an ongoing basis at a transit agency."

TCRP Report 141 talks about "selecting performance measures appropriate to a particular performance question but [the report] does not prescribe a particular set of measures. This approach requires some thoughtfulness on the part of transit agencies in selecting measures, but also provides much-needed flexibility that allows the methodology to be applied to a wide variety of transit modes, transit agency sizes, and performance questions." The report discusses benchmarking, which is a comparison of peers, in this case transit agencies that are similar. "Participants agree upon common measures and data definitions—this provides standardization, focuses data collection on areas of interest to the group, and gives participants more confidence in the quality of the data and the results."

The report supplied six case studies of peer benchmarking for different types and sizes of public transit. Two of the case studies were (1) costs and revenue comparisons performed for Pennsylvania systems; and (2) funding source ramifications for Knoxville, Tenn.

Performance Measurement in Action

CalTrans, the California Department of Transportation, posts its performance indicators and measurements. Performance Measures For The Quarter Ending March 31, 2011 shows CalTrans' goals and realities. The document reports numbers for safety, rail ridership, single occupancy vehicle commuter trips, and much more. The frank statement of goals that arrows on charts provide when compared with the direction of actual results is illuminating and valuable data for transit agencies as well as taxpayers, voters, politicians and those who report to them.

TCRP Report 88, published in 2003, is a must read. There is a veritable department store of performance categories and measures as well as case studies.

There is tons more to read about performance measures. I am left with these thoughts: Choose how you define success, examine how success was reached in similar contexts and adapt lessons learned in keeping with the local culture and resources. And, of course, measure those results - because what gets measured is what gets resources and attention.

Tribal Transit Resource

2011-06-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

National Rural Transit Assistance Program and the National Center on Senior Transportation

RTAP and NCST have come out with a wonderful resource that goes beyond what its title aims to deliver. Crossing Great Divides: A Guide to Elder Mobility Resources and Solutions in Indian Country includes information and resources about federal and other funding sources and different types of transportation services beyond those exclusively serving older adults and tribes. Examples are given of tribal transportation services and transit. There is also information about aging programs and older driver safety, which is important for anyone who serves older adults.

The publication is also an example of cooperation among technical assistance centers. It was a joint effort of RTAP and NCST. NCST is a technical assistance center administered by Easter Seals Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Included in the acknowledgments are staff from the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) and the Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association (TLPA), as well as staff at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the NCST American Indian Elder Mobility Advisory Group and National RTAP’s Review Board.

Connectivity

2011-05-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

Department of Transportation
Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced 22 high-speed rail projects and inter-city station improvements. The largest investment will be made along the Northeast Corridor, but there are substantial projects in the Midwest and on the West Coast. DOT published a press release with amounts listed by project.

Taxi Possibilities for Senior Citizens

National Center on Senior Transportation
NCST issued Taxis for Senior Transportation, a 16-page publication discussing the opportunities for improving taxi service for those over 65 years old. Topics covered include attitudes of drivers and older people about each other, different models for subsidized service and the taxi advantage of flexible operations. For example, in some places, family, friends or non-profits can purchase a ticket book that enables a person to particular service. A rural program is described as allowing for flexible booking of a ride along a particular route - akin to a deviated route, but operated by a taxi company. Accessible cabs are discussed in detail.

Several factors hamper efforts to improve accessible taxi services. Accessible taxis are more expensive to purchase and operate when compared to sedans, and it may take additional time to serve a customer using a wheelchair. Higher vehicle costs and lower productivity may serve as a disincentive to drivers whose incomes are based on passenger fares.

NCST is a technical assistance center administered by Easter Seals Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Hal Morgan of the Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association contributed to the publication.

ITS Webinar

Department of Transportation
DOT is hosting Public Transit Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Implementations – Lessons Learned, a webinar to be held on June 2, 2011, about the institutional coordination, procurement, implementation, and operation of Transit ITS for fixed route and paratransit systems. There will also be discussion of suggested methods to avoid lengthy technology deployments.

Local Story

Mountain Line Transit in Missoula, MT., added free Wi-Fi to its service. On the inaugural day, riders checked emails and facebook on the bus.

New Tools, Instruction from Our TA Partners

2011-04-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Mobility Management Conference - June 6-7, 2011 in Indianapolis. This conference will have plenary sessions devoted to a variety of types of partnerships and partnering objectives, including financial stability, sustainable communities and mobility for transportation-challenged populations. Breakout sessions will address specific topics, such as one-call/one-click services, statewide perspectives, and employment transportation, among others.

National Transit Institute
NTI recently sent out word of two online classes that look interesting: Attracting Senior Drivers to Public Transportation and Managing Increasing Ridership Demand, which is based on a study of South American transit systems. Please note that even though these are online instructions, there are limited attendance slots and these classes fill up.

National RTAP
RTAP releases Procurement Pro, an online procurement project management tool. There is an introductory video that is very user friendly, which, in my case, means simple and clear. There is also an explanatory webinar and a print document, which, like the video, goes step by step and explains the way Procurement Pro works. Procurement Pro requires that the user, presumably a rural transportation provider or transit agency, establish an account.

According to the site, the application is intended to provide:

the steps needed to determine the Federal clauses and certifications that must be included in procurement documents for a Federally funded project. In return you will receive a document that includes all required Federal clauses and certifications and other supporting documentation, such as checklists and templates, to help you manage the procurement process.

RTAP will be hosting a Website Builder webinar to provide education about its new Cloud web application. The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, 2011. It will cover using the application to build a transit system presence on the Internet that will be easy to manage. The Website Builder application enables transit systems to post routes, schedules and fare information. The application is a new, free, online tool. More information about Website Builder is available at http://www.nationalrtap.org/WebApps/WebsiteBuilder.aspx.

One-Call Toolikit Debuts, Local Stories and More

2011-04-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) debuts the One-Call - One-Click Toolkit, which gives communities a map, as it were, of the steps to take in starting a one-call or one-click service for transportation that will either add on to an existing service, such as a 211 or Aging and Disability Resource Center, or will be an entirely new community resource. Topics such as functions to consider, the importance of partnerships and leadership, and what successful approaches already exist are explored in guided chapters, fact sheets, case studies and advice from experts.

The Disability Law Handbook, updated for 2011, is released. There is a chapter about transportation that discusses the obligations of transit and other providers as well as an explanation about paratransit. The handbook is written for the lay person.

Public Participation

SeeClickFix is launching a new Facebook application that will make public participation easier and, I suspect, more effective. Facebook users will be able to report on community issues, from pothole problems to transit initiatives, through their Facebook accounts. True, not everyone is totally wired and not everyone uses Facebook, but the expansion of apps, smart phones and Internet tools are heading toward becoming universal. These tools, generally developed for urban environments, are potentially more useful in rural areas without good transit and other means to attend public participation meetings long distances from where people live and work - especially for people who do not get out of their homes easily. SeeClickFix, reportedly mindful of its place as a convener and enabler of recent Mideast revolutionary activity, views this new application as an opportunity to increase community involvement. More details about the new application and how it is being used are available in a post from the CityFix blog.

[Editor's Note: This post was revised due to the incorrect identification of the launching company as Facebook instead of SeeClickFix. The fact that I could not get through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is readily apparent. Readers kindly pointed out my error. Thank you. I hope I have gotten this right.]

Local Stories of Tough Times for Transit

Trumbull County, Ohio, offers a case study in how a community is handling the fiscal demands of running a transit system and human services transportation. The linked article discusses funding sources and county control to save local dollars. Trumball County is in Northeastern Ohio.

Minnesota's Senate voted to cut funding for transit, particularly passenger rail between the Twin Cities and Duluth, but resisted a bid to eliminate funding entirely for the state's passenger rail office. In a statement that speaks for the benefits of coordination and partnerships, Duluth Senator Roger Reinert urged his counterparts, "Let's keep the coordination of these transit places in place so we're not back to this position of just taking them piecemeal as they come. But we're doing one plan that's good for Minnesota."

Events

National Transit Institute
NTi has upcoming classes in metropolitan planning, statewide planning, transit-oriented development, ADA eligibility, and attracting senior drivers to public transportation. More information is available at http://www.ntionline.com/Courses.asp.

Accounting as an Element of Coordination

2011-03-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Sharing the Costs of Human Services Transportation, a TCRP toolkit and report, goes into the nitty-gritty details of accounting for transportation costs with the simple theme that assessing cost is an important step toward talking concretely about partnerships, coordination, price of service, and making decisions about transportation.

Among the topics covered in the toolkit are:
* Performance measurement options and reasons to measure performance.
* Types of transportation and costs associated with them. For example, administration of eligibility is part of the cost of paratransit service.
* Coordination of accounting practices among programs and services to determine cost of transportation and facilitate coordination of service.
* Price versus cost.
* Employing cost information to make decisions about transportation providers, price of service and assessing benefits of coordination.

The report, Volume II, discusses the history, and whys and wherefores of unaligned accounting for transportation across different types of programs.

Another major problem is that human service programs that treat transportation as a supportive rather than a primary service often combine transportation costs with the accounts of other services, precluding transportation costs from being reported as a discrete cost category within the agency. Such approaches make it impossible for any organization to directly identify total transportation costs. Any potential solution must recognize transportation as a discrete program or functional activity.

The report not only recommends simple accounting practices, but specifically discusses the tools to make them possible, even supplying a:

simple spreadsheet software provided as a companion to this report in CRP-CD-86, “Cost Sharing Model for TCRP Report 144,” can convert the results of the reporting methodology into contract rates (prices) that can be used by both transportation providers and purchasers to have confidence in the fairness of transportation charges.

The software is available at http://144.171.11.107/Publications/Blurbs/Sharing_the_Costs_of_Human_Services_Transportation_165015.aspx.

State Coordination Page

Check out the Massachusetts Human Service Transportation Coordination webpage. It includes resources from the National Resource Center (NRC) as well as information about various state models that exist.

Emergency and Aging Care Webinars; Local Profiles

2011-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

The National Association of Regional Councils NARC) will be hosting a webinar about emergency preparedness lessons learned from Japan's multi-dimensional disasters that occurred one on top of each other. Sudden Emergency: An Insight into Japan's State of Emergency will be held tomorrow, March 23, at 3 p.m. ET.

The Administration on Aging (AoA) is hosting a webinar, Care Transitions in Action: From Hospital to Home in Two Communities, which will explore in depth care transitions partnerships between hospitals and area agencies on aging in two communities. Transportation issues are not specifically mentioned. The webinar will be held on March 30 at 2 p.m. ET.

Around the Country

The Dublin-area Alameda County Transportation Commission will hold a community workshop this week to discuss a 25-year transportation plan. From PleasantonWeekly.com:

Key issues to be addressed in the planning process include planning for a multi‐modal system that equitably moves people and goods efficiently and cost effectively throughout the county; planning for the full range of travel needs and the diversity of users of transportation systems; integrating new legislation that requires greater coordination between transportation and land‐use planning and a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho (COMPASS)posts a Mobility Management Toolkit with a cornucopia of resources for promoting community transportation and zero-emission modes (translation: biking and walking), and carpooling.

Templates for many of the items/ideas listed in the background information,
including model lease agreements and a model ordinance. These can be
downloaded and personalized for your use, or can simply serve as initial ideas
for creating your own materials. Feel free to cut and paste; mix and match;
add, delete, and change these materials to suit your needs.

Visit COMPASS on facebook for a terrific example of engaging the community about transportation planning and usage, and community design.

Reaching Out to Seniors

AARP New York is hosting a series of webinars for Westchester residents. Westchester is generally affluent, suburban and primarily auto-dependent, though it has transit as well as Metro-North train service into the city. The county is trying to become more senior friendly. The webinars cover how to get around without a car and walking safely. This mode for sharing information was selected as an "innovative way to enable seniors to remain active in their communities as well as a valuable resource for adult children caring for aging parents."

Mobility Management Profiles

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has posted mobility management profiles, including a case study of COAST, the transportation program of the Council on Aging & Human Services (CoA&HS), a nonprofit social service agency located in rural eastern Washington near the Washington-Idaho border. [When using the link, scroll down to the profiles section.] COAST serves the general public as well as transportation-challenged populations, over a large, multi-county, area.

I despise long quotes, but this one is packed with a wonderful illustration of mobility management and partnerships in action.

COAST’s customer orientation is reflected in its comprehensive client list. Its mobility management services extend to members of the general public, seniors, school children, commuters, persons with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities, low income persons, Medicaid recipients, veterans, and many others. COAST has agreements with a wide range of agencies and service providers, including public transit operators, private for profit providers, area agencies on aging, schools, sheltered workshops, hospitals, Head Start programs, and many others. COAST brokers or provides services at night or during weekends when such services are not offered by other public transportation providers or to destinations not otherwise served. They manage vehicle sharing among various agencies, and they train drivers and maintain vehicles for many agencies. In order to establish this network, COAST has been reaching out to the community. When new facilities open up, whether it is a group home, a small non-profit social service agency, or other agency, COAST approaches them and informs what COAST can do to meet their transportation needs.

A Chicago-area county is studying coordination options to make transportation easier for clients of human services agencies as well as those accessing medical care. An article in the Highland Park News reveals that the challenge the county confronts is a common one: "[T]ownship and other paratransit services only serve residents in specific geographic areas and there is little service available for residents who need to get from one part of the county to another." Thanks to Jane Hardin for sharing the article.

Ambassadors

2011-03-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

February's ambassador blogs hold a treasure trove of information about developments across the country. Here are some highlights; visit the NRC website for these informative monthly updates.

Beverly Ward - Region I Ambassador blog
Bev brings news of New Hampshire's regional efforts to create transportation options and to expand and improve opportunities for public involvement in transportation planning.

Barb Singleton - Region X Ambassador blog
Barb writes about statewide coordination in Alaska, specifically the Coordinated Transportation Task Force, its responsibilities and consensus on recommendations for state-level coordination.

James McLary - Region II Ambassador blog
James shares his knowledge about Medicaid and its related transportation program, the difficulty of coordinating that transportation with other transportation services, and an example that demonstrates that coordination is possible.

Margi Ness - Region VII Ambassador blog
Margi announces a Nebraska coordination success story and how federal officials are noticing local livability and coordination efforts. At the other end of the spectrum, Margi discusses the start of a senior transportation coordination effort in Shawnee County.

Events

National Transit Institute (NTI)
NTI has upcoming classes on rural transportation technology. Please note that NTI classes fill up. Courses on mobility management and ADA paratransit eligibility are full well in advance.

Association for Travel Instruction (ATI)
ATI's annual conference - Aug, 12-14, 2011 in Philadelphia. ATI is calling for presentation proposals, including such topics as marketing travel instruction programs, travel training at community colleges, ADA paratransit certification, travel instruction for senior citizens, discussing travel instruction with parents, caretakers, educators, and job coaches, developing and maintaining program partnerships, and funding.

Some Fun (Work) Websites to Visit

2011-02-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

Oops! Hit that publish button too soon. Should never have two publishable pages right next to each other on my screen.

Not that there aren't interesting activities going on around the technical assistance network, but here are some enjoyable, fun and illuminating resources from other sources.

New York City is mapping 311 complaints. What will this accomplish? Not only will city government staff be able to see where the potholes are, but so will the neighbors. This type of device offers as much for rural residents, who live rather far apart, as for the uber-urban stoop-sitting folks of Brooklyn, who tend to gab when they run into each other. By the way, in my childhood area code, no one is kvetching about transit, though residents are not happy with parking meters and blocked driveways.

[Fish-shaped bike rack in Long Beach, CA, right near the beach.]

If you are looking for a new toy, this is it. Trust me, this new tool from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is addictive. It is an interactive county map of the U.S. with statistical and demographic information. Look up elderly populations, density, jobs, and so much more. A valuable instrument for work, with fascinating information, and fun.

Yes, you can find everything on the Internet, including conference materials. This PowerPoint presentation explains the Wisconsin mobility management program.

Employment Transportation: TA for Different Goals

2011-02-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

Using math terms in a completely incorrect way, I will say that communities can have parallel goals that intersect. Though we learn in geometry that parallel lines never meet, in real life, completely separate initiatives sometimes have much in common and do in fact get together. Here are two examples of technical assistance resources in which commuter transportation serves two different goals: one, the primary purpose of every person going to work to actually be transported in some way to his or her job, and two, to make sure that our communities contribute to improving the environment and the air that we all breathe.

Getting to Work

Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
The Joblinks Employment Transportation Center at CTAA has a webpage devoted to workforce development transportation solutions. The page has examples of communities around the country that use workforce boards, community colleges and other partners to find transportation options for people going to work and school.

Getting to Work While Improving the Air

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
EPA's Sustainable Communities Building Blocks Program is seeking letters of interest, due Feb. 23, 2011, to choose 20 communities for technical assistance:

geared toward communities that are relatively new to implementing sustainable communities development approaches but that have a basic understanding of the livability principles and how they apply locally. Appropriate Sustainable Communities Building Blocks Program communities recognize that they have development challenges and are trying to kick-start the conversation about how to address a specific local issue.

Some of the tools the program will be offering involve commuter transportation, complete streets, zoning, and greenhouse gas reduction.

The TA provided will take place "over the course of one day, with minimal upfront preparation and no formal follow-up." Meetings with community stakeholders will be the avenue for the TA.

[Union Station in LA flanked by buses.]

Communities that send in letters of interest to EPA, whether selected or not, and are interested in commuter transportation as a way of addressing environmental problems, should check out Joblinks and other TA resources in the Technical Assistance Provider Network.

Rural Webinars

2011-02-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
NADO's current Rural Transportation newsletter is full of information relevant to those who work with rural communities.

The NADO Research Foundation and RPO America are hosting a webinar on Feb. 15, 2011 showcasing the work of two award-winning organizations on rural and small metropolitan alternative transportation. One of the presentations will focus on rural travel demand management via a website and outreach materials that address transportation options throughout the region.

National Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP)
RTAP will be hosting a webinar on Feb. 17, 2011 to showcase its recently released training module, Emergency Procedures for Rural Transit Drivers. Information about the webinar is available at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/780816704.

[Very opposite of rural is a Brooklyn subway station, which commemorates Sheepshead Bay's past as a fishing village. You can still fish in the bay.]

Disability Community - Resources for Making Transit a Better Fit

2011-01-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
ETA has created the Disability and Employment Community of Practice. A search of the website produces many of the disability and employment-transportation resources from the TA network. The site is focusing on resources for employers and access and accommodations. The group is looking for members with professional interests in this field.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA)
ESPA has two upcoming teleconferences. Deviated Fixed Route and Demand Response Service: Creating Solutions in Rural and Small Urban Communities will take place on February 16. The teleconference will focus on the importance of a strong connection between transit and disability groups.

Planning for the Accessibility of Livable and Sustainable Communities, to be held on March 9, will feature representatives from the Department of Transportation discussing the encouragement of community connections to housing, employment and economic development through accessible transportation. A representative from Peoria, Ill. will discuss the city’s plans to redevelop a downtown area using the principles of livability and the role that accessibility plays in the development of those plans.

ESPA continues its Introduction to Travel Training course, a free training initiative that aims to increase the skills, knowledge and abilities of travel training professionals. This intensive, three-day course includes both classroom and field instruction in an environment where travel trainers can directly apply and practice new skills on the street. The next course will be held March 15-17 in Los Angeles, Calif.

Performance Measures

2011-01-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

Performance-based Planning and Performance Measures, a peer exchange report of the Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program discusses the purpose and effective use of performance measures. Though transit and human-services transportation were not specifically discussed, this report has general advice for crafting and implementing performance measures.

A performance measure is defined as:

[A]n indicator that objectively evaluates how well something is performing, using quantitative or sometimes qualitative data. Measures can describe performance at one point in time; track progress over time; or identify gaps between desired and actual performance.

These include measures of output - what staff are doing, outcomes - the results of what has been done, indirect outcomes and process. Targets are quantitative accomplishments, in terms of measuring performance, usually with a deadline.

Lessons Learned

* Limit the number of performance measures.

System level performance measurement should be limited to the fewest number of measures that can adequately describe system performance at a level that policy makers find useful. If an agency is using too many measures planning can quickly become too complex, making it difficult for policy makers to focus on, track, and understand performance.

* Articulate goals before determining performance measures. Do not use a performance measure just because data is available.
* Performance measures should reflect broad goals and customer concerns.

Ideally a given performance measure is an accurate indicator of the performance being measured, but often a second best measure needs to be used until better data become available.

* Assign responsibility for measuring performance to one person, even if measures "require partnerships within and outside the organization. If responsibilities are spread out results may be sporadic, making it difficult to integrate measures into an agency’s business practices."
* Conduct an annual review of performance measurements and not merely targets for performance.
* Monitor for unintended consequences of performance measurements.
* Build advocacy and support for performance measures at all levels of an organization.

[Fish-shaped bike rack in Long Beach, Calif.]

The report warns that threats to effective use of performance measure are cultural resistance within an organization and political priorities within or external to an organization.

Out in the Field - Stories of Our Ambassadors

2011-01-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

One of my resolutions this year is to take the time once a month to look at each of the ambassador blogs and write about some of the highlights. Last year, I improved to the rate of reading the blogs about once every two months, so this small change will not be burdensome and I expect to feel that much closer to the people and organizations that our ambassadors serve each day.

Highlights for January

Dave Cyra - Region IX Ambassador blog
This month Dave writes about a California partnership for procurement of equipment. These details will be useful for transit managers and procurement staff.

Roland Mross - Region V Ambassador blog
Roland finds a coordination success story 40 miles east of Columbus, OH, in Licking County. The partnership includes human services, transit and emergency management. Roland says:

They are guided by the principle that if nothing is attempted, nothing is gained. During my visit, the key components of what we have stressed for successful coordination were clearly evident. Initiative, leadership, trust, sharing, and a clear focus on serving the citizens.

JoAnn Hutchinson - Region IV Ambassador blog
JoAnn reminds us of the wealth of resources available at the websites of the National Resource Center and United We Ride. These two sites offer information on everything from mobility management to technical assistance to transportation for vulnerable individuals.

Explaining Transportation Service Realities

NRC Director Chis Zeilinger is sharing his insights in a monthly message. These are well worth reading, and I am not saying that because I am an NRC staff member. Chris has decades of experience in DC and in the field. From up close and through the lens of legislation and regulation, Chris sees the realities of coordination and partnerships and how to start and nurture productive conversations.

Funding News

2011-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Funding for Transportation-Challenged

To assist the transition of intercity buses to ADA-accessible transportation, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is providing "$20 million to help meet the 2012 federal deadline for making coaches accessible to riders using wheelchairs and other mobility devices. The money comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s Over-the-Road Bus Program." The program funds bus line accommodations for people with disabilities, such as lifts and other accessibility components for new vehicles and retrofitting of older vehicles. A list of grantees is available at http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12225.html.

The FTA also announced that "[t]ribal Transit funds will provide grants to tribes for 59 separate projects, including transit equipment purchases and facility construction and improvements. Participants under this program include federally-recognized tribes and Alaska Native villages." Information about specific projects is available at http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12218.html.

Other December FTA funding announcements are available at the news release page of its website. Other funds granted will go toward transit in the parks, planning to analyze local transit options, and major urban transit projects.

HUD Rural Funding Opportunity

The National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) has posted information about a rural funding opportunity from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. $25,750,000 will be available for grants made through the Rural Innovation Fund (RIF) for "new and innovative solutions to poor housing conditions and concentrated poverty in rural and tribal areas," especially proposals that incorporate an entrepreneurial approach. Grants of up to $300,000 will be awarded for single-purpose projects, up to $2 million for comprehensive projects and up to $800,000 for tribal economic development and entrepreneurship projects.

FEMA Resources

2010-12-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

Not sure why there have to be new resources on a topic I just covered. Must be a message from the universe. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has two new resources and another worthy of mention.

For ongoing updates about FEMA and emergency management and planning, there is the FEMA blog. Coverage this week includes the California natural disaster due to weather and upcoming winter challenges. Twitter and online links are given.

The second resource is a comprehensive planning guide, Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans, Version 2.0. Since I do not dabble too much in this area, perhaps one of my resolutions for 2011 is to have a guest blogger review this resource.

Better write that down.

For those even more involved in emergency planning is FEMA's lessons learned website. For those updates, there is a lessons learned newsletter available at the site.

Before I add any more resolutions to an already long list, let me wish all of you a happy and a healthy holiday season and a joyous new year. Have fun, be safe, and enjoy!

2010 Highlights

2010-12-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am starting the recap early this year, going over notes, my blog, the index of my old newsletter, and thinking about what from 2010 resonates and will last as useful resources and information as the calendar page turns over to 2011.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and a healthy holiday season and a joyous new year.

Stay Up to Date at the National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination
Go to the NRC website - www.NRCtransportation.org - for news and information from around the country, such as the blogs of the United We Ride Ambassadors. The NRC also has resources about all aspects of public and human services transportation, including several compilations about significant topics.

New News Sources
The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) has launched a newsletter, Caryn's Corner, named for Executive Director Caryn Souza.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)created two transportation-related newsletters, one is the Transportation Coordination Quarterly Newsletter, a compilation of news and resources involving coordination, and the other a monthly newsletter that spans transportation sectors.

Specialized Taxi Transportation
In 2010, the Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association (TLPA) prepared reports that address the taxi industry's role in providing non-emergency medical transportation and accessible transportation. These are Assessing the Full Cost of Implementing An Accessible Taxicab Program and Non-Emergency Medicaid Transportation (NEMT): How to Maximize Safety and Cost Effectiveness
Through Better Use of Private For-Hire Vehicle Operators. The accessible transportation report discusses how the taxi industry works in terms of the practical obstacles and costs of providing accessibility where the additional costs fall on mostly small businesses and independent contractors. The NEMT report provides an excellent explanation of what coordination provides and what models of NEMT exist throughout the country.

Learning about Health Care Changes
For information on what states must accomplish and are doing to fulfill the mandates of the new health care law, the National Governors' Association (NGA) has created a website, the Health Reform Implementation Resource Center, a product of the State Consortium on Health Care Reform Implementation (State Consortium), which provides information and technical assistance to states about requirements, offers options and best practices and synthesizes feedback to federal agencies on issues that affect state implementation. The website has resources on aspects of the health reform law that are likely to have the biggest effect on states – the Medicaid expansion, the establishment of health insurance exchanges, insurance regulations, and delivery system initiatives, along with important governance, coordination and timing issues for states are available from NGA and on each of the Consortium members' websites.

The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) has a short presentation, Health Reform: Issues for State Governments, that explains the effective dates of different provisions, what will happen to Medicaid, and summarizes long-term care and other provisions.

With greater numbers of people to be covered by Medicaid and preventive and maintenance medicine to be practiced, there may well be many more people traveling to regular doctor appointments. The Community Transportation Association of America is assisting providers with training, the Competitive Edge, to enable providers to be more efficient for when the new law takes effect.

Transportation for Challenged Populations
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) report, Funding the Public Transportation Needs of an Aging Population, discusses the depth of the growing need for transportation services among Older Americans and the amounts of funding that will be necessary to provide those services. In addition to APTA, the report was guided by input from a technical working group that included CTAA, Easter Seals Project ACTION, and the AARP Public Policy Institute, all members of the National Consortium on the Coordination of Human Services Transportation.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has a multitude of resources related to the intersection of transit and the ADA. These include regulations, legal guidance, details about equipment and paratransit eligibility, and so much more. A new page has topic guides on selected ADA topics.

The Easter Seals Project ACTION website always has resources for government staff, transportation providers and transportation-challenged populations. These resources offer information to improve services, educate staff and enhance public participation.

Census Guides the Future
Census 2010 and Transit: What's at stake? is a web portal that the NRC created for transit-related Census resources. The 2010 Census will help communities receive over $400 billion in federal funds each year for many activities including transit and human services. Visit the NRC's Census 2010 page to read about how public transportation may be affected, learn about possible outcomes for tribal communities, and find a list of quick links to audio and video clips about the Census.

State-Level Sustainability Plans
State-wide sustainability and livability movements are turning into established parts of state governments with plans that span different sectors of the economy and public works, including transportation. At their core, these plans envision transportation systems that meet present needs without compromising the lifestyles of future generations.

Hawaii's plan, Hawaii 2050, incorporates increased public transportation as a goal and an indicator of progress under its community and social well-being heading. Hawaii's plan goes way beyond the environment, addressing such different issues as the economy, education and health care.

The Department of Transportation for Washington, D.C., the equivalent of a state department of transportation that also has jurisdiction over local roads, releases its Sustainability Plan 2010, which promotes transit, biking and walking and seeks to reduce energy consumption.

The Oregon Department of Transportation also has a sustainability plan. It emphatically incorporates public transportation and the environmental and health benefits of zero and low-emission modes. The state DOT also commits to a policy of locating its own facilities in places that employees can reach by walking and transit.

State Planning Participation
The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), via its Rural Transportation Clearinghouse, posted a presentation that local officials can use or modify for orientation of new board members, transportation committee members or staff. The Guide for Rural Local Officials: Evaluating Your Input into the Statewide Transportation Planning Process explained the local role in state transportation planning across modes. The guide was also available in a PowerPoint format.

NADO also released a new online version of its Metropolitan and Rural Transportation Planning: Case Studies and Checklists for Regional Collaboration. This guide was intended for leadership and professional staff of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), rural planning organizations (RPOs), state departments of transportation (DOTs), and regional development organizations that are involved in transportation planning, programming, and service delivery, and other planning partners.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released an MPO primer, Staffing and Administrative Capacity of Metropolitan Planning Organizations. It is a terrific nuts and bolts detailed description of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), their staffs, projects, funding, partnerships and formal arrangements with state and local governments.

Livability and Sustainability
The Initiative for Sustainable Communities and States (ISCS) compiles the news and resources of the federal interagency sustainability partnership in one place. There is information about funding, policy, and examples for states and localities.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has a Transportation and Climate Change Resource Center with resources about how state departments of transportation, regional planning organizations and states are addressing climate change.

Always a solid source is the FTA's livability page, which is kept up to date with funding programs, case studies, and news and links related to the interagency sustainability partnership.

Also on My Favorites List
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.

TCRP Report 140: A Guide for Planning and Operating Flexible Public Transportation Services, a product of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, gets into the weeds on what constitutes a non-fixed route, flexible transit service, why communities and regions choose them, the relative costs and how they operate either on their own or as supplements to traditional fixed route and ADA paratransit service.

Compilation of tribal transit resources, which appeared on this page earlier in the year.

An Express Stop blog post offers a compendium of emergency preparedness resources.

Relevant to public employees and citizens in every state is a National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Fiscal Brief: State Balanced Budget Provisions, which explains what is meant by a balanced budget, to which funds state constitutional and statutory provisions apply and what enforcement mechanisms exist. Interesting is how varied balanced budget requirements are. This not a one-size-fits-all term.

More Resources for Emergency Preparedness

2010-12-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

National RTAP - the Rural Transit Assistance Program - announces its updated free training module, Emergency Procedures for Rural Transit Drivers. The training includes a Learner’s Guide, a Self-paced eLearning Course Disc, an Instructor’s Guide, and a disc with videos and a trainer’s PowerPoint presentation. It can be used in a classroom setting or by a single student, and is appropriate for both new and experienced transit drivers. The training offers information on preparedness for hazards and threats that may be encountered as a transit operator. This training module also offers targeted training on the Seven Steps of Crisis Management.

For more information, please contact Pam Russell DiGiovanni at 888-589-1122 or prussell@nationalrtap.org.

FEMA Reviews its Progress

Although FEMA’s Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster - An Update, a report from the Department of Homeland Security, will not render assistance in the midst of an actual emergency, it provides food for thought about what is involved across the different types of agencies called to serve during or in the aftermath of a man-made or natural disaster.

Transportation is mentioned as a piece of the pie of emergency response services, and discussed in reference to large-scale evacuations.

FEMA is responsible for providing direction, guidance, and technical assistance on state and local evacuation plans that contain integrated information on transportation operations, shelters, and other elements of a successful evacuation. FEMA is also required to work with state, tribal, and local authorities to support contraflow planning, where the normal flow of traffic is reversed to aid in an evacuation, and is responsible for ensuring that adequate resources are available for evacuation efforts.

Most indicators of progress have progressed with a moderate rating. Substantial progress has been made in the areas of emergency communications and having pre-disaster contract in place.

Events and Resources from Around the TA Network

2010-11-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

National Transit Institute

The National Transit Institute (NTI)has upcoming classes related to coordination.

Public Involvement in Transportation Decisionmaking
This course will:
* Identify public involvement challenges
* Describe U.S. DOT transportation decision-making processes, including those that trigger the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
* Describe the relationship between public involvement and decisionmaking
* Develop a public involvement plan with stakeholder assistance that includes attention to non-traditional populations as an evaluation component
* Describe interest-based problem solving and their underlying values
* Identify ways to enhance public involvement plans
Public Involvement in Transportation Decisionmaking will be given Dec. 8-10 in Arlington, VA; but check NTI's webpage for the course for future offerings.

Managing Community Mobility
This course will:
* Introduce the concept of mobility management and its application to transportation operations at the community level.
* Identify funding resources available for implementing and operating mobility management programs.
* Describe how to develop the Coordinated Public Transit and Human Service Transportation Plan “Coordinated Plan.”
* Identify the necessary tools and resources to effectively implement a mobility management program.
* Present case studies of successful mobility management models.
* Discuss the skills of a mobility manager.
The course is being held in three different locations from December through April.

Easter Seals Project ACTION

Easter Seals Project ACTION has a new Livable Communities page on its website. Featured are ESPA's publications about accessible streets, transit, and universal design as well as links to government and other resources.

ADA Essentials for Transit Board Members: Fundamentals of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Transit Public Policy, produced with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), is a primer on transit's responsibility in realizing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the legal obligations that the ADA established. The publication addresses traditional fixed-route service and transit facilities, but does not discuss deviated route or other types of service to which the ADA does not apply. It also provides information about federal transportation initiatives related to the ADA, such as United We Ride.

ESPA is hosting an audio conference, Developing Flexible Policies to Empower Transit and Customers with Disabilities, on Dec. 8. The audio conference will cover modifications to transit policies that enable access by customers with disabilities and legal requirements for modifications to policy. The program will also feature several examples of ways in which flexibility can help create a more accessible transportation experience for customers with disabilities.

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

The next Pedestrian Safety Webinar will take place on Tuesday, November 23 from 1:00-3:00 Eastern Time. Learn about pedestrian safety initiatives in New York City and California. For information, go to https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/webconference/web_conf_learner_reg.aspx?webconfid=21797.

DOT Recognizes Excellence in Rural Transit

2010-10-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood blogs this morning about the Outstanding Rural Transit System awards, announced at this week's National Transportation Research Board Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Conference. The Secretary specifically thanks our fellow TA center, the National Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP) program, for evaluating the award applications.

News from NTI

The National Transit Institute (NTI) announces a survey that explores alternative training approaches. NTI is looking to understand the needs of its trainees and identify alternative training methods most suitable for them. The survey is located at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BCTUZ6YTZ.

NTI will also be presenting its Managing Community Mobility course. The course covers mobility management and coordination topics.
* December 15 - 16, 2010 - Chicago, IL
* April 27 - 28, 2011 - Phoenix, AZ

Rural Transit System Profiled

2010-10-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity highlighted a new Montana transit system in its newsletter. Usually RWJF concentrates its efforts on safe routes to school and complete streets. The transit service profile demonstrates the importance of connectivity over great distances to services, jobs, education and stores. It discusses the needs of the community as well as the popularity of the service.

As a lesson in coordination, the profile shows how a large rural area can use outreach and partnering among organizations to plan and provide a valuable public service.

Mobility Management

2010-10-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) must be mentioned for its mobility management resource page. The page explains the topic to the transit audience and discusses the economic aspects of mobility management.

Mobility management resources can be obtained at the website of the Partnership for Mobility Management. National organization members include CTAA, APTA, the American Bus Association, AASHTO, TLPA and Easter Seals Project ACTION.

CTAA President Eloquent Word on Community Transit

If you missed CTAA's president speaking during a piece on National Public Radio recently, the wonders of video and the Internet bring you the extended interview of Charles Carr. In seven minutes, Carr discusses the need for transit and "right sizing" it to fit a community's circumstances. Carr discusses those who are transportation challenged and also the situation of so-called "choice riders."

ADA Paratransit: Driver Satisfaction

2010-09-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

A quality workforce in almost any field requires experience and incorporation of employee opinions about how to do the job well. TCRP Report 142: Vehicle Operator Recruitment, Retention, and Performance in ADA Complementary Paratransit Operations lists pay, workable schedules, the support of dispatchers and management, and installed GPS systems as high on the list of what paratransit drivers are looking for.

In many ways, the report simply lays out common sense management practices that keep keep employees happy, with specific examples and suggestions for the particular field of paratransit services.

A common theme in systems that were identified to have stable workforces was that there was a good overall work environment. Vehicle operators from these systems reported that the organization was like a “family” and that they enjoyed the people they worked with. They indicated that the organization had a real interest in its employees and looked out for their interest.

Happy Birthday

Such recognition as celebrating employee birthdays, having comfortable and attractive facilities for drivers, and bonuses for good performance were cited as important to drivers. However, the low pay was recognized as a key factor in high turnover, which "for private paratransit contractors average 30% per year and range as high as 80% per year."

The report notes that low wages can result in higher costs due to the reduced productivity that results from high turnover. The report has a good discussion of the benefits of better driver pay. A detailed study appears about halfway through the report that measures the productivity benefits of driver experience in two systems.

The report also discusses the gap between pay for fixed-route drivers and their paratransit counterparts. "Wages for ADA paratransit vehicle operators were found to be lower than for fixed-route operators. Fringe benefits for ADA paratransit operators were also found to be minimal, especially for services operated by private contractors."

How Communities Are Planning - Coordination and Mobility Management

2010-09-16T12:52:00.002-07:00

Some updates on mobility management and coordination in action:

Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project Final Report: This is a comprehensive assessment of one region's community transportation and a demonstration of its mobility management perspective in planning for transportation-challenged populations.

Illinois website with links to three-step primer on building public transportation, coordination, and service in rural areas. Cool map of public transit in Illinois counties. The website is part of the state's Interagency Coordinating Committee on Transportation (ICCT) Clearinghouse. The primer received a NADO award in 2007.

TA Coordination: Peer Exchanges

The Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program (TPCBP) recent peer exchanges include the Colorado Department of Transportation hosting the Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington State departments of transportation. Colorado was looking for voices of experience about establishing a rail and transit division in a state department of transportation.

A peer exchange on exurban to urban regional transportation planning compared the experiences of a few regions with mid to large-size cities and their fringe communities. The exchange partly discussed collaboration about across jurisdictional lines.

Write ups of the peer exchanges are available online. They go quite in depth and are terrific case studies about specific challenges.

How Communities Are Planning - Placemaking

2010-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Placemaking

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces its five Greening America’s Capitals technical assistance recipients. EPA will "fund a team of designers to visit each city to produce schematic designs and exciting illustrations intended to catalyze or complement a larger planning process for the pilot neighborhood. Additionally, these pilots could be the testing ground for citywide actions, such as changes to local codes and ordinances to better support sustainable growth and green building."

Except for Boston, the cities are all small, at least by my NY childhood standards. (Okay, when I lived in Boston, that seemed pretty small.)

Charleston, WVa, will have its transit hub's streetscape addressed to give it a "sense of place." There is also a transit connection in the Hartford, Conn. plan. There is no transportation or transit TA mentioned in connection with any of the projects.

Placemaking Resources

If you are ever providing TA with a placemaking component, here is a website with resources that quickly explain what placemaking is and how to achieve it. Entitled Livability for All Ages-Best Practices, the site envisions placemaking as a crucial livability component. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is listed as one of the resource sites.

Ambassador Blog Round Up

2010-09-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I keep coming back to the ambassador blogs for two reasons: (1) to learn what the ambassadors see happening around the country, and (2) to increase my knowledge of technical assistance through the ideas and information that the ambassadors write about. I recommend that everyone periodically read all the blogs, but here is what I found particularly instructive this month.

If you are unfamiliar with the ambassador program and the individual ambassadors, visit the ambassador home page of the NRC website. There are also links to archives of each ambassador's blog.

Jim McLary - Region II Ambassador blog
Jim writes this summer about the importance of taxi service and an accessible taxi coming to market this October. He believes that with accessible taxis we will have a model for universal design in this mode of transportation so critical to people with disabilities and small communities.

Rex Knowlton - Region III Ambassador blog
One of Rex's pieces of information had to do with the University of Virgina's new TDM policy. U-VA took the position that it not only needed to reduce the number of student and staff single occupancy vehicles coming to campus each day, but that it had to do so in a flexible and user-friendly way. Very interesting from a mobility management perspective.

Roland Mross - Region V Ambassador blog
Roland writes about non-emergency medical transportation for people with serious health conditions and the need to bring medical care providers to the coordination table. He describes the discussion leading to this conclusion in one Ohio region.

Margi Ness - Region VII Ambassador blog
Margi has instituted monthly regional conference calls. After the first call she formed "a committee with one person from each state to help plan the calls and work on the continuing dialogue" as well as offer different informed perspectives. Margi's first call featured mobility managers and mobility management resources.

Jeanne Erickson - Region VIII Ambassador blog
Jeanne writes about the success of All Points Transit in Montrose, Colo. and how leadership, coordination and smart utilization of funding has led to a tremendous increase in the number of rides.

All About Coordination

2010-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Two instances of coordination at the federal level caught my attention. One involves the Administration's current focus on the benefits of its livability initiative for rural America and the other involves the efforts of public health advocates to work with transportation organizations to combat widespread public health problems.

An important aspect of coordination is maintaining the momentum of working with partners over long periods. One of our TA centers is addressing that issue in an upcoming audio conference described below.

USDA Program Features Sustainability Partners

The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) participated in the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) roundtable yesterday to discuss livability in rural areas. Among the topics covered was the need for connectivity between rural and urban communities. The roundtable also focused on preserving small town main streets, protecting agriculture and expanding transportation options. Deputy secretaries from DOT and HUD addressed the participants.

Connecting Transportation Options to Health

In September, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Childhood Obesity program is starting a webinar series devoted to the connection between transportation policy and the obesity-health issue.

Sept. 9 - "Ready Set Go: Transportation Reauthorization"
Recommendations on how to ensure that investments in transportation are made equitably, so that all children and families have access to safe, reliable, affordable transportation options that encourage healthy, active lifestyles.

Sept. 23 - "Hide and Seek: Where is Your School and How Do You Get There?"
Safe routes to school and school siting guidelines within the framework of broader sustainable community development.

Oct. 7 - "On the Go: Complete Streets and Public Transportation"
Strategies for effective advocacy and implementation of complete streets policies and advice for ensuring that access to public transportation and active living opportunities are equitably provided to all communities.

Oct. 21 - "Feet to the Streets: Alternatives to Motorized Transportation"
Strategies for creating opportunities that encourage non-motorized transportation, particularly walking and biking.

Maintaining Momentum

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) is having an audio conference, Sustaining Coalition Efforts for Improving Accessible Transportation on Sept. 28. As part of the series Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation, ESPA will address re-energizing members to maintain interest and enthusiasm, recognizing small steps toward long-term success, replacing members who move on to other jobs and activities, and reaching consensus among diverse partners.

Tribal Transit Resources

2010-08-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Tribal communities, many with low income residents and isolated in extremely rural areas, benefit greatly from the technical assistance of our TA network. These are some resources that quickly explain the particular issues of working on transit and transportation issues with tribes and community-specific projects.

Much thanks to Kelly Shawn for his suggestions.

National RTAP is featuring American Indian Transportation: Issues and Successful Models, a brief co-authored by one of the Community Transportation Association of America's (CTAA) tribal specialists, Kelly Shawn. The brief discusses transportation funding, coordination and economic development.

CTAA's Tribal Projects

On CTAA's website are resources about funding transit and projects in particular tribal communities. Tribal Transit: Accessing Federal Transit Funding to Develop Your Transit System covers the major federal funding sources, discusses how tribes should begin planning for transit initiatives, and features successful examples.

An interactive map lists all of CTAA's rural and tribal community transit projects since 1990.

An issue of Community Transportation magazine, Tribal Transportation, highlights the transit services in several tribal areas.

A list of links to other tribal and transportation-related information sources is also available on CTAA's website.

Tribal Delegates Appointed to CTAA Delegate Council

At the "Nations in Transit" conference, part of CTAA's EXPO conference in Long Beach, CA, representatives of tribal nations elected three delegates to serve on the Community Transportation Association's Delegate Council. Selected as Tribal Delegates were Lee Bigwater of the Navajo Nation (Ariz.), Camille Ferguson of the Sitka Tribe (Alaska) and Kathy Littlejohn of the Eastern Band of Cherokees (N.C.).

National RTAP's Tribal Resources

National RTAP has posted links to:
* the process for becoming an acknowledged Indian tribe, and
* a list of tribal transit grant recipients.

Rural Resources for Planning Streets and Transit

2010-08-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

The state of Montana has produced a Transportation and Land Use Toolkit to help with planning for streets that are friendly to pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. In addition to many resources, there are links to federal resources, detailed case studies, most of which are from out West, and a state-by-state listing of bike-pedestrian coordinators. Technical assistance and training in planning and public involvement are available. These resources address long-term planning for rural areas that is consistent with livability principles.

Assessing Transit Demand

Taking a very different approach is the TCRP Web-Only Document 49: Methods for Forecasting Demand and Quantifying Need for Rural Passenger Transportation, a workbook for "evaluating areas not currently served by transit." Note that Region VIII Ambassador Jeanne Erickson is one of the co-authors.

The workbook takes a step-by-step approach that shows the websites that its users will employ and how to utilize them. It also shows how to use the mathematical formulas supplied. Addressed are estimating transit service demand from the general public and the needs of transportation-challenged individuals.

Congratulations to MSAA!

2010-08-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) technical assistance center received praise from none other than DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administrator Peter Appel in today's Fastlane blog post. As guest blogger, Appel recounted his participation in the "grand opening of the Lower Savannah Council of Governments (LSCOG) Aging, Disability & Transportation Resource Center (ADTRC) in Aiken, South Carolina."

This resource center--one of only three in the US--provides transit information and trip planning services to a six-county region covering nearly 4,000 square miles with a rural population of 300,000 people.

The newly expanded center is funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Department of Transportation’s United We Ride/Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) initiative. And it’s a great example of how Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can make a real difference in people’s lives today.

Appel praised the one-call center for the ease of access to transportation service information and for its future assistance in getting people to education and jobs.

Flexible Transit Service

2010-08-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

TCRP Report 140: A Guide for Planning and Operating Flexible Public Transportation Services, a product of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, gets into the weeds on what constitutes a non-fixed route, flexible transit service, why communities and regions choose them, the relative costs and how they operate either on their own or as supplements to traditional fixed route and ADA paratransit service.

Warning: The report I am recommending is dull, sometimes painfully so. However, the case studies are informative and cover a wide variety of types of communities.

The authors noted their surprise that so many communities have flexible fixed-route service, ranging from service very similar to a traditional route to service almost indistinguishable from demand-response ADA paratransit. When reading the case studies, many of which featured flexible service in places that have chosen not to have conventional transit service and mandatory complementary ADA paratransit service, I started to wonder about the future of conventional transit in rural and cash-strapped communities.

Those interviewed for the report were frank that flexible service is for transportation-challenged people and that those served better not be too concerned about timing and being prompt. Explicitly stated were cautionary notes that this type of service is not ideal for commuters and students, who need to be somewhere on time pretty much each day.

What I found intriguing were the case studies, the tales of places trying to provide transportation that is very different from quality transit-rich urban rapid transit. Getting people out of cars was clearly not the goal. There are some tales of lack of community resources and others of filling in gaps in regions that have traditional transit, but also include far flung communities or where there are transportation needs at hours of low demand.

The report, though dull, paints a picture worth looking at.

A Meaningful Decision for Employers

2010-07-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have to admit a liking for a good judicial opinion, especially one well written and intellectually honest. So, when Randee Chafkin alerted her fellow staff at the Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM) about an ADA decision related to commuting to work, I did not hesitate to read the whole opinion to glean some helpful hints for transit and transportation providers, employers, advocates and people with disabilities.

The question posed in Colwell v. Rite Aid is whether a disability that does not handicap one in any way at work can be counted as a disability - which requires accommodation - where the only disadvantage is an inability to drive to or from work, in this case at night after the public transit buses stopped running and where taxi service was unavailable.

Procedural Pointers

Colwell does not require that the employer assist with transportation or advocate for improved transportation options. Nor does Colwell speak to other transportation-challenged populations, such as people who temporarily or permanently do not drive due to low income or preference. Presumably it applies to discrimination on the basis of age itself. However, as people with disabilities are overrepresented among low income populations, those with disabilities that make driving dangerous or impossible can glean much from the decision.

Another important tidbit to keep in mind is that Colwell was decided on a summary judgment motion, which is basically the stage where a judge rules, if asked (and the motion is very common), whether the allegations could lead - after a jury trial - to a judgment for the person who is suing. Generally, if the plaintiff wins, the suit settles because going the distance to a trial and perhaps appeals is a time consuming and expensive process.

Shift Request

The plaintiff was a part-time employee in her sixties who developed a serious eye problem in one eye that led to blindness in that eye. She asked her employer, a large chain drugstore, to accommodate her visual disability with assignment to day shifts instead of her usual night shifts. The plaintiff had managed thus far to get rides to work and the employer refused the request. (Other information in the opinion suggested that the manager was none too fond of the plaintiff otherwise.)

The defendant, Rite Aid, argued that the commute to work fell outside of the workplace and therefore commuting difficulties did not require accommodation. The Third Circuit saw the legal landscape very differently. "[W]e hold as a matter of law that changing Colwell’s working schedule to day shifts in order to alleviate her disability-related difficulties in getting to work is a type of accommodation that the ADA contemplates."

Reasonable Accommodation

The ADA's provision for reasonable accommodations, the Third Circuit found, explicitly includes "modified work schedules." "[P]ersons who may require modified work schedules are persons with mobility impairments who depend on a public transportation system that is not currently fully accessible."

And the Court declared flat out that the ADA covers getting to work even though transportation to employment does not involve any accommodation at the workplace.

Refusing to comment on a Second Circuit opinion that held an employer to task for not paying for a parking space for an employee who was unable to walk long distances, the Third Circuit agreed that "T]here is nothing inherently unreasonable, ... in requiring an employer to furnish an otherwise qualified disabled employee with assistance related to her ability to get to work."

Hence, if the plaintiff had lived and worked in an area with evening bus service, Rite Aid would not have had to spend all this money on attorneys and, presumably, writing out a nice size settlement check to end the suit with an ex-employee.

The only kernel that employers must pay attention to in Colwell is that the "ADA contemplates that employers may need to make reasonable shift changes in order to accommodate a disabled employee’s disability-related difficulties in getting to work." (Emphasis supplied.) There is no hint that something other than a shift change, such as paying for an accessible and quality bus stop, would ever fall within the realm of an ADA reasonable accommodation.

Reading the Tea Leaves

The Third Circuit's language poses all sorts of questions about access to streets, intersections, quality transit and other mobility options. Maybe that's just the lawyer in me, hoping that people bring lawsuits just to have interesting questions answered as much as to correct injustice. However, most courts - with the Supreme Court sometimes an exception - tend to be rather conservative institutions and recognize that their role is not to impose social change, but to leave that to legislatures and the executive branch.

With the Supreme Court soon to include four justices who grew up in New York City, three from the transit-rich boroughs of Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan (admittedly, even Queens is better than most of the country), and who have worked in New York, DC and Cambridge, questions of reasonableness in terms of transportation and commutes will be tinged with their transit-rich and mobility-wealthy experiences.

Employers: Be Accommodating and Prevent Litigation

As the Joblinks Transportation Center has shown in its Transportation Toolkit for the Business Community and other products, employers can be proactive in terms of commuting and accommodating employees' needs for public transit and other mobility options.

Specifically addressing the commuting needs of people with disabilities, Joblinks will be hosting another in a series of vanpool webinars. Vanpooling: A Promising Transportation Option for Commuters with Disabilities will be held on August 11, 2010 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The webinar will cover the ways in which vanpool providers serve riders with disabilities, the potential for greater use of vanpools by persons with a variety of disabilities, and ideas for partnering at the state and local levels to create more accessible vanpools across the country.

To register, visit http://guest.cvent.com/d/5dqft2/4W.

Of course, the accommodation and mobility of employees with disabilities are issues that all are free to raise during the online national paratransit dialogue that Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) is hosting until Aug. 6.

ESPA also has a few distance learning events coming up in August that address accessible transportation, one concerning rural areas and one to cover paratransit and demand-response services.

National Online Paratransit Dialogue

2010-07-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

As part of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) is hosting a National Paratransit Online Dialogue to discuss progress to start the next 20 years.

ESPA's online dialogue is designed to address calls for programs to decrease service or provide innovative options in a time of tight budgets. This dialogue will provide an opportunity for providers and stakeholders to share experiences, paratransit practices, challenges, and recommendations. ESPA is defining paratransit for the purpose of this dialogue to include ADA complementary service and a range of traditional and beyond-ADA demand response services for people with disabilities, older adults, customers of community programs, and/or the general public. Paratransit services are typically door-to-door or curb-to-curb reservation-based services.

I will personally join the dialogue. Although I believe in universal design and accessible streets, transit and other mobility options, I am well aware that at some point many of us need assistance beyond curb-to-curb transportation, whether due to cognitive difficulties, physical challenges or both.

Let us make full use of the paratransit online dialogue to improve the lives of the most transportation-challenged among us.

And happy birthday to the ADA!

Ambassador Blogs

2010-07-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, we all know that not every second of work is a productive one. Studies show that the mind needs to wander, that doodling can be productive and that intermittent short rests (even napping) are healthy strategies.

Where am I going with this? I have a productive way for you to waste a little time, and really, while it is passive, you might gain quite a bit.

Write this on your Calendar

Ambassador blogs are a monthly cornucopia of what is going on in public and human services transportation around the country - what are the issues in coordination, veterans mobility, medical and senior transportation, and much more. While I can do a monthly roundup of highlights, I really do think that reading the blogs is a high-benefit twenty minutes that you will spend each month.

Just to tempt you, here are July's highlights.

Highlights for July

Ambassador Dan Dirks discusses the effect of the oil spill on a transit agency in Mississippi.

Ambassador Roland Mross writes about tax revenue declines and decreased transit funding in Indiana.

Ambassador Jo Ann Hutchinson beams her spotlight on travel training for students with disabilities and Mississippi's collaborative planning process.

Ambassador Rex Knowlton has used the very moving words from a letter he received from a grateful parent about the life-changing success that travel training has brought to her and her daughter.

The ambassador blogs are linked from each ambassador's page, accessible from the NRC's homepage at www.NRCtransportation.org.

Be a Pilot Community

2010-07-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Less than a week is left to volunteer to be a pilot for the walk-friendly communities project. July 19 is the deadline to apply for this Federal Highway Administration program.

[This is} a nationwide program with the goal of encouraging towns and cities throughout the United States to establish (or recommit to) a high priority for encouraging and supporting more safe walking. The program is aimed at improving a wide range of conditions and facilities related to walking, including safety, transportation, access, and physical activity.

The current deadline is for a second round of the program, which will test the tools developed in the first round. Details are available at http://www.walkfriendly.org/pilot.cfm.

Information about bike/ped programs is also available at http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/.

Define Your Terms

2010-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

At the National Resource Center (NRC), we help define transportation terms for you and those with whom you work. We have a 13-page Glossary of Transportation Terms. Included is everything from "Access Board" to "Volunteer Network," with apologies to the letter "Z" and its few counterparts at the end of the alphabet.

Many organizations are listed, as are as transportation-specific terms such as "busway," (which my spellcheck is displeased with) and government funding terms, such as the ever-important "match."

Feel free to forward the link or print out. The glossary is available at http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/articlefiles/TransportationGlossary.pdf - or find it through the NRC website at www.NRCtransportation.org.

Funding Deadline Changes

2010-07-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

From the Federal Register:

On June 1, 2010, DOT published a notice (75 FR 30461) announcing the availability of funding and requesting proposals for DOT's National Infrastructure Investments grant program under the FY 2010 Appropriations Act. The DOT is referring to the grants for National Infrastructure Investments as ``TIGER II Discretionary Grants.''

DOT is extending the deadline to submit pre-applications for TIGER II Discretionary Grants from July 16, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT to July 26, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT. The deadline for submitting final applications is not being extended, and remains August 23, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT.

Apologies to anyone who also reads the Express Stop. I have an almost identical post there today. Really have to figure out the two-blog strategy.

Have a fabulous Fourth of July. I will be on my porch on Maple Avenue in Takoma Park to watch the parade. Anyone in town can feel free to stop by. But don't bring your car. The Metro is a couple of blocks away. We're very transit-friendly.

Public Involvement in Transit Decision Making

2010-07-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Secretary of Transportation Recognizes Technical Assistance Center

2010-07-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

None other than Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recognizes our partner Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) in his Fastlane blog yesterday afternoon. There's even a photograph of the whole ESPA crew with the Secretary, Doug Birnie, Erik Weber, and Judy Shanley.

LaHood thanked ESPA for its work "to make our communities more livable for the 54 million Americans with disabilities." He discussed the October 2009 ESPA Youth with Disabilities Transportation Roundtable, which resulted in a plan to address:

five core challenges that need to be solved to increase transportation options for youth with disabilities:

* Share information about transportation resources with youth.
* Train youth to use public transportation.
* Expand limited public transportation service on nights and weekends.
* Include student and school transportation issues in local transportation planning.
* Help planners learn about the family of transportation services, eligibility criteria, and funding streams available.

To read the Secretary's post about ESPA, visit http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/06/earlier-today-i-blogged-about-older-americans-and-livability-now-as-we-approach-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with.html.

DOT/HUD Livability Etc. Funding Sources

2010-06-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am confused. It's all livability; there is funding and different programs. Are they all the same or different and what are the rules? I need to explain all of these funding opportunities to myself. Hoping that this information provides some clarity to the rest of you. This entry will also appear today in the Express Stop because my brain will not allow me to revisit the Federal Register documents again today.

Staff of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will together review applications and select grantees for some of these programs. The interagency partnership seeks to help states, regions and communities:

Develop safe, reliable, and affordable transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce energy consumption and dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote public health.
... ... ...
Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods—rural, urban, or suburban.
... ... ...
Support metropolitan areas and multijurisdictional partnerships that commit to adopt
integrated plans, strategies, and management tools to become more sustainable.
... ... ...
Facilitate strong alliances of residents and regional interest groups that are able to maintain a long-term vision for a region over time and simultaneously support progress through incremental sustainable development practices.

Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program

Department of Housing and Urban Development
$100 million available.

Not less than $25 million shall be awarded to regions with populations of less than 500,000.

Purpose: Support metropolitan and multi-jurisdictional planning efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of: (1) economic competitiveness and revitalization; (2) social equity, inclusion, and access to opportunity; (3) energy use and climate change; and (4) public health and environmental impact. The program is calling for development and implementation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Development (RPSD).

Bottom line for transit and alternative transportation programs: Transit, vanpooling, carsharing, and bike/ped accessibility fall into the The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) planning and implementation categories for transportation investment, energy conservation, and consistency with Department of Transportation (DOT) programs.

Serving marginalized populations: HUD is looking for initiatives that engage residents and stakeholders substantively and meaningfully in the development of the shared vision and its implementation early and throughout the process, including communities traditionally marginalized from such processes, while accommodating limited English speakers, persons with disabilities, and the elderly.

The application is due August 23, 2010.

There is way more and plenty of the terms mentioned are explained in detail in the NOFA. Transit and transportation are mentioned throughout and are integral to this program.

HUD's Community Challenge Planning Grants and DOT's TIGER II Planning Grants

$35 million in TIGER II planning grants as part of the National Infrastructure Investments program

DOT is referring to the grants for National Infrastructure Investments as TIGER II Discretionary Grants. The FY 2010 Appropriations Act permits DOT to use up to $35 million of the funds available for TIGER II Discretionary Grants for TIGER II Planning Grants.

Purpose: Fund the planning, preparation, or design of surface transportation projects that would be eligible for funding under the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program. Those include public transportation projects.

Bottom line for transit and alternative transportation programs: The two types of transit and transportation-related planning projects that the TIGER II planning grants envision are (1) Planning activities related to the development of a particular transportation corridor or regional transportation system, that promotes mixed-use, transit-oriented development with an affordable housing component; or developing expanded public transportation options, including accessible public transportation and para-transit services for individuals with disabilities, to allow individuals to live in diverse, high opportunity neighborhoods and communities and to commute to areas with greater employment and educational
opportunities.

Pre-applications are due by July 26, 2010.

DOT TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program

Pay attention to the specific information in the
NOFA for rural areas.

Minimum $10 million grant size, except for projects located in rural areas (as defined in section V (Projects in Rural Areas)), the minimum TIGER II Discretionary Grant size is $1 million.

Not less than $140 million of the funds provided for TIGER II Discretionary Grants are to be used for projects in rural areas. Also, 100 percent funding is only available in rural areas; 80 percent is the federal share otherwise.(For purposes of this grant, "DOT will consider a project to be in a rural area if ‘all or a material portion of a project is located in a rural area’. ... DOT will only consider a material portion of a project to be located in a rural area if the majority of the project is located in a rural area.)"

Up to $150 million of the $600 million available for TIGER II Discretionary Grants may be used for TIGER II Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 (TIFIA) Payments.

Purpose: DOT is looking for long-term outcomes that include livability, economic competitiveness, job creation, state of good repair, safety, environmental sustainability. An emphasis is put on innovation and partnerships - "the project’s involvement of non-Federal entities and the use of non-Federal funds."

Again, there is explanatory material in the NOFA and read the details. Concepts such as livability and economic competitiveness are defined in detail. Rural areas are considered to have underserved populations. Others are also discussed.

Bottom line for transit and alternative transportation programs: This is an opportunity friendly to transit, bike/ped modes and other alternative transportation. There is great room for flexibility, creativity and coordination.

Pre-applications are due July 16, 2010. The NOFA only mentions DOT as reviewing the applications and not HUD and EPA.

Webinar

PolicyLink, Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the National Housing Conference will co-host a special informational webinar to discuss the HUD elements of the regional planning program next Wednesday, June 30th from 3-5 pm Eastern Time (noon-2 pm Pacific time).

Working with Low Literacy Populations

2010-06-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jane Hardin of the Community Transportation Association of America for recommending an excellent resource for including people who either are unable to read well or are not fluent English speakers, whether or not they read in their native languages. Low literacy is generally a marker for low income populations and populations that need workforce and human services assistance.

How to Engage Low-Literacy and Limited-English-Proficiency Populations, issued by the Federal Highway Administration in 2006, is ostensibly geared toward transportation-oriented community participation, but can be used for any type of community participation effort in which low literacy and non-English speakers should be involved.

The FHWA report explores what is meant by low literacy and how to detect its subtle signs. People are often ashamed of their inability to read and communicate in English. They have practiced ways of hiding illiteracy. Utilizing people in the community who know the culture is helpful as is being aware of the subtle clues of illiteracy.

The report offers a multitude of methods for reaching people who do not read well, including places to go, people to use, and ways to operate a meeting. These methods will allow people who are illiterate to participate fully and on par with better educated populations.

Though the FHWA report is a few years old, it provides the best material I have seen that addresses the specific issue of including low literacy community members.

Thanks again to Jane for mentioning this resource at our last meeting of the Technical Assistance Provider Network.

Community Schools Become Community Centers

2010-06-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

On our horizon should be the expanding Community Schools movement, which does for human services and education what many in our network do for transportation - use coordination to create or improve access to services.

A community school houses more than the students, teachers and accoutrement of education. Depending on the needs and wants of the community, and they exist at all income levels, some have community classes (such as dance and cooking), medical and dental care, welfare, literacy, housing, other human services and employment counseling, training and services.

Funding Available

The Department of Education has $10 million available for the Full-Service Community Schools program, with approximately 10 new awards of $480,000 to $500,000. Academic supports are emphasized in the program description. Relevant to transportation, also mentioned are "activities that improve access to and use of social service programs and programs that promote family financial stability."

Relevant to our networks, activities specified are "youth development programs; community service and service learning opportunities; programs that provide assistance to students who have been chronically absent, truant, suspended, or expelled; job training and career counseling services; nutrition services and physical activities; primary health and dental care; activities that improve access to and use of social service programs and programs that promote family financial stability; mental health services; and adult education, including instruction of adults in English as a second language."

Applications

An eligible applicants is a consortium of a local educational agency and one or more community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, or other public or private entities.

The deadline for applications is July 23, 2010.

Need for Technical Assistance for Aging Populations

2010-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Transportation: The Silent Need, a report from the National Center on Senior Transportation (NCST), outlines the tremendous unmet demand for older adults. The paucity of service is especially acute in rural areas.

As I have heard from Mary Leary, Senior Director of Easter Seals Project ACTION, and Jane Hardin, Transportation Specialist at the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), transportation provides older adults with a life of spontaneity and social interaction as well as meeting the fundamental needs of access to food and medical care. Yet, as the NCST shows in the results of its survey of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), more than half of older adults find it challenging to obtain transportation for everything except medical care, which clocks in at just under 50 percent. These activities included grocery shopping, participation in religious institutions, entertainment, and visiting family and friends.

While there is a wide array of programs in the family of services, many are unavailable in a majority or even a quarter of AAA service areas. Door-to-door and volunteer driver programs exist in 50 to 60 percent of jurisdictions, but door-through-door, travel training, pedestrian access, and driver transition programs all come in at under 20 percent. And these numbers refer to availability and not whether the programs are able to meet demand.

Only fixed-route transportation approached 80 percent and that statistic did not speak about safety, depth of service, service hours or pedestrian access. In rural areas that number is approximately 60 percent.

The vast majority of AAA staff who responded said that transportation was either somewhat coordinated or that coordination was "improving." Very few gave high or low marks.

This report was the first in an NCST series that will examine senior transportation in Indian country, transportation for older diverse populations, and senior mobility and livable communities.

Please note that this post will also be appearing in the Express Stop, an occasional consequence of having two blogs with overlapping coverage.

Livability and Accessibility

2010-06-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

I admit to being early on the smart growth bandwagon and happy to see the concept morph into the more-inclusive livability/sustainability collaboration that is the inter-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, among the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From what I hear, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are also coordinating with the partnership at various levels.

The current manual of funding sources among the partnership agencies is Leveraging the Partnership: DOT, HUD, and EPA Programs for Sustainable Communities. Many of the sources can be used for transit and other mobility options, including designing a street scape that improves access to buses, vanpool meeting areas, trains and biking facilities.

Since our technical assistance centers have been involved with livability since before the term was invented, many of us are educating our constituencies about livability resources that will bring and enhance transit service and transportation options to communities across the country.

Upcoming Livability-Related Events Among the TA Centers

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): Livability 101 Pre-conference on July 25, 2010, right before the Legislative Summit in Louisville, Ky. The Transportation Committee will be concentrating as well on high-speed rail, the link between transportation and health, biking and rural road safety.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA): Forming Partnerships with Transit for human service providers, disability community advocates and private transportation providers – online from Aug. 2 to Sept. 10, 2010.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA): State Public Transit Partnerships Conference on Aug. 3-6, 2010 in Seattle will have a livability session.

Access and Universal Design

Livability encompasses availability of transportation options beyond the automobile. To include everyone in the benefits of livable community initiatives raises issues of universal design, rural access and specialized transportation. The following resources and events address those issues and their links to economic development,equitable access for transportation-challenged populations, and costs.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) continues to assist the transit community to make people with disabilities welcome. A handy Transit Operator’s Pocket Guide informs drivers of their ADA responsibilities and etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities.

ESPA: Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers - online from July 19 to Sept. 24, 2010.

Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association (TLPA) releases Assessing the Full Cost of Implementing An Accessible Taxicab Program. The report discusses how the taxi industry works in terms of the practical obstacles and costs of providing accessibility where the additional costs fall on mostly small businesses and independent contractors.

Rural Accessibility

For rural transportation and economic development resources, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has a Rural Transportation Clearinghouse. Among the resources available are descriptions of how rural planning organizations operate in different states.

National Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Conference on October 24-27, 2010, in Burlington, Vt. Conference sessions will include accessibility, rural transit policy and planning, alternative fuels, regional systems, networks and coalitions, and tribal transportation.

ADA Takes the Ferry

Finally, with a picture of the Staten Island Ferry, the Secretary of Transportation blogs today about extending ADA protection to maritime vessels, including public ferry service. In fastlane.dot.gov, Secretary LaHood "encourage[s] everyone to visit www.regulations.gov and get their two cents in on the important questions" outstanding about this ADA extension.

A New Employment Transportation Toolkit

2010-06-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

This resource is from the The Community Transportation Association of America.

CTAA's Joblinks Employment Transportation Initiative announces the launch of its Transportation Toolkit for the Business Community. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood praises the toolkit as a timely resource for tough economic times.

The toolkit provides businesses with strategies and resources that meet employee commuting needs while advancing bottom-line goals. Included are flyers, fact sheets, resources and examples of transportation initiatives undertaken by employers nationwide.

The toolkit website is organized into four areas: Good for Business, Getting to Work, Going Green and Accessible Transportation.

Other resources and assistance available from Joblinks:
1. Archive of Joblinks webinars, including, but not limited to, (1) late night transportation service strategies, (2) mobility management assistance in connecting job-seekers and other community members with transportation; (3) voucher programs, and (4) commuter tax benefits.
2. Transportation voucher programs wiki
3. Transportation Solutions Coordinator training
4. Institute for Transportation Coordination

Please contact Sheryl Gross-Glaser (grossglaser@ctaa.org) with news of technical assistance resources that may be helpful for other technical assistance providers.

Resources and Events Useful to the Disability Community

2010-06-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) continues to assist the transit community to make people with disabilities welcome. A handy Transit Operator’s Pocket Guide informs drivers of their ADA responsibilities and etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities.

ESPA events coming up:
Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers - online from July 19to Sept. 24, 2010.
Forming Partnerships with Transit for human service providers, disability community advocates and private transportation providers – online from Aug. 2 to Sept. 10, 2010.

Send your transportation TA news to Sheryl Gross-Glaser at grossglaser@ctaa.org.

In a Nutshell - the Draft DOT Strategic Plan

2010-06-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

The 74-page Department of Transportation Draft Strategic Plan is DOT’s first ever draft plan and the agency invites the public to comment on its proposals.

A Bird’s Eye View of the Draft Plan:

The terms that come to mind after reading the entire draft plan are livability, multi-modal, transportation choices and environmental friendliness – or the actual term used, sustainability. Pedestrians, bicyclists as well as the National Complete Streets coalition should be pleased as these three interests are woven into the fabric of DOT’s vision for livable communities with good transportation options beyond the automobile.

Public transportation is featured prominently. It is seen as a safe travel choice and as one that promotes our national goals of reducing reliance on foreign fuel, reducing congestion and improving our environment. Human services transportation is recognized as a big contributor to livability for people who are transportation challenged and wish to remain in their homes.

Not at all mentioned are the privately-run and publicly available modes of taxis (the original guaranteed ride home) and intercity bus service, which complement public transportation and the zero-emission modes of biking and walking. High-speed rail, perhaps because of the crucial role of federal funding, is mentioned, though not given too much space.

SAFETY:

Big endorsement of complete streets. According to DOT, this is a safety issue to protect pedestrians, bicyclists and "walking school buses." Included in the safety recommendations:

Work with State and local governments to provide more technical assistance such as the application of pedestrian and bicycle safety audits to ensure that transportation systems are designed for optimum safety for all users.

The corresponding performance measure? Increase in number of localities that adopt complete streets policies and have safe routes to school programs. No recommendations of specific measures, except a cited Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) study that found that "sidewalks, raised medians, turning access controls, better bus stop placement, better lighting, traffic calming measures, and treatments for disabled travelers" protect all users - pedestrians, bicyclists as well as drivers and their passengers. Does this mean less right on red, more traffic signals, and more scramble intersections?

No mention is made of some type of “Safe Routes for Seniors” program or initiative for people with disabilities. People who are physically challenged tend to walk across intersections more slowly and their bodies are fragile when they are hit, making them more prone to serious physical injuries and death.

LIVABILITY:

Recalling Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s blog entry from several months ago, describing a weekend getaway to friends in Hoboken N.J., including a night out in the city, this is a man who was happy to walk, take the train, and leave the car at home for the whole weekend. His department wants to assist communities in affording multi-modal and healthy, environmentally friendly transportation choices to Americans wherever possible.

Livable communities gets its own section of the draft plan. DOT calls for "place-based policies and investments that increase transportation choices and access to transportation services." DOT expressly wants improved public transit, human services transportation (mentioning the special needs populations and people with disabilities), and better bike/pedestrian networks. The plan envisions transportation coordination with land use and economic development.

The plan directly links the auto-dependent lifestyle to national insecurity and ill health.

A study is cited showing that people who live in compact, walkable communities are more fit and healthy than those who reside in counties with more sprawl. The connection between health and the transportation network is explicitly made and discussed in detail. The plan practically comes out and says that the 40 percent of trips that are two miles or less in length should be able to be made by walking or bicycle, but that our current street network does not allow this - despite studies showing that young adults and baby boomers want to live in walkable neighborhoods and towns.

In case you think DOT is talking about New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle, or a few others, the plan specifically includes rural areas and their desperate need for alternatives to the car.

Creating livable communities is just as important to residents of rural areas as it is to residents of urban and suburban areas. Rural town centers have experienced disinvestment in much the same way as urban core areas and many rural towns are fighting to attract local commercial development through the revitalization of town centers. Rural residents generally must travel greater distances to jobs and services than their urban counterparts and can suffer from greater isolation, especially if they cannot drive.

The DOT-HUD-EPA partnership is already identifying barriers to coordinating transportation, housing, and environmental policies and investments. The three agencies are coordinating and bringing resources together for each others' programs, such as EPA's Smart Growth Technical Assistance Program, HUD’s Sustainable Communities Planning Grants, designed to fund regional, coordinated planning, and "evaluation of DOT’s TIGER Discretionary Grant applications, for which livability and sustainability are two key criteria."

DOT sees livability as a way to reduce household transportation costs through the availability of alternative mobility choices, such as transit, biking and walking.

And what is DOT envisioning to help states, regions and communities become more livable? Providing technical assistance, advocating for "robust State and local planning efforts," spending transportation dollars where they will capitalize on public and private infrastructure investment, and developing livability performance measures.

Specific strategies that DOT plans to use are increasing access to transit and inter-city services, developing pedestrian and bike-friendly street networks, "where practical" providing better rural transit for access to jobs, services and transportation centers that are currently only automobile accessible, and encouraging mixed-income development, for which DOT has already funded a technical assistance MITOD guide through Reconnecting America.

DOT's plan seems almost ashamed that although walking and biking account for account for "almost 12 percent of trips and about 13 percent of roadway fatalities, these modes receive less than 2 percent of annual Federal Aid Highway funds."

COORDINATING COUNCIL ON ACCESS AND MOBILITY (CCAM):

DOT embraces CCAM, which seeks to coordinate the many transportation programs dispersed throughout the federal bureaucracy. Explicitly mentioned for continued federal support are:
* Local coordinating councils,
* One-call services - "single point of access that links human services with transportation providers to address the special mobility needs of persons with disabilities, older adults, low-income persons and others without ready access to automobiles,"
* ITS to assist human service transportation via transportation management centers (such as the Mobility Services for All Americans - MSAA - program), and
* "[T]echnical assistance and training activities to improve the operations of local public and non-profit community transportation providers."

With no discussion, the plan directly ties CCAM's work and the technical assistance and local efforts mentioned above to DOT's livability initiative. Mobility for vulnerable transportation-challenged populations is considered a livable communities issue that is part of DOT's overarching mission. Connecting CCAM’s work to the major goal at three federal agencies (DOT, HUD and EPA) will lend gravitas to the Council’s efforts and allows it to fit in with the Administration’s emphasis on federal cooperation and coordination.

The plan delves into the performance measures for CCAM's assistance to states, regions and communities. These include:
* Increase in "transit seat-miles by urbanized area transit systems,"
* Increase in non-urbanized area transit trips,
* Increase in "intermodal transportation options for travelers,"
* Improved transit reliability,
* Improved walking and biking networks - a Federal Highway Administration task,
* Improved ADA access on rail and buses for people with disabilities.

DOT acknowledges that there will be resistance to the livability agenda and its vision of a multi-modal future. Housing, land use design, roads and other infrastructure are investments that last a generation, the plan recognizes, and many communities and states are not accustomed to thinking in terms of sidewalks, bike paths, distances between residential and commercial areas, or connectivity among transportation modes.

ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY:

DOT sets ambitious goals to reduce emissions and “air, water and noise pollution and impacts on ecosystems;” establish environmentally sustainable practices that address global climate change; and promote energy independence. These challenges require new transportation solutions, DOT declares in the proposed plan.

The agency does not hesitate to lay out the environmentally awful statistics and the transportation sector’s role in contributing to them.

Of course the draft strategic plan offers proposals for air and automobile travel, but in terms of public transportation, the plan imagines coordinated federal environmental policies and programs through the interagency DOT-HUD-EPA partnership, high-speed rail (though no one is talking about something akin the China’s mega investments), multi-modal strategies, reducing the energy consumption of transit, and encouraging state and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), such as councils of governments (COG), to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To accomplish the goals for reducing energy consumption, reducing greenhouse emissions, and reducing our national dependence on foreign oil, the draft strategic plan is proposing that public transportation systems continue to take advantage of the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Discretionary Grant (TDG) program, which is already at work replacing older fuel-eating facilities and vehicles with more environmentally-friendly models, buildings, and innovative technologies.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS:

Acknowledging that I am not an expert in this area, the proposals seem logical, but most could have been written in 1940. In non-specific language, the plan discusses preparing for continuity of operations, developing security policies, coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (yes that would have been a different agency in 1940), and dealing with the youngest potential danger on the block, cyber threats.

The plan recommends grants and technical assistance to plan and train for “effective emergency response to transportation incidents involving hazardous materials” and to provide for the improvement of state and local response to emergencies.

Virtually no specifics are given and no performance measures are proposed. Admittedly, with potential and actual emergencies covering a wildly broad spectrum of dangers, preventive procedures and responses, there is little this a strategic plan could say without launching into a 50-page manual on this topic alone. But then fewer people would read the proposed plan than are reading the current 74-page document.

Remember that DOT comment invites the public to comment on its proposals. Read the draft plan sections that interest you and express your thoughts about the draft strategic plan.

Different Communities, Different Transportation Options and Marketing

2010-06-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Back from EXPO and your eyes are wandering from the your computer screen? Watch a job-related video or two.

Now, nothing works like quality, whether in public transit, vanpooling or a good pedestrian-friendly street network, but promoting those quality services is also important.

Idaho is promoting transit and transportation options beyond the single occupancy vehicle. With its i-way video, Idaho is showing its residents alternatives that work for people who are transportation challenged as well as those who would like to get out of their cars.

Boulder, Colo., voted high for livability and farmers markets, has a nice little film about coordination, advocacy, and volunteer work that over 20 years has produced a bike-able (and walkable)small city. This film is about collective priorities and how to achieve results as much as it is about transforming into a bike-oriented community.

So, relax, take out the popcorn, and be productive.

APTA Points to 10 Reasons People Use Public Transportation

2010-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

APTA's recent edition of its newsletter, Public Transport, linked to a Montreal Gazette article that listed the top 10 reasons why people in the City of Windsor, right across the border from Detroit, take public transit.

No surprise that cost considerations topped the list and that the desire to be good environmental citizens appeared, but other reasons included my grandfather's favorite, napping on the bus or train, time to catch up on reading, and chore and errand preparation (writing up shopping lists are safely done on the bus). For me the surprises showed that public transit can attract everyone on the economic ladder, from the transportation-challenged to the folks with a Porsche parked in the driveway. Above environmental concerns were comfort and convenience, less stress than driving, and, ranking somewhat lower, the rare opportunity to do absolutely nothing.

Last on the list and therefore squeaking into the top 10? Exercise to and from the stop or station.

In that vein, I will make this a little longer post by promoting the Fast Company post about designing bus stops that are attractive and useful, with route and waiting information clearly posted.

Google Transit Pilot in Northern California

2010-05-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Reconnecting America posts a blog entry about the recent launch of Google Transit's pilot project in a multi-county rural area of Northern California. Discussed are the kinks in applying Google Transit to rural places where assumptions about transit and walking to transit may be misplaced. Also mentioned is the federal coordination mandate. The counties used in the pilot are relatively transit rich. "Eight public transit operators serve these counties, with four providing inter-county service."

A New Route for Technical Assistance

2010-05-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

The National Resource Center for Humans Service Transportation Coordination (NRC), housed at the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), is shifting from a newsletter into the blogosphere. The NRC Technical Assistance News will be the venue for TA resources, innovations and interesting news.

Next week is our annual EXPO conference in sunny Long Beach, Calif. Be sure to look for my sessions on Transportation's Role in Livable Communities, and
Gimmick or Workable Strategy? Zero Fare Systems and Strategies. Also on the agenda are workshops about mobility management and one-call services. Join the Partnership for Mobility Management as it captures stories of customer-focused transportation at its Picturing Mobility booth on the trade show floor.

Plus, EXPO is full of wonderful people.