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.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tribal Transit Resources
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Rural Resources for Planning Streets and Transit
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.
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.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Congratulations to MSAA!
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."
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Flexible Transit Service
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.
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.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Meaningful Decision for Employers
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.
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.
Monday, July 26, 2010
National Online Paratransit Dialogue
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!
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!
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