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On a statewide level, in urban areas, and in rural communities, various organizations are working together to conduct the planning necessary to realize the benefits of greater coordination of local transportation services. As the case studies presented in this report illustrate, coordination can occur through many different forums including:
Agencies are working through these forums to implement coordinated transportation systems to provide greater access to transportation through more efficient uses of available resources. In these areas, agencies have joined each other to plan and develop various service delivery systems. From newly created transit systems, to broker/provider systems, and through human service lead agencies, systems are being created that not only improve transportation access for ADA paratransit and health and human service agency clientele, but also for the general public in some cases. In some areas passengers are being commingled from different agencies, including seniors, clients with disabilities, school children, people moving from welfare to work, and the general public. This commingling of passengers not only allows the coordinated systems to improve operating efficiencies, but has had the tangential benefit of lowering barriers between groups that may formerly have had little exposure to one another, both individually and at an agency level. The seven planning strategies discussed in this report are meant to illustrate the various ways that agencies are coming together to address the challenge of improving access through coordination. As shown in the case of Buffalo, New York, these strategies can and should be integrated into a flexible regional transportation planning process. Whether or not this process takes place through the MPO, the state or local DOT, the transit agency, or a local health and human service agency is really not important. What is important is that there be a planning process in place whereby agencies can come together to form partnerships, and through those partnerships share planning resources to jointly identify the needs of their clients. Once working relationships have been established, participating agencies can then attempt to look at their systems as a potentially coordinated whole, identifying available transportation services, costs, and revenues, how they will share the costs of the system, and how they will define performance measures to evaluate the system. When the process is put in place and a coordinated system has been implemented, the agencies can then measure the cost savings and benefits of coordination. A coordinated transportation system will seek to maximize the efficiency of operations by reducing such measures as the cost per ride or cost per mile of transportation provided and by increasing the passenger per vehicle hour average. To realize these efficiencies, participating agencies need to examine the passenger base of the coordinated transportation system as a whole. This examination can be achieved through the joint identification of the participating agencies’ client needs. This process is an outcome of transit and health and human service agencies coming together to share planning resources. Coordinated systems have shown that through inter-agency cooperation and partnerships, greater productivity can be realized.
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