State DOTs Connecting Specialized Transportation Users and Rides Volume 1: Research Report (2016)

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16 C H A P T E R 3 All levels of linkage functionality apply to any model of coor- dinated services, whether the coordination involves a consoli- dated centralization of functions—eligibility, reservations and scheduling, dispatching, and operations—or not. In the former case, it must be acknowledged that even with a centralized coor- dinated service, there will be trips that this coordinated service cannot service and that there are likely additional services in the community, region, or state that are not part of the coordi- nated system that could accommodate those trips. And in the latter case, even a loose confederation of coordinated services can greatly benefit from a central repository of information if not more advanced linkages. However, what some coordination efforts, such as the one developed by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), have realized is that these linkages can go beyond their primary function of connecting users with rides, whether directly from services or via programs such as voucher programs that help existing services become more affordable. Specifically, ARC found that the website where its one-click system (www. simplygetthere.org) resides can also serve as a platform that supports other mobility management strategies. Figure 4 illus- trates this concept. A Resource for Mobility Managers In the Atlanta region, mobility managers serve in local gov- ernment and non-profit organizations as policy coordinators, operations service brokers, and customer travel navigators. They help communities develop transportation coordination plans, programs, and policies, and build local partnerships. They also organize and manage the various county-specific transportation voucher programs. In order to effectively serve these functions and to ensure that the mobility managers are kept abreast of each other’s efforts and successes as well as advancements in mobility management, ARC concluded that its local mobility manag- ers require training and ongoing technical support. Accord- ingly, a network of sorts was needed to ensure that all mobility managers are effectively and efficiently communicating with each other, sharing information and best practices, and have access to the best and most cost-effective training and techni- cal support available. ARC has planned to house through its one-click system an interactive website that allows its local mobility managers to login through an online portal to access and share information. The website is planned to include the following: • A repository of miscellaneous coordination procedures, best practices, program manuals, technical design informa- tion, performance metrics forms, etc. • Materials for all the priority mobility management strate- gies developed through the ARC One-Click and Mobility Management Implementation project • Events calendar for training opportunities, network meet- ings [e.g., Human Services Transportation (HST) Advisory Committee meetings], and relevant events • A blog for posting current news regarding transportation and coordination (local, state, and federal) • GoToMeeting platform for conducting quarterly confer- ence calls with the group Volunteer Driver Program Management Moving counterclockwise around the graphic, the next example focuses the management of volunteer driver pro- grams. Volunteer driver programs are established for the recruitment, retention, and management of volunteer drivers who can be called upon—or self-assign themselves—to serve certain trips and especially trips for which no other trans- portation resource is available. Some programs involve the provision of a vehicle by the managing organization. Other programs are based on the volunteer driver providing his or her own vehicle. Some do both. Some programs use drivers Coordination

17 who volunteer for a certain day or days, and provide a day’s manifest of trips for the driver to serve. Some programs work by asking a volunteer driver to pick from a list of trips. Other programs seek out occasional volunteer drivers for a specific trip. Some volunteer driver programs reimburse drivers for some of the costs involved in performing the trip, often via a mileage reimbursement but also sometimes reimbursing direct expenses like tolls or parking. There are also volun- teer driver program franchises, such as ITN America, that credit volunteer drivers for their services and where these drivers can “cash-in” these credits when they themselves are no longer able to drive and need a volunteer to help them get around. Most volunteer driver programs are associated with a specific type of trip (e.g., trips made to medical facilities for cancer treatment or trips to a senior center). Many volunteer driver programs are faith-based. While there are certainly a variety of volunteer driver pro- grams, most programs provide mileage reimbursement to individuals who operate their own vehicles when they drive individuals to medical appointments or other services. These programs are very cost effective because they provide quality transportation at a fraction of the cost of other options—due to the driver volunteering his/her time. Volunteer driver pro- grams are a key strategy used by human service programs to provide much-needed trips in a cost-effective manner and aid in filling transportation gaps in the community, often providing services where no others exist. ARC envisions that its one-click website, again as a resource, could include information and forms to assist a mobility manager—or other agency in the Atlanta region—with estab- lishing a volunteer driver program and all the associated tasks of recruiting, retaining, providing insurance for, reimbursing, and otherwise a roster of volunteer drivers. The site could also serve as an additional way to link volunteer drivers to specific trips. Travel Voucher/Subsidy Program Management Continuing the counterclockwise journey around the graphic in Figure 4, we see that the linkage website can also be used to support one of the most popular mobility man- agement strategies, the use of travel voucher or subsidies to render existing transportation options more affordable. Travel voucher programs provide a flexible travel option that can both provide cost saving benefits to transportation Source: Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Figure 4. ARC regional mobility management linkages.

18 providers and expand and enhance transportation options for individuals, especially in rural areas—or at times—where trans- portation resources are scarce. Typically, travel vouchers are provided by a sponsoring organization to an eligible indi- vidual (eligibility determined by the sponsoring organization) for specific or general travel using a variety of transporta- tion resources that are willing to participate in the program. Certainly the most common version of this has been the taxi voucher program—a staple throughout the United States for years. More recently, sponsoring organizations have expanded use of vouchers to public transit and paratransit, private for-hire services, and volunteer drivers. Moreover, travel voucher pro- grams do not necessarily have to include a hard-copy voucher; indeed, some of these subsidy programs are voucher-less. Travel vouchers can be issued or sold to eligible individuals and used by those individuals either (1) to subsidize the cost of a ride on any mode of public transportation that has a fare or requested donation (e.g., transit, paratransit, taxi, TNC, senior van) or (2) to pay volunteer drivers, friends, family mem- bers, or neighbors for rides. Typically, sponsoring organiza- tions subsidize all or a part of the fare or cost of the trip, so that riders are able to receive service at a reduced cost. As determined by the sponsoring organization, eligibility can be based on age, disability, income criteria, or the need for a specific type of trip, such as employment transportation. So, ARC has envisioned that the one-click system could be used to provide information about various voucher programs available to customers but also to assist local mobility manag- ers, senior center staff, and human service agencies to establish voucher programs. It was also envisioned that if the vouchers themselves had a common branding—the same look and feel regardless of the sponsoring organizations—more transporta- tion providers may want to participate in the program as it con- notes (1) an established—and not a fledgling—program and (2) a larger base of business. ARC also entertained the notion of centralizing the management of local voucher programs around the region, but in the end decided that regional brand- ing and common program elements would be more appropri- ate for the Atlanta region at this time. (DuPage County, Illinois, represents one of the best examples where the management of many local and agency voucher programs was consolidated in the early 1990s.) Accessible Taxi and Accessible Infrastructure Databases Another function that the one-click website could provide is to be the repository for accessibility databases. For example, there are only a few accessible taxis in the Atlanta region, and such a database would allow consumers to identify how to access them, rather than searching on various websites. In Boston, a recent taxi study unveiled that, of the 100 wheel- chair accessible vehicle (WAV) taxis in service, only one met the City’s own specifications (which mirrored ADA van spec- ifications). Consequently, the City’s Commissioner for Dis- ability established her own program of rating the accessibility of these WAV taxis. The one-click linkage could serve as a repository for this type of information as well. Yet another accessibility database that provides a boon for customers and transportation professionals alike would be an accessibility infrastructure. Such a database could provide use- ful information such as curb cuts, walk signalization assistance, the accessibility of bus stops, etc. Customers could use—and add to—this database as they consider and experience a par- ticular path of travel. ADA paratransit eligibility professionals and travel trainers would certainly use—and add to—such a database in considering trip-by-trip conditional eligibility and paths of travel, respectively. Here too ARC was envision- ing the possibility of housing a regional database of acces- sibility information on its one-click website. Support for a Regional Approach to ADA Paratransit Coordination ARC was also interested in identifying how its one-click system could be used to support the coordination of the three ADA paratransit services within the region (with an eye toward standardized, common policies and coordinated if not consolidated functions) and to offer more seamless con- tinuity between these services for the convenience of ADA paratransit customers. ARC ultimately focused on two strategies to pursue that would better coordinate—but not consolidate—these ADA paratransit services: • Reciprocal acceptance of “visitor or guest” ADA para- transit customers • Common ADA paratransit client and trip eligibility deter- mination process Reciprocal Acceptance of “Visitor or Guest” ADA Paratransit Customers This strategy is designed to create more seamless travel between and within ADA paratransit service areas for the region’s ADA paratransit customers. The ADA permits cus- tomers who have been determined to be eligible for comple- mentary paratransit services by their “home” transit agency to request and be granted a guest or visitor status when traveling to another location. According to the ADA, visitor status must be in place for a minimum 21-day period, and a transit agency is not required to provide service to a visitor for more than 21 days per year; that is, per 365-day period from the first day of use. For

19 example, if the person above travels from Atlanta to Savannah for three weeks a year, she never needs to apply for local eligibility. The transit agency in Savannah may require, in order for the person to continue receiving paratransit ser- vice beyond 21 days within the same year, that she apply for eligibility in the same manner as would a resident. This is true whether the 21 days are consecutive or parceled out over several shorter visits. The visitor or guest reciprocity principle is applicable to transit agencies within a region that supports multiple pro- viders. Therefore, in the Atlanta region, this principle serves as the basis for facilitating regional visitor or guest ADA cus- tomer reciprocity among the transit agencies (with ADA para- transit obligations) within the region. As it relates to the ARC’s 1-Click System, such regional reciprocal acceptance would allow a significant improvement in expanding regional mobility for customers traveling across the region (i.e., from one transit service area to another which the authors believe is already happening within the region) but also, once a customer has been transported to another transit service agency’s region, the reciprocal agreement would allow the customer to book a local trip. Logistically, this could be accomplished by sharing client databases, possibly with the 1-Click website serving as the repository for the centralized, consolidated database via daily uploads and downloads (much like the ACCESS system in Pittsburgh has done for decades). Common ADA Client and Trip Eligibility Determination Process Lastly, many states and regions have considered or have implemented a regional approach to the process of ADA para- transit certification, if not a centralized database of registered customers. For a common approach, whether in-person func- tional assessments or a more paper-based review process, the one-click website could provide a “next-step” for customers who find that their trip could possibly be served by an ADA paratransit service but who have not yet registered for such. A link from the one-click website could take the customer either to the transit agency website or to the website that has the common application. For the participating transit agen- cies in the state or region, the common approach could help provide them with the best and most up-to-date observations about how the eligibility application could be structured and what specific questions should be asked (and wording used) in support of the specific eligibility certification process it has adopted. Developing a common regional approach to ADA para- transit client and trip eligibility is important because it would support the concept of ADA paratransit customers within the region being served by multiple providers, and it would ensure consistency throughout the region in terms of eligi- bility determination. With a common process and applica- tion form, applicants could access application information via existing mechanisms (by calling the local program agency or service provider) or via the ARC 1-Click System. In either case, the eligibility form and process should be the same. The customer and the eligibility determination staff could use the web-based 1-Click System to populate the eligibil- ity request and determination. Once the form is completed, the “home” service provider would receive electronic noti- fication to access and review the customer information and would still be responsible for eligibility determination, appeals, etc.