Partnerships for Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery (2023) / Chapter Skim
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4 Case Examples
4 Case Examples
Pages 22-46
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From page 22... ...
During the pandemic, the transit agency In Bay County, Florida, the Bay County Transportation Planning leveraged partnerships established in Organization and Bay County Board of County Commissioners oper the prior emergency to connect limited- ate a fixed route service, formerly known as the Bay Town Trolley but mobility and otherwise in-need residents now Bayway, as well as a demand response service known as Bay Area to food sites, COVID-19 testing sites, and Transportation. Together, these services, known as the Bay County vaccinations, including the operation of a Public Transit System, serve over 700,000 passengers annually during mobile clinic to provide COVID-19 testing nonemergency times (FTA, National Transit Database 2017)
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From page 23... ...
. Bay County Public Transit System worked together with various community partners, including the Bay County Health Department, Bay County Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
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Bay County Public Transit System's previous experience responding to emergency situations, the partnerships that formed with those responses, and a proactive emergency response plan contributed to a well-coordinated effort to meet the needs of vulnerable members of the com munity during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4.2.2 Identifying Community Needs When the public health crisis first emerged, the Bay County Health Department and the EOC were primarily responsible for assessing and identifying the community's needs.
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Provided Access to Vaccination Sites Once vaccinations became available, Bay County Public Transit System expanded on the existing initiatives to provide access to vaccination sites. Community partners, including the U.S.
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The CARES Act was the largest funding source that Bay County Public Transit System used to cover transit-related expenses for pandemic response. In FY 2021, Bay County Public Transit System was awarded approximately $6.1 million to be distributed over a 3-year period from the CARES Act to cover costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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From page 27... ...
Lamar Hobbs, transit program administrator for the Bay County Public Transit System, emphasized that, when faced with staffing issues during an emergency, it is important to remain sympathetic and aware of the needs of staff members. Transit staff and drivers are also members of the community experiencing the crisis; some may be experiencing personal loss or hardship and may be dependent on some of the community assistance programs that the transit agency is supporting.
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From page 28... ...
Transit agencies should maintain up-to-date contact information, regular contact, and a working relationship with other public and private organizations within the com munity; this way, partnership mechanisms are in place before an emergency situation arises. Institutional Capabilities and Emergency Response Plan Bay County Public Transit System had the appropriate capabilities within its organization to allow for the quick and organized leveraging of resources in response to the pandemic.
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4.2.8 Looking Forward While Bay County has largely recovered from the impacts of the pandemic and is no longer carrying out its pandemic response and recovery initiatives, Bay County Public Transit System has maintained its mindset of making itself available to help others. The transit agency offers its expertise to other transit agencies that have less experience with emergency situations so that all sorts of communities can be better prepared to act when suddenly faced with an emergency.
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2-1-1 line with concerns about food, Laketran partnered with Lifeline, Free rides to residents traveling to the Cleveland Food Bank, the Lake County Commissioners' Office, and vaccine appointments and a new the Lake County COA to connect in-need older adult households with shuttle to a mass vaccination site. food in an initiative that evolved over the course of the pandemic in 3.
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From page 31... ...
program that traveled directly from Lake County to a mass vaccination site at Cleveland State University in downtown Cleveland. Laketran provided over 1,300 trips to COVID-19 vaccination appointments (Laketran 2021b)
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Another county fund ing source, the Lake County Senior Levy, contributed funds to the Home Delivered Grocery Program. Ohio DOT RCI Program The RCI program provided roughly $7 million to public transit agencies and county health departments throughout Ohio, of which Laketran received $138,000 to support access to
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From page 33... ...
To address this, Laketran coordinated with the food bank to ensure that they did not pack anything over 25 pounds, which was the weight limit for lifting listed in the job description for transit employees. Due to the frequently changing safety guidance for public transit, Laketran did receive some complaints from the general public related to communications; overall, the agency tried its best to communicate safety guidance or service changes as quickly as possible to the general public through all available channels.
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4.4 City of Santa Rosa, California City of Santa Rosa Case Highlights 4.4.1 Introduction The City of Santa Rosa makes emergency The City of Santa Rosa, California, administers the fixed route service response part of regular job training Santa Rosa CityBus, a deviated fixed route service primarily serving older and has proactively formed partnerships adults, and Santa Rosa Paratransit, a demand response service operated in the community that they can leverage by the contractor MV Transportation, which provides transportation to in emergency situations. Santa Rosa Americans with Disabilities (ADA)
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From page 35... ...
onboard surveys in which they gather data on race and ethnicity, income level, Provide Access to Vaccination Sites age, and mobility restrictions of their When vaccinations against COVID-19 became available, Santa Rosa riders. With this survey data in mind, Transit provided a free fixed route shuttle that served a mass vaccina- Santa Rosa Transit ensured that its tion site at the county fairgrounds, a location that was not previously shuttle to the county's mass vaccination well served by transit.
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From page 36... ...
First, Santa Rosa Transit expanded its para transit area to cover popular destinations outside of the city that typically require a transfer to another transit agency, which helped to reduce the need to transfer for those traveling into or out of Santa Rosa. Second, while the agency cut fixed route service early in the pandemic, they introduced a call-ahead service on paratransit to expand the service to all riders whose typical rides may have been made unavailable on a fixed route (rather than only riders with dis abilities)
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From page 37... ...
ment and the county's Access and Functional Needs Group due to emergency response efforts to wildfires throughout the region. Santa Rosa Transit has previously worked with the Area Agency on Aging to address transit equity concerns for older adults in the area, who account for nearly one-tenth of all CityBus riders and a significant portion of paratransit riders (Santa Rosa CityBus 2018)
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From page 38... ...
Federal COVID-19 Relief Funding Federal COVID-19 relief funding from the CARES Act and CRRSAA were vital sources of funding for Santa Rosa Transit during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic, leaders of the transit agency were concerned about funding due to decline in ridership and general uncertainty.
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During these wildfires, the transit agency was very during emergencies strengthens engaged in emergency response, assisting with evacuations and deploy- partnerships, Santa Rosa Transit ing personnel all while maintaining regular transit service. Having relied on partnerships formed during prior experience with emergency situations builds up a transit agency's nonemergency times.
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Similarly, she suggests transit agencies be open to different ideas for emergency response from the outset. 4.4.8 Looking Forward The experience of identifying ways to serve its community and forming deeper working relationships with community partners to do so has inspired Santa Rosa Transit to take an even greater proactive role in looking for and addressing needs within Santa Rosa and Sonoma County.
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technological solutions including WAVE and the Washtenaw County Health Department coordinated dispatching and trip booking. implementation with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority that served the mass vaccination site in east Washtenaw County.
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Washtenaw County Health private sector partnerships. The Washtenaw County Health Depart Department ment played a key role in coordinating the pandemic response and pro 2.
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As a result, WAVE now works to maintain three months of operating expenses on hand so that in future crises the agency will be able to continue to provide rides while working through adaptation and response. 4.5.6 Readiness, Success Factors, and Lessons Learned WAVE's experience, with the pilot technology initiative in particular, reveals three key takeaways for other transit agencies that might be considering similar innovative initiatives in the future.
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A lot of it is how we approach it. Don't go in thinking it'll be terrible, because then it will be." At the same time, not every technology or partnership is good for every transit agency.
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From page 45... ...
By addressing the broad spectrum of needs of disadvantaged community members and stepping outside their traditional roles, transit agencies were able to promote equity in their communities. Establishing and maintaining connections with other community organizations during nonemergency times greatly contributes to a transit agency's ability to form successful partnerships to respond to emergency situations.
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From page 46... ...
Preparing action plans for different emergency scenarios can make emergency response go more smoothly. For different emergency scenarios, transit agencies should consider who the key community partners may be and ensure that there is contact with these partners; consider the roles of different staff members; understand what transit resources the transit agency and partners have available to them; and consider finances.
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