Using Public Transportation to Reduce the Economic, Social and Human Costs of Personal Immobility (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Chesterfield County Coordinating Council in South Carolina
Chesterfield County Coordinating Council in South Carolina
Pages 343-357
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From page 345... ...
Some of the elements of its coordinated transportation plan include: · sharing vehicles and drivers among agencies, · pooling driver training, · layering a new fixed route on top of door-todoor transportation, · adding adult passengers on school buses, and · freeing case workers from transporting clients. The CCCC is also a demonstration project for the State of South Carolina, whose Department of Transportation has formed an Interagency Steering Committee on Coordinated Transit to accomplish a similar mission at the state level.
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From page 346... ...
It formally organized itself as the Chesterfield County Coordinating Council and has since adopted bylaws, incorporated, obtained non-profit status, and surveyed its members to assess the community's needs. The 43 members include the school district, the public transit agency, and a wide range of human service agencies, including those serving persons with disabilities, the elderly and the indigent.
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From page 347... ...
reluctance to share scarce resources for fear that one's own programs would suffer; concern about the understanding another agency would have of one's clientele; worry that the bigger or more powerful agencies would overpower the desires of the smaller or less powerful agencies; suspicion that revealing one's costs would reflect unfavorably without taking into account basic differences among the agencies; anxiety that the State would reduce one's funding if duplication with another agency was uncovered; discouragement at the lack of support from the parent state agency ; and unwillingness to face the bureaucratic red tape required to share resources. The CCCC spent its first two years ironing out these differences through strategic planning sessions.
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From page 348... ...
Rather, they focus on using available resources more efficiently. One of CCCC's goals is to maximize existing resources by sharing vehicles owned by or under contract to the human services agencies and the school district and, thereby, decrease the involvement of human services professionals in directly providing transportation.
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From page 349... ...
In order to increase class size and decrease driver training costs, agencies sponsor training classes open to the other members. Classes are also held to increase the drivers' skills in working with a variety of clients, particularly where shared rides with mixed populations occur.
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From page 350... ...
During discussions in the formative years of the CCCC, it became obvious that the school district had a transportation resource that could address many of the mobility needs of adult residents. It operates about 100 buses to transport children living outside a one-and one-half mile radius of the seven school attendance areas in the county.
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From page 351... ...
Separate from the school district's action, but in the same time period, a bill was introduced in the State Legislature to allow parents and other adult school volunteers or employees "to ride route school buses on a space available basis" and also to ride "in conjunction with special programs that are sponsored by the local school district." (~) The bill, H.346l, became law on June 15, 1997.
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From page 352... ...
According to a report to the Legislature, "One of the concerns expressed by many human service agencies is that the State will mandate contracting transportation to a designated coordination provider who is unable to meet the needs of its clients or whose costs are higher than the costs of the human service agency. One of the concerns expressed by some general public transportation providers is that they are not given a fair chance to demonstrate that they can provide adequate service and/or that an equitable cost allocation system is not in place in that community." (10)
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From page 353... ...
For example, when the CCCC grant faced a long delay because state officials were required to first perform a site visit, Representative Harris issued an invitation to the six state agency directors to meet in Chesterfield. All six, some of whom had not visited the county in years, came to the meeting, and the grant approval was expedited.
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From page 354... ...
They wished to maintain control of their vehicles because the vans were used not only for client transportation but also for home visits by social workers, by work crews, for staff and volunteer transportation, and for emergencies. From this discussion, the proposal to instead allow for shared use emerged, as outlined in the SCDOT grant described earlier.
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From page 355... ...
When the Legislature passed a more limited version of mixing adults on school buses than hoped for, the CCCC decided to start with a smaller pilot program. Now the Transportation Subcommittee has encountered roadblocks in setting up a cost comparison methodology.
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From page 356... ...
3) "Proposed Demonstration Project from the Chesterfield County Coordinating Council to the Interagency Steering Committee on Coordinated Transit to Enhance and Coordinate the Transportation System in Chesterfield County," Nov., 1996.
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From page 357... ...
Guardian ad Litem Program Healthy Start Coalition Hospice of Chesterfield County Housing Authority of Cheraw Legal Aid Legislator - House District No. 53 Local Newspapers Ministers from various churches Office of the Solicitor, 4th Judicial Circuit Pageland Community Police Officer Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Assault Pee Dee Health District - Department of Health & Environmental Control Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority SandhilIs Medical Foundation, Inc.
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