Transportation Advisory Group
The Transportation Advisory Group is a committee of transportation providers, human service agencies, state and local government agencies, health care providers, and other interested stakeholders that work to coordinate human service transportation in central Iowa. The Transportation Advisory Group is a subcommittee of the Public Transportation Roundtable, a committee that deals more broadly with public transportation issues in central Iowa. The Transportation Advisory Group was developed and is staffed by the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and has been in existence since 2006.
Staff Contact: Nathan Goldberg
Agendas
2011
2010
2009
2008
Please contact MPO staff for more agendas and minutes.
Newsletters
2010
2009
Activities
Human Service Transportation Coordination
In recent years, both the federal and state government have called for increased coordination of transportation services, particularly those services provided to elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and low-income persons. These calls for coordination are because numerous state and federal programs fund transportation services. In many cases, however, these services are not coordinated, resulting in fragmented, duplicative, and/or inefficient services with restrictive rules and regulations. Coordinating transportation service could result in a more efficient and effective transportation system.
Federal Coordination Initiatives
Nationally, the coordination effort is led through the United We Ride initiative, started with the establishment of the Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility in 2004. This council includes leaders from various federal departments (i.e., Transportation, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Labor, Education, and so on) whose mission is to “simplify customer access to transportation, reduce duplication of transportation services, streamline federal rules and regulations that may impede the coordinated delivery of services, and improve the efficiency of services using existing resources.” A team of United We Ride “ambassadors” is available to assist states and local agencies with coordination activities.
To encourage coordination locally, the 2005 transportation authorization bill, SAFETEA-LU, included a provision that MPOs and RPAs must create a coordinated human service transportation plan in order to receive funding from three specific funding programs administered by the Federal Transit Administration. These funding programs include:
· Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Program – intended to improve the mobility of elderly persons and persons with disabilities;
· Job Access Reverse Commute Program – intended to improve access to employment and employment-related activities for welfare recipients & low-income persons; and,
· New Freedom Program – intended to expand mobility options for persons with disabilities beyond the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
State Coordination Initiatives
Chapter 324A of the Iowa Code states that all agencies using public funds for the provision of transportation, with the exception of school transportation, must coordinate or consolidate that funding and service with the public transit system in their area. To help with this coordination, the Iowa governor created the Iowa Transportation Coordination Council in the 1980s. This coordination council is similar to the national Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility, and includes representatives from the various state departments.
The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) staffs the Iowa Transpiration Coordination Council. In addition, the Iowa DOT makes funding available for human service coordination activities and oversees the development of the federally-required human service coordination plan, known as the Passenger Transportation Plan, by Iowa’s MPOs and RPAs.
Local Coordination Initiatives
The purpose of the Transportation Advisory Group (TAG) is to help coordinate human service transportation locally. The TAG serves as a steering committee for the development of the Passenger Transportation Plan, which includes identifying transportation service gaps, redundancies, and inefficiencies; proposing solutions/services to address any issues; and prioritizing projects based on available funding. Following the plan’s completion, the TAG works to implement recommendations in the plan. Local initiatives in recent years to improve transportation coordination include, but are not limited to, the following:
· Mobility Matters: In 2008 and 2009, the TAG hosted Mobility Matters Workshops. These day-long events served to educate local stakeholders about the benefits of coordination, to identify transportation issues and develop solutions, and to share the advisory group's initiatives with a larger audience. Following the first workshop, the TAG began issuing a quarterly Mobility Matters Newsletter to keep interested parties informed on community transportation topics;
· Easter Seals Project ACTION: A team from central Iowa has attended Easter Seals Project ACTION’s Mobility Planning Services Institute twice in recent years. This institute provides guidance and resources to improve transportation services;
· Coordination by the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) and the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency (HIRTA): Both DART and HIRTA have coordinated with local human service agencies to provide transportation for those agencies’ clients; and,
· New services: Both DART and HIRTA have implemented new services over the last few years that improve human service coordination. Most recently, HIRTA’s Story County provider, Heartland Senior Services, began service between Ames and Iowa City to provide access to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
The TAG is pursuing a number of coordination activities, including:
· Providing additional bus familiarization/bus training opportunities;
· Engaging more stakeholders in the coordination effort;
· Expanding recovery programs for unemployed persons to seek employment;
· Coordinating medical appointments and transportation services; and,
·Developing a “mobility management” system with centralized information, scheduling, and dispatching.
