Paratransit Coordination: A U.S. Perspective. Will Rodman, Principal Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Boston, MA

Transcription

1 Paratransit Coordination: A U.S. Perspective Will Rodman, Principal Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Boston, MA

2 Four-Part Presentation Part 1 Overview Part 2 Status of Coordination in the US Part 3 Keys to Success Part 4 Current Issues 2

3 What s Being Coordinated? ADA Paratransit Services (civil right in US) Community- Based General Public Dial-A-Ride Rural Public Transportation (demandresponsive) Human Service Agency Transportation Medicaid NEMT Senior Transportation Services Other Agency Transportation 3

4 How are They Being Coordinated? Common Grant Applications Common Infrastructures & Coordination Plans Central Data Repositories; Shared Information Co-Purchasing Support Services and Products Coordinating / Consolidating Service Delivery 4

5 Why Is Coordination Happening? To Stretch the Funding Dollar To Enable Service Expansion To Accommodate Growing Demand To Improve Service Quality To Provide More Mobility Options Overarching Goal: To Improve Access and Mobility! 5

6 State Funding Other Grants Tech Assistance FTA Funding Requirements UWR Grants Why is Coordination Succeeding Now? Availability of FTA Funding Mobility Management as a Capital Expense FTA Coordination Planning Requirements United We Ride Grants Dedicated Funding for Coordinated Services Grants from National Organizations & Private Endowments Availability of Technical Assistance National Center for Mobility Management 6

7 What Did the Investment Buy? State, Regional, County Coordination Plans State, Regional, County Coordinating Councils State, Regional, County Mobility Managers Development of Strategic Action Plans Implementation of Coordination/MM Strategies 7

8 New Coordination Infrastructures 30+ states have statelevel councils or working groups; strong DOT leadership is key Most states have a regional or countybased structure for coordination/mobility management Many states have SCCs and RCCs At least 10 states have a dedicated source of funding for coordination/mobility management 8

9 New Profession: Mobility Managers 9 states have a SMM 7 states have RMMs cover the state 13 states have a patch-work quilt of RMMs cover most of the state 6 states have centralized training and technical assistance for RMMs Some regions have a network of local mobility managers 9

10 Coordination and Mobility Management Strategies Being Implemented Regional one-call/one-click systems Multi-agency voucher / subsidy programs Multi-agency/coordinated travel training Coordinated volunteer driver programs Multi-agency vehicle sharing programs Joint procurement of support resources Allowing contractors to co-mingle trips Purchasing service from one another 10

11 Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) Grants 118 VTCLI grants have been awarded 55 in 2011 ($29m) and 63 in 2012 ($35m) Green = 2011 grant recipients Blue = 2012 grant recipients 11

12 Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) Grants Development of one-call/one-click systems Centralize regional repositories of transportation resources for veterans and others Narrowing down resources to an actionable few for a particular trip Some have piggy-backed on 211 and 511systems Others on proprietary software Others built from scratch Centerpiece of other MM strategies 12

13 Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) Grants More advanced systems also provide: Trip planning schedules, fares, etc. More robust options more providers (public and private), ridesharing solutions Some phase 2 s hope to provide Orbitz-like trip reservations; e.g., Jacksonville s Transportal 1-Click system Atlanta s Simply Get There 1-Click system) 13

14 VTCLI Grant Recipients Several VTCLI grant recipients are public transit agencies that spearhead regional mobility management programs 2011 VTLCI Grant Recipients Transit Agency Location One-Call/One-Click Details Grant LYNX Central Florida TRACS Regional Trip Booking $1.0 m JTA Jacksonville Regional Booking/Scheduling $1.9 m Lane Transit Oregon Booking/Scheduling & IVR $1.1 m LACMTA Los Angeles Piggy-backing on 511 System $2.0 m MART Massachusetts Multi-Regional + Fare Cards $2.0 m RTC of So. Nevada Las Vegas HST Communication Network $1.0 m Western Reserve TA Ohio 211 System / Trip Sharing $0.7 m 2012 VTLCI Grant Recipients Transit Agency Location Details Grant BRTA Massachusetts One Call/One Click Center $2.0 m DART Dallas Use of Open Source Software $1.2 m VTA Santa Clara County One Call/One Click Center $2.0 m 14

15 Keys to Success: The Coordination Infrastructure Bi-level structure Broad-based coalition fosters relationships, trust Infrastructure based on existing building blocks If strong Counties or funding thru Counties Build from the county level Let multi-county regional efforts to form organically If strong transit agencies or planning districts or human service regions, build around them If nothing else, build upon existing coordination State Region 15

16 Keys to Success: Regionalization Facilitates state technical assistance Appropriate where significant intercounty trips Takes advantage of existing, broadbased coalitions Enables an examination of funding priorities Not dependent on particular types of coordination Gets stakeholders with similar interests to the table 16

17 Keys to Success: Enabling and Sustainable Funding Local coordination difficult to plan/implement without seed funding and assistance Dedicated state funding and/or local investment is critical to sustainability 17

18 Issue #1: Sustainable Funding Some states do have a dedicated state source Most states and regions rely on non-renewable, 2-3 year grants Are able to plan and implement strategies But can t sustain programs due to lack of ongoing funding Some MMs disappear when grants run out 18

19 Issue #2: Customer Shedding Human service agencies are continuing to shed client trips onto ADA paratransit for dually-eligible customers Some transit agency contracts have rates reflecting fully-allocated costs But most don t, while continuing to sell fare tickets at retail rate 19

20 Issue #3: Cost Allocation/Sharing Very few states and transit/human service agencies adopt cost allocation/sharing Needed to ensure fairness for sponsoring organizations and paratransit systems Otherwise, transit agencies get stuck with the cost of subsidizing human service trips Some states have not adopted models because agencies with majority of trips lose 20

21 Issue #4: Medicaid NEMT Brokers FTA policy allows negotiation of higher rates with Medicaid broker contracts (but rate must be consistent with other agency contracts) Many transit agencies reluctant to enter into such contracts because: Management considers limitations of current fleet, service area and mission The rates they are able to negotiate won t be sufficient Contractual performance penalties LDs can be onerous Transit agencies don t realize they can chose not to serve certain trips 21

22 Issue #5: Medicaid Managed Care Many coordinated systems that rely on Medicaid NEMT trips for efficiencies are being dismantled with the move to managed care MCOs don t have to use existing coordination networks Some choose to manage NEMT in-house; some contract with a statewide operator or transportation broker Because different MCOs have different solutions. Neighbors with compatible trips but that belong to different MCOs can wind up on different vehicles 22