Using Transportation Voucher Programs to Support Low-Wage Earners and Workers with Disabilities (October 30, 2008 Session) Follow-up Q and A As a follow-up to the webinar, the panelists were contacted and asked to expand upon answers to questions raised during their presentations. Also addressed are questions submitted during the event that we did not have time to answer. Q. Can each presenter review the funding sources used in connection their voucher program, and which funds exclude use of vouchers, if any? A: Harris County only has experience with using Section 5310 (Elderly and Disabled), and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Control for the voucher system. The Independent Living Center in Homer, Alaska also uses 5310 funds, in this case under the State s purchase of service category. 5310 grants are typically used to purchase vans and/or ancillary equipment such as radios. Eligible capital expenses include but are not limited to vehicles, communication equipment, vehicle shelters, wheelchair lifts and restraints, preventive maintenance service or parts and purchase of service from other transportation vendors. Funds used by the city of Olathe include JARC, HOME (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The city is also exploring possible local foundation grants to support its Medical Program. Q. Are clients responsible for recruiting volunteer drivers? A. In Harris County all drivers are paid. In Olathe, depending on how many cab companies are involved in the program, the client is responsible for calling and scheduling his/her own rides. In conjunction with the Travelers Cheque program in Alaska, the agency is released from any liability regarding the selection of volunteer drivers, and drivers are not required to declare the mileage reimbursement on their taxes. Q. Does the consumer/rider help to pay for the ride? A. With Harris County RIDES, the consumer or his/her participating agency pays 50 percent of the cost of the trip. The other 50 percent is paid for by program grants or other funding sources. In Kansas, program participants are required to purchase ride vouchers at $2.50 per voucher/coupon. Each voucher/coupon entitles the rider to a one-way trip to anywhere within the city boundaries of Olathe. In Homer, with both the voucher and the Traveler s Cheque program, the rider pays for 50 percent of the ride. Q. Does your program coordinate this with private and public carriers and if so, how? A. Harris County has contracts with both private for-profit businesses and one non-profit organization, while Olathe contracts with local cab companies to provide service. Each one-way ride is reimbursed at $12.00 per ride. In Alaska, the voucher program uses cab companies, recruited through the Request for Proposal process. Participating companies must be willing to follow all federal regulations if federal funds are used to support the program. Q. What about insurance on the volunteers vehicles -- does the company cover the volunteers? A. Providers are required to have the specified insurance levels per the Request for Proposal and the contract signed by the provider In Harris County. In Alaska, the rider sets the requirements important them. N/A for Olathe, which does not use volunteers. Q. Do you worry about driving records of volunteers and insurance liabilities?
A. In Harris County driving record standards are outlined in the Request for Proposal and in the contract. Drivers records are monitored on an annual basis. In the 7+ years that Homer Alaska s program has been in operation, drivers records have never been an issue. N/A for Olathe. Q. How do you ensure the safe operation of the services provided by the taxis? Do you do any safety checks; require minimum liability coverage, etc? A. Taxis in Harris County are strictly governed by city ordinances and they are regularly monitored by the cities/municipalities. The RIDES program uses existing city ordinances for accountability and standards, which are outlined in the Request for Proposal and in the providers contracts. In Olathe, all taxi companies are required to be licensed within the city, and each driver must pass a background check before being issued their license. The city also requires that a copy of the drivers license and insurance policy be kept on file. In addition, each vehicle operated as a taxi must be inspected by the Olathe Vehicle Maintenance crew on an annual basis. If the vehicle does not pass inspection, the city has the right to pull it from the fleet. The cost of inspection is paid by the taxi companies. Cab companies in Homer sign a contract agreeing to adhere to federal regulations, which are quite restrictive and prescriptive. If safety issues do arise, the agency can revoke the contract. Q. Are there screening requirements for the volunteers, like criminal records checks? A. All drivers are screened as required by their contract in Harris County. N/A for Olathe and Homer. Q: What is the total annual program cost? A. The budget for Harris County RIDES is $1.2M. For the RIDES program, including the Mobility Management of our program the budget is $1.6M. Overall costs for the City of Olathe are approximately $550,000. For the voucher program in Homer using taxis, the cost for FY 08 was $62, 745 for 7,945 riders in Homer and surrounding areas. In the Central Kenai area, the cost was $81,217 for 7,775 rides. Q: What are eligibility requirement for riders? How is a person's eligibility evaluated? A. In Harris County, individuals must meet one of three criteria: elderly, disabled or low-income. When submitting the application, they provide proof of age, disability or income. In Olathe, it depends on the program. Participation in the General Transportation Program is only open to older citizens and citizens with disabilities. Seniors are not required to provide proof of income, but participants with disabilities are required to provide proof of their disability as well as proof of income. A letter from their medical professional or from Social Security can serve as proof of disability. For the Work Voucher/Coupon program, participants must meet income requirements. For each of the 3 programs, income requirements are based on 80 percent of the median income for the metropolitan area as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Alaska, individuals who experience a disability that interferes with the ability to drive, or who are over the age of 60 are eligible to participate. Disability and age are determined by self report, as are all of the Independent Living Services delivered. Q. In Harris County is the $16.50 per trip the total cost of the trip or the voucher cost? A. The $16.50 is the average trip cost for the program (just trip cost- not including program overhead).
Q. Is disability determined by enrollment in Social Security disability income, or can the participants have a documented medical or mental diagnosis? A. For Harris County, yes to all of the above. In Olathe, documentation from medical professionals is required. In Alaska, disability and age are determined by self report, as are all of the Independent Living Center services delivered Q. Is there a preference among riders between the shared ride and taxi service? A. Because of cost and caps on the taxi service, Harris County riders use shared ride for longer trips and taxi for shorter distances. N/A for Olathe and Homer. Q. For both Alaska and Harris County, do you use AoA funds for your initiatives? Also, does your state participate in cost sharing which through AoA allows for co-pays or fees to assist toward the cost? A. Harris County s local Area Agency on Aging is a participating agency in its program. But, AoA funds are not currently used to support trip costs. Other local funds support the cost of the voucher co-pay. They purchase the vouchers from us and the customer is not responsible for trip costs. If the trip is going to be longer trip over the $40.00 allowed for a taxi one-way trip then the client uses the shared-ride program. Alaska does not use AoA funding at this time. Q. Are these programs eligible for reimbursement through Medicaid State Plan or waiver funding? A. Not in Harris County, which participates in the state Medicaid Medical Program. The state has a separate contract for transportation. Olathe is currently exploring the possibility of reimbursement from Medicaid. In Alaska, the Independent Living Center is not a Medicaid provider. The cab companies are Medicaid providers and routinely provide rides that are reimbursed by Medicaid. Q. Or...Sec 5317 (New Freedom) or 5316 funds (JARC)? A. It is possible to use 5317 or 5316 funds, but Harris County has not applied for such funds for transportation services for our core program. The county uses New Freedom funds for Mobility Management services only. Q. For Harris County, are there any cost estimates on the Smart Card access you are researching? A. There are some preliminary figures for a small pilot as a partner with the Metropolitan Transit Operator using their existing Smart Card platform. This would not be a good example because the program would be able to take advantage of the huge technology investment already made by METRO. The project is on-hold at this time. Q. How can the vouchers be used as local match? A. In Harris County, the co-pay of the vouchers is used as the local match. Olathe uses General Funds as the match for federal grants. In Homer, the riders contribution is used as local match. Q. Are you using 1/2 of the fee and tickets purchased as match on grants? A. In Harris County and Homer, yes. The City of Olathe deducts program income off the top and splits the remaining difference between General Funds and the grants.
Q. How do you identify a taxi company? A. Harris County has quite a few existing taxi companies. The county requests participation by issuing a local Request for Proposal (RFP) using Public Notice in the main newspaper. The RFP is also posted on the Harris County website and interested parties can download the document. Homer also uses the RFP process and advertising to identify taxi companies. Currently there is only one licensed company in Olathe. Although the community is 120,000 plus, the demand for taxi service from private pay customers does warrant more than one or two companies in the community. Q. Do you use a particular software for tracking? A. Harris County has a customized package that is web-based. Certain portions of it can be accessed by our providers and our agencies. Olathe is exploring various software packages to see if any fit the needs of its unique program. The city is also talking with some of the larger transit companies in the metro area to gain additional information on software options. At this time, Homer does not use a specific software package for tracking. Q. Is there a limit on how many vouchers an individual purchases? A. Not in Harris County at this time. In Olathe, it depends on the program. For participants in General Transportation, the limit is two books of 10 vouchers per month, equaling 10 round trips per month. Participants in the Medical Transportation program must present proof of appointment or medical need to purchase the above mentioned two books. Medical trips are sold as individual vouchers. Participants in the Work Program are not limited as to the number of books they can purchase per month, but the vouchers can only be used to travel to and from work, not for personal trips. In Alaska, depending on the community, $120 of cab fare can be purchased for $60, and the vouchers can be carried over each month. Q. How do you assure that your budget is sufficient to meet the demand? A. For Harris County, this is a delicate balance Homer agrees that the process can be tricky. They suggest the easiest way is to analyze the number of vouchers that can be sold each month. Olathe tracks expenses on a monthly basis and compares expenses to previous years. If it looks like funding is short, the number of vouchers a person can purchase is modified, or the cost per voucher might be increased. The city s goal is to generate enough income from grants and General Funds to maintain the existing program. Q. Have you had successes with securing employers as financial partners in your taxi voucher programs (e.g. for JARC program) and how have they participated? A. To date, Harris County has not applied for JARC funding. But, the county does have a special inter-local agreement to provide transportation within the County for the Workforce Solutions. The in-take and voucher distribution is performed by the agency at pre-selected sites within the county. The client can use shared ride or taxi service to travel anywhere within the county. Currently, Olathe has not secured employers as financial program partners, nor has Alaska. Q. How do you ensure that the providers meet FTA certifications and assurances? A. In Harris County, FTA Certifications and Assurances are a part of the contractual agreement and the County monitors annually. Providers in Alaska are also required to sign a contract. Because Olathe is a small program, with fewer than 9 vehicles, the program is exempt from some requirements, but the others still are met. City staff stays on top of program requirements. Q. Where is the verification of to work or medical determined...the driver or central office?
A. In Texas, verification of customer eligibility is done by the central RIDES office. In Olathe, the vouchers are different colors. General and Medical vouchers are green; Work Program vouchers are purple. Office staff makes the determination based on the application and monitors the vouchers as they are turned in for reimbursement. In addition, several riders are audited each month to be sure if they are being transported to work as required by the Work Program. In addition, the taxi company is familiar enough with the programs and the riders to help enforce program rules and regulations. N/A for Homer. Q. If you have a JARC grant ----- how do you plan sustainability? A. N/A for Harris County and Homer. In general terms, Olathe has received funding via General Funds for over 30 years, and most likely that support would continue even if JARC funds were not available. The city is a strong supporter of the Work Program and would make every effort to cover the cost. Q. Is taxi service in Olathe available 24/7? A. In Harris County yes, 24/7. Not in Olathe. The company is required to provide service from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. They tried operating on Sunday and in the evening until 10:00 p.m., but did not have the number of riders for the company to justify providing rides. N/A for Homer. Q. Are services reimbursable under Medicaid State Plan as non-emergency medical transportation? A. In Alaska, the Independent Living Center is not a Medicaid provider. The cab companies are Medicaid providers and routinely provide rides that are reimbursed by Medicaid. N/A for Harris County, which does not participate in the Medicaid State Plan. N/A for the City of Olathe also. Q. Are any of you aware of efforts being made to include vouchers for public transit use in the JARC program? A. Harris County is not aware of any efforts. Alaska does support use of vouchers with JARC funds. N/A for Olathe also -the city does not operate a public transit system. Q. For those who are looking to set up a transportation system restricted to specific clients such as network of literacy providers, has anyone tried to limit their voucher system in a manner that restricted the locations to which passengers can go -- and if so, how? A. Harris County has not restricted specific locations only restrictions to a geographic service area. In order to restrict services, it would have to be done at the provider level via contractual language. In the contract state providers will not be reimbursed if service is provided to a restricted location- it would be an unauthorized trip. The provider would have to provide trip destination information so you could monitor for compliance. Olathe believes that each jurisdiction can set up specialized programs to meet the needs of their community. In looking for grants, providers should review eligibility requirements to ensure that the program meets the specific criteria. The City of Olathe has geographic restrictions - ride origin and destination must be within the city boundaries. Homer has tried to limit their system that serves restricted locations and describes the process as a nightmare. Q. How would someone go about starting their own voucher program?
A. Refer to the wiki for background information and resources. The wiki includes a chapter on setting up a program and outlines ten suggested steps to guide communities in establishing a program. Visit http://sites.google.com/site/voucherprogram. The City of Olathe suggests taking the following steps (also mirrored in the wiki): Identify and document the need Establish a business plan or program concept Promote the program to the community Create partnerships and gain community support with and from citizens, the city and county governments, the business community and non-profit organizations Research possible funding options