PPA 419 – Aging Services Administration Lecture 10c – Public Transportation and Aging.

Source  Sterns, R., Antenucci, V., Nelson, C., & Glasgow, N. (2003). Public transportation: Options to maintain mobility for life. Generations, 27 (Summer),

Introduction  Social service agencies, transportation service providers, and governmental entities are searching for ways to develop or improve transportation services to meet local travel needs of older people.  Services can be provided to: People of all ages; Age-segregated group; or Both older adults and people with disabilities.

Organization and Management  Transportation services may be organizaed within a single organizational entity acting alone or by two or more entities acting together through some informal or formalized arrangement.

Organization and Management  Organizational structures. Regional transportation authority (RTA).  The most familiar organizational model of public transportation services. Fixed route, fixed schedule, plus: Many new flexibilities. A unit of local government.  City, village, or county.

Organization and Management  Organizational structures (contd.). Social service agencies.  Transportation services to clients with agency-operated vans or buses. Private enterprises. Tribal governments.

Organization and Management  Coordination arrangements. Brokerage.  Identifying customer needs and matching them with available transportation services. Coordination.  The process of coordination consists of combining arrangements and agreements among transportation providers to pool physical and financial resources, combine transportation capabilities, and improve the capacity of services to meet travel needs.  Three stages – cooperation, development of joint-use arrangements, and consolidation. Mobility management.  Serving customers as opposed to running a bus.  Mobility manager carries out the coordination of transportation services.  Brokering, facilitating, encouraging, coordinating, and managing both traditional and non-traditional services to expand the array of transportation services to diverse consumer groups.

Framework for Service Delivery  The delivery of transportation services varies in flexibility, accommodation to people with different levels of functional capability, and cost, affecting how services are provided and how customers gain access to them.  The challenge is to determine the type and level of service that best meeting the needs of residents of the community and to develop appropriate services, given the resources available.

Framework for Service Delivery  Framework for service delivery. Fixed route, fixed schedule.  Traditional mode.  Dependable and reliable transportation for functionally capable older adults with least assistance. Fixed route, flexible schedule.  Generally designed to accommodate an area with recreational opportunities or points of interest along a fixed route.  Jitney, requires high level of functional capability.

Framework for Service Delivery  Framework for service delivery. Flexible route, fixed schedule.  This type of service requires additional time built into a fixed schedule to accommodate a stop that occurs off an established route.  Accommodates declining levels of functional capabilities. Flexible route, flexible schedule.  Demand-responsive or paratransit service.  Costs more, suitable for low level of functional capability.

Framework for Service Delivery  Framework for service delivery (contd.). No specific route or schedule.  Like a private taxi, virtually unlimited flexibility, especially when people are able to call and schedule rides for specific times.

Older Consumer Preferences for Transportation Services  Older adults choose specific forms of transportation for specific trips that meet their physical and emotional needs for specific situations.

Older Consumer Preferences for Transportation Services  Ideal services: Reliable. Provide travel door to door. Available within 30 minutes of a phone call for service. Provide travel to more than one destination during an outing. Allow flexibility in choosing destinations and times. Provide comfortable waiting areas.

Older Consumer Preferences for Transportation Services  Ideal services (contd.). Provide easily accessible vehicles. Travel during evening hours and weekends. Provide friendly, courteous, helpful drivers and information specialists. Provide easy-to-read and understandable timetables, maps, and other travel information materials. Provide training for travelers to help them use the services successfully.

Older Consumer Preferences for Transportation Services  Preferred service features offer the rider control, empowerment, and choice.

Bringing Improved Services to Your Community

Summary  Successful transportation service delivery to older adults as well as others in the community requires the organization and management of a brokerage and coordination or mobility management.  Efficient and effective services are those that combine demand response, fixed and flexible routes, and fixed and flexible schedules.

Summary  The challenge facing mobility managers and transportation planners is to find ways to deliver needed services efficiently in order to achieve the greatest public benefit for the public resources expended.