Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA)

Gwo-Wei Torng^1*, Yehuda Gross², Brian Cronin³
1. Mitretek Systems, 600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 755, Washington, DC 20024 , USA
(202) 488-5714, gwo-wei.torng@mitretek.org
2. Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation
3. Federal Transit Administration, United States Department of Transportation

ABSTRACT

This study provides a comprehensive review of where we are, what we need and how Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can contribute to enhancing mobility for the transportation-disadvantaged.  The findings from this study are used as a foundation upon which ITS-enhanced models of human service transportation delivery can be built and evaluated.  This study sheds light on desirable site characteristics for model development under different operations environments and scenarios.  Ultimately the goal is to develop a replicable and scalable travel management coordination center (physical or virtual) that not only enables efficient coordination and delivery of human service transportation across agencies and modes, but also is transparent and easy-to-use for travelers in general, and for the transportation-disadvantaged population in particular.  The authors recognize that opportunities exist to improve the current human service transportation system, and believe that ITS can make a substantial contribution to turn this much-needed improvement into a reality. 

KEYWORDS

mobility, accessibility, human service transportation, transportation disadvantaged, coordination

INTRODUCTION

Transportation plays a key role in connecting health and human service programs with their customers.  Those customers are often unable to provide their own transportation for various reasons.  They often have to rely on non-private transportation to obtain needed services, such as medical care, employment and job training.    

In this study, the term “transportation-disadvantaged” is used to describe individuals who meet at least one of the following conditions:

• Persons with limited or no access to transportation;
• Persons who cannot provide their own transportation;
• Persons who cannot use existing travel options [or can only use them with great difficulty].

To accommodate the mobility needs of transportation-disadvantaged persons, the federal government currently has 62 human service programs under the jurisdiction of 10 federal agencies that fund transportation (GAO, 2003).  Due to limited resources and a lack of coordination, delivery of human service transportation is inefficient and often inadequate.  In many locations, human service transportation is fragmented, resulting in service coverage gaps or limited service coverage due to an inability to make trip transfers between transportation providers.  Often, customers have to contact multiple case workers for multiple funding programs, trip requests have to be made well in advance, scheduled trip times are inconvenient for both customers and program administrators, pick-up wait times are long and difficult to estimate, trip travel times are long, and accessibility for seniors and persons with disabilities is limited. 

While Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications continue to make substantial impacts on enhancing the safety, mobility and productivity of transportation, ITS applications specifically for human service transportation have been limited and sporadic.  The authors believe that existing ITS technologies can improve quality and efficiency in delivering human service transportation in the short term, and create benefits for all parties involved.  Potential beneficiaries of an ITS-enhanced human service transportation system include:

• Transportation-disadvantaged people who rely on such services for transportation to jobs and medical appointments;
• Service providers who often struggle to respond to their clients’ mobility needs with limited resources; and
• Health and human service agencies that would prefer to focus on their core mission - greater efficiency in transportation would leave more resources for core mission services.

In 2004, the USDOT launched a major ITS initiative – Mobility Services for All Americans – to examine the roles of ITS in human service transportation.  A key product of this initiative will be a demonstration of replicable and scalable models of travel management coordination centers (TMCC) that promote mobility, accessibility, and coordination of services for the transportation-disadvantaged as well as for the public, and achieve more efficient use of federal transportation funding resources.  As part of the initiative, foundation research is carried out to integrate knowledge and information from the transportation and human services communities and to establish the “baseline” data on current performance so that performance improvements can be defined and measured.  A key feature of the TMCC model is the provision of a single point of access portal to connect transportation-disadvantaged customers to appropriate transportation.  The scope of the foundation research includes:

• Identifying mobility needs and gaps in current human service transportation practice experienced by the transportation-disadvantaged population;
• Determining the extent to which ITS can strengthen the delivery of human service transportation, and exploring and prioritizing incremental deployment of ITS technologies (or “packages”);
• Highlighting guidelines and key favorable local conditions that are desirable for incremental deployment of ITS technologies to enhance human service transportation in different operating environments and scenarios. 

This paper documents the methodology and findings of the foundation research.

METHODOLOGY

State-of-the-Practice and Literature Review

This study integrates knowledge from the transportation and human services communities about needs, gaps, barriers, past and current innovations and emerging opportunities based on analysis of information from the following sources, as illustrated in Figure 1: 1) federal activities, 2) state/local initiatives, and 3) literature review and research.   First, this study inventories past and existing human service transportation-related projects initiated not only by USDOT, but also across all federal government agencies, including the 13 ongoing rural ITS field operational tests.  Second, the study catalogs noteworthy state and local business models and practices on human services transportation planning and delivery.  Special attention is given to those states and local communities where service coordination and/or innovative techniques are emphasized.  Third, the study integrates knowledge from empirical research and studies and focuses on potential technological approaches for human services transportation coordination and accessibility enhancement.  Finally, based on the information gathered and knowledge synthesized, this study identifies mobility and accessibility needs, issues and barriers facing transportation-disadvantaged people.  This study also explores issues and hurdles that compromise the transit service providers’ and/or program administrators’ capacity to respond to the mobility needs of the transportation-disadvantaged.

Stakeholder Participation and Input

One of the major objectives of the Mobility Services for All Americans initiative is to create a bridge between the transportation and ITS community and human services communities in order to develop new solutions that combine the efforts and knowledge of both.  One way to accomplish this objective is through extensive stakeholder participation and input.  As part of the foundation research effort, the project reaches out to a wide range of stakeholder groups.  Stakeholders participating in this study include grass-roots community/advocacy groups, industry organizations, transportation service providers, trade associations, public agencies, and private businesses.  Jointly these organizations/individuals represent a wide range of interests, expertise, and/or roles in human service transportation and may participate in various capacities, including providing guidance/assistance in coordination, outreach, and technology deployment, and advising program management and operations.

The project has set up an interdisciplinary coalition to solicit regular input from the stakeholders.  Major activities in the past year included a series of five stakeholder discussion-group meetings in which stakeholders validated research findings and recommendations, formulated high-level views of an ideal human service transportation system, and identified opportunities and challenges it presents.  The participants are:

• Consumer/advocacy stakeholder group
• Public transit stakeholder group
• Community/not-for-profit transportation stakeholder group
• Human service transportation administration stakeholder group
• Private industry stakeholder group

In addition, a well-attended public comment/listening session was held in conjunction with the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) conference in May 2005.  The discussion was largely focused on technical assistance needs to improve human service transportation, including ITS architecture consistency and technical support.  

Connecting ITS with Mobility Needs/Barriers

New capabilities and opportunities are being created in both the transportation and health and human services communities through the use of emerging technologies and innovative services.  Pioneering public transportation agencies are using Intelligent Transportation Systems to provide centralized coordination of community transportation providers, single points-of-access, and service brokering through integrated automatic vehicle location systems, advanced communications, and universal benefit cards.  Others are providing on-vehicle audio annunciation, accessible traveler information, and flexible routing to assist passengers with disabilities in using conventional transit services.  In the rehabilitation community, innovative Assistive Technologies (AT) are also being developed, such as personal GPS and personal digital assistants (PDAs) using mobile communications to provide real-time assistance to those with cognitive disabilities, accessible pedestrian signals, and “talking” bus stops and signs.  However, the two communities are often unaware of the research, new approaches, and advances that each is making, and neither may have direct communication with the disability community at large.  The project is now bringing them together to provide a coordinated effort to apply technological solutions to the barriers to accessibility and mobility for transportation-disadvantaged individuals.

Corresponding to the (prioritized) unmet needs and barriers identified based on literature reviews and stakeholders input, this study investigates a full range of the ITS transit applications that are most promising in improving the availability and accessibility of public transportation options for transportation-disadvantaged persons.  Special emphasis is put on the most promising technologies that enable coordination between human service programs and service providers and enhance system accessibility across a spectrum of transportation modes.

FINDINGS

Based on literature review outcomes and stakeholders’ input, this study identifies 23 major barriers that have led to unmet mobility needs (gaps) facing certain population groups.   These 23 barriers are further grouped into the five categories of service availability, service information and knowledge, service accessibility, service reliability and safety, and service flexibility, as summarized in Table 1.  It should be noted that both types of technology solutions, namely ITS-related and Assistive Technologies (AT)-related, are presented in the table.  Technologies presented in italics, mostly assistive-technology related, are beyond the scope of the MSAA initiative and thus precluded from further discussion in this study.  

Table 1, Summary of Mobility Needs, Barriers and Potential Technology Solutions

Note: The term “multi-media” used throughout the table may include, but is not limited to, the following media devices: landline telephone, FAX, wireless telephone, telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD), accessible internet, personal digital assistant (PDA), interactive voice response (IVR), kiosk, etc.