Workshop Will Prioritize Special Transportation Needs

What do you think is more important: having weekend and evening bus service so people can get to evening and weekend jobs, or shortening the length of time older adults or people with disabilities have to wait for a paratransit vehicle? Are they more or less important than the ability to schedule a paratransit ride within a day for sudden medical appointments?

These are the types of issues the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) is going to ask participants of a workshop to consider. The regional workshop is the next step in the agency’s work to develop a Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan for Northeast Ohio. It will be held on Thursday, December 20, from 9 a.m. to noon at NOACA’s offices, 1299 Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

“The ultimate goal of the coordinated plan is to develop strategies and priorities to improve transportation for people with special transportation needs,” says Sara Byrnes, project manager for the coordinated plan at NOACA. “We are particularly concerned about meeting the needs of people who rely on public transportation, such as the elderly, individuals with disabilities, and people with low incomes. But the recommendations will likely improve transportation for the general public as well.”

This summer, NOACA held numerous public meetings and focus groups to gather information on the unmet transportation needs of the targeted populations. At the workshop, NOACA staff will present the identified needs and ask participants first to help develop strategies to meet gaps in service and then to prioritize them.

“Having a coordinated transportation plan is an important new requirement for receiving federal funds from special grant programs,” says Howard R. Maier, executive director of NOACA. “All projects funded from these programs must be derived from this coordinated plan.”

The plan will affect grants available through the following programs:

• the Job Access and Reverse Commute program that supports transportation services to jobs and employment-related activities for welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals;
• the New Freedom program that provides support for new public transportation services and alternatives beyond those currently required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and
• the Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities (Section 5310) program that provides federal funds for the purchase of vehicles and equipment to support transportation services for the elderly and people with disabilities.