An important task of both the local and regional groups will be to identify both the activities that reflect the best fit in each local area and to prioritize them for implementation. While it is recommended this prioritization be at the regional level, it will also need to involve the groups that can provide funding for these efforts. The priorities of different entities will be reflected in what they are willing to fund. A variety of strategies were identified in Chapters 6 and 7 and are listed in Figure 8-3.
As a relatively new enterprise, and one undertaken in a time of very tight budgets, it may take some time to develop a stream of funding with which to undertake key projects. Indeed, those operations that are successful at providing coordinated specialized transportation have worked for many years to build their base of support. As it is necessary to build credibility, it will be important to begin with smaller projects that will result in successes. Several points can be made regarding the funding of special and on-going projects:
• In counties and cities where additional specialized services are needed, local funds will also be needed. Considerable demand must be demonstrated before such funding will be allocated. Local entities must come to the table with funding for such services, as that is the system Colorado uses for funding transit services.
• Coordination projects should, after initial start-up, pay for themselves. Some of the savings realized from coordination activities need to be invested in the ongoing maintenance of the program. It is important to have a range of human-service agencies and counties participate in the funding of these projects.
• Foundations can play an important role in providing seed money or matching funds for projects, and in serving as a catalyst for doing things differently. However, their role should be limited to short-term activities and to assisting in giving a jump-start to projects, raising the profile of the activity or event, and in bringing together diverse interest groups. They should not provide long-term funding for transportation projects.
• Partnering with organizations that are not transportation providers to fund larger projects is a useful way of both getting key projects funded and assuring the involvement of a variety of stakeholders. Businesses may be one type of funding partner – from health care to those in the retirement industry. The health care industry is another potential partner for activities that support good health (such as walking groups) as well as for transportation to and from their clinics. Local jurisdictions and RTD are also important funding partners.
Figure 8-3
Strategies for Increasing Older Adult Mobility
Land Use, Development, and Design
• Increase awareness of the opportunity FasTracks provides for improving older adult mobility.
• Provide mixed-use development at and near stations.
• Provide housing for older adults and people with disabilities at and near stations.
• Include pedestrian-oriented design at station interfaces, along key corridors to services and housing, and in areas with high density of older adults.
• Develop effective transit feeder services between stations and nearby housing and services.
Transit, Paratransit, and Specialized Transportation
• Increase use of low floor buses on RTD services.
• Increase provision of specialized transportation services.
• Shift riders to lowest cost appropriate mode.
• Expand use of subsidized taxi services.
• Develop community bus routes and expanded feeder services.
• Combine access-a-Ride / call-n-Ride services where feasible.
• Provide human-service agency tripper routes.
Coordination
• Replicate brokerage models in counties without brokers.
• Develop mix of providers (non-profit, taxis and other for profit entities, volunteer driver programs, etc.) throughout the region.
Driving Options
• Establish driver wellness classes for older adults and provide resources for evaluation of driving capability and tools to extend the time an individual can safely drive.
• Promote casual carpools.
• Replicate volunteer driving programs in areas without one. The program developed by Seniors’ Resource Center or other ones can be used as a model.
Information / Awareness
• Promote travel training, using either the Easy Rider model developed by Special Transit or other models.
• Emphasize the needs of older adults in driver sensitivity training.
• Establish information clearinghouse, perhaps using a combination of the 2-1-1 system for service information and 5-1-1 for scheduling.
Page 8-8 • Getting There Collaborative
Several key projects stand out for consideration:
1) Evaluate the travel patterns of older adults in current programs, including paratransit, specialized transportation, and others that would gather this kind of data, to determine where potential for community bus routes exist, where joint call- and-Ride/senior services might reduce the burden on paratransit services, where there are opportunities for coordination, and where geographic gaps might exist. This activity might be most effective if overseen by the regional group at the subcommittee level. It might be most useful if done for just a portion of the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area at a time. This activity should involve the jurisdictions, human-service agencies, specialized transit providers, and RTD. The goal would be to provide a snapshot of total travel patterns that would enable entities to determine how best to coordinate services and to identify gaps. A telephone survey is also suggested to obtain qualitative information on unmet needs, satisfaction, and barriers that people encounter in trying to access specialized services.
2) Develop a toolkit that can be used to raise awareness regarding older adult mobility issues, including the land use opportunities raised by FasTracks. This piece should adapt the present study’s findings in a manner that will be easily digestible by stakeholders with limited time availability.
3) Develop background material on the role and purpose of local funding in meeting needs for specialized transportation services that can be used in counties and cities that provide limited funding. This material should assist local jurisdictions in understanding the importance of local investment in transportation. It should also identify how some of the funding they already provide to human-service or social- service programs is used for transportation to programs or services. Research more closely some of the funding sources that have been identified in this study to determine if any of them would be suited to the proposed strategies or to developing county-based coordinating councils. Indicate where these funding sources are identified so people can easily refer to that section.
4) Explore the possibility of a high profile event such as a follow-up to the 2000 “Transportation Summit” that focuses on what has changed since the previous summit, particularly such milestones as the passage of FasTracks, and the implications of these changes for older adult mobility.
5) Support the development of a county-based council and provider in the south part of the metropolitan area by making available technical support from the existing agency (Adams County, Seniors’ Resource Center, or Special Transit), which most closely fits the model selected by the jurisdiction (Arapahoe and/or Douglas County). Seniors’ Resource Center is, effective July 2005, providing transportation services funded through the Older Americans Act in Arapahoe and Denver counties. They will establish advisory councils in these counties to address the future direction for service provision in each county.