# Presentation: 239256

## Mobility Services for All Americans:Unmet Mobility Needs and ITS SolutionsGwo-Wei Torng, Mitretek SystemsYehuda Gross, USDOTBrian Cronin, USDOT

- 12th ITS World CongressSan Francisco, USANovember 9, 2005

## Presentation Outline

**Human service transportation challenges**
**Federal initiatives**
**ITS Solutions**
**Findings**

## Challenges

**Notes:**
62 federal programs across 8 federal departments
$ billions spent each year

The current “stovepipe” approach, where each agency provides its own transportation services, presents great challenges for all parties involved
End Users: poor Joe the rider
Service providers
Program administration

## The Results

**Poor quality of transportation service**
**Confusing customers and providers**
**High cost and underutilized capacity**

**Notes:**
Overlapping, fragmented, and sometimes unavailable transportation services
Inadequate, sometimes confusing, customer service
Transportation providers experience
Islands of technology, knowledge, and innovation within different professions/areas

## Two USDOT-led Initiatives

**United We Ride (UWR)**
**Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA)**

**Notes:**
United We Ride is overseen by the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM)
MSAA is overseen by the USDOT ITS Management Council

United We Ride is mostly the WHAT, 
MSAA is one HOW that can address many of the WHAT

## United We Ride

**11 federal departmental partners**
**Five interim areas of focus**

**Notes:**
UWR involve 11 federal departmental partners, including four key agencies that account for 52 of the 62 programs: DOT, DHHS, DOE, DOL
February 2004 Presidential Executive Order on Human Service Transportation Coordination (Executive Order #13330)
Five interim, coordination-based solutions.  Most of these solutions (except for the first one) are supported or can be achieved by deploying ITS technologies. 
1. Coordinated transportation planning: seek mechanisms (statutory, regulatory, or administrative) to require inclusion of human service transportation in a community transportation planning process.
2. Vehicle sharing: vehicle used in human service transportation be made available to other federally-funded programs.
3. Cost allocation: develop standard cost allocation principles for human service transportation.  Looking for common denominator.
4. Reporting and evaluation: development of methods to permit cross agency analysis of the effectiveness, efficiency and progress toward human service transportation enhancement
5. Consolidated access transportation demonstration program: to be implemented in collaboration with MSAA.

## Mobility Services for All Americans

**Goal – better service with less **$$$
**Vision – single point of access for all**
**ITS focused**

**Notes:**
ITS match to the challenges (shown in the next slide)
Provide a platform for interfacing with accessibility/assistive technologies (e.g., personal GPS/GIS wayfinding)

## ITS Role

**ITS is an enabler to facilitate coordination and enhance accessibility**

**Notes:**
Improved travel scheduling, dispatching, routing
Streamlined reporting, billing and financial transaction
Integrated single point of access for traveler support
Simplified fare payment, collection and processing
Institutional barriers may be overcome when “tangible” ITS deployment benefits are witnessed by the stakeholders.

## From Technology Perspective

- Technology deployment sequencing

## What Have We Done

- Finding the pieces

**Notes:**
So far, we have...
Developed stakeholder activity and facilitation plan
Completed foundation research, collected and integrated knowledge from all fields
Held 10 regional coordination workshops with the “framework for action” as a self-assessment tool
can be downloaded from the United We Ride or MSAA websites
Held five stakeholder discussion groups
Public program administrative offices
Public transit providers
Community transportation providers
Consumer advocacy groups
Private sector groups
Held two public listening sessions
Kicked-off interdisciplinary expert panel on technology performance measurement definitions
Discussed initiative update and outlook with stakeholders at numerous occasions where appropriate, including major conferences, meetings, workshops, etc. 
Created “Using technologies to support cost allocation among human services and transportation agencies” brochure

## Example

***ITS enhanced customer service    *****Real-time reservations (Internet/IVR) Automated call-back (confirmation)**

***ITS enhanced operations*****AVL/MDT****Automated scheduling and dispatching ****Advanced communication systems**

**Notes:**
This slide illustrates an example of how an identified mobility need is explored and linked to potential ITS solutions in the foundation research.  The left hand side represents the customer perspective, whereas the right side discusses the issue from the service provider’s viewpoints.    

## Findings

**Findings**

**Most applicable ITS technologies**
**Proven with wide deployment**
**More fixed-route applications**
**Largely fleet management focused**
**More stakeholder outreach and technical assistance needed**
**ITS Architecture and related standards**
**Key non-ITS factors**

## Field Evidence

- Logical phasing of ITS deployment for greater benefits
- Characteristics of users and operations impact technology effectiveness
- Training and technical assistance
- Initiative has catalyzed private industry activities

**Notes:**
Users include riders, operators, and program administrators

Communication infrastructure is fundamental, given ITS in essence is IT technologies for transportation

## Based on these Findings......

**Adopt two-phase approach**
- Model system design
- Model system deployment
**System design includes:**
- Establish public-private partnership
- Make necessary institutional arrangements
- Complete local coordinated transportation model designs** **

**Notes:**
We are open to any ideas ....
All environments – urban/suburban vs. rural/remote
All modes – fixed route, paratransit, taxi, intercity bus, volunteer driver, etc.
Any human service programs – federally or non-federally funded
All levels of ITS deployment – less likely to choose someone without any ITS.  I believe most of you, if not all, are already using ITS-related technologies.

Each grant recipient shall
Develop detailed system concept of operations that addresses local needs
Complete detailed system requirements, design and specification
Define approaches and mechanisms addressing institutional issues, leadership, staffing resources, and customer services
Develop a phased implementation plan (in case not awarded for model deployment grants)

## Thank You

**Thank You**

- Questions and Discussions
- _[www.its.dot.gov/msaa](http://www.its.dot.gov/msaa)_
- _[www.unitedweride.gov](http://www.unitedweride.gov/)_

**Yehuda Gross**
- ITS Transit Program Manager
- ITS Joint Program Office
- USDOT
**202-366-1988**
- _[Yehuda.gross@fhwa.dot.gov](mailto:Yehuda.gross@fhwa.dot.gov)_

**Gwo-Wei Torng**
- Lead Engineer
- ITS Division
- Mitretek Systems
**202-488-5714**
- _[Gwo-wei.torng@mitretek.org](mailto:Gwo-wei.torng@mitretek.org)_