1 / 13

MISCC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

MISCC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. Status Report Empire State Plaza Albany, NY October 8, 2008. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP. Advocacy Members Harvey Rosenthal, Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Cliff Perez, Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley

flora
Download Presentation

MISCC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. MISCC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE Status Report Empire State Plaza Albany, NY October 8, 2008

  2. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Advocacy Members • Harvey Rosenthal, Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation • Cliff Perez, Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley • Donna Suhor, Capital District Coalition for Accessible Transportation • Daniel Skulicz, Center for Transportation Excellence Agency Members • Ron Epstein, NYS Department of Transportation (Chair) • Carl Letson, NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities • Gerald Passamonte, NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities • Sandy Longworth, NYS Office for the Aging • Greg Jones, Commission on Quality Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities • John Allen, NYS Office of Mental Health • Lisa Irizarry, NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal • Michael Peluso, New York State Education Department • Joseph Nye, NYS Office of Children and Family Services • Henry Gonzalez, NYS Office for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services • Nicholas Rose, Developmental Disabilities Planning Council • Mark Kissinger & Terrance Cullen, NYS Department of Health

  3. MISSION STATEMENT Promote and Advocate for the Accessibility, Reliability and Affordability of transportation alternatives for individuals with disabilities

  4. Findings • Transportation Committee met eight times between December 2007 and August 2008. • Deliberate to issues, concerns and strategies to improve mobility alternatives for individuals with disabilities. • Identified leveraging federal, state and local funding for health and human service transportation as a priority.

  5. Findings • Transportation plays an essential role in providing access to employment, health care, education, community services, and activities necessary for daily living. • Without reliable and accessible transportation, individuals with disabilities are: • Faced with a diminished quality of life and potentially increased dependence on public support; • Isolated from their communities, losing access to shopping, medical care, friends and family; • Segregated from the economic mainstream and are at a much higher risk of being unemployed.

  6. Findings • Health and human service transportation programs/services are often fragmented, underutilized, or difficult to navigate. • Costly because of inconsistent, duplicative, and often restrictive federal and state program rules and regulations. • Narrowly focused programs leave service gaps.

  7. Findings • No one service type or delivery methodology will supply solutions to the varied transportation needs and requirements of individuals with disabilities. • Requires a “family” of transportation services approach that relies on a variety of delivery, funding and coordination methods.

  8. Findings • A comprehensive health and human service transportation policy must create sufficient accessible transportation opportunities and options for individuals with disabilities. • Successful coordination of public and human service agency transportation mobility alternatives is essential to greater economic independence, healthy living and improved quality of life.

  9. Recommendation #1 • Establish State Agency Transportation “Czar” • Each member health and human service agency should be required to establish a transportation “czar.” • The agency transportation “czar” will serve as the primary point of contact and lead on all program/service delivery related agency transportation matters. • Address the lack of readily available transportation expertise among State agency representatives. • Elevate the issue of transportation within an agency is an essential step toward further developing recommendations that address the transportation needs of individuals with disabilities.

  10. Recommendation #2 • Accessible Taxi Law/Tax Credit Incentive • Develop program bill that combines specific milestones with incentives to mainstream the deployment of accessible livery vehicles into private taxi fleets and other for-hire companies. • No comparable accessibility requirement to what is required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for public transportation services. • Address transportation gap within the ADA.

  11. Recommendation #3 • Mobility Management • Establish a Mobility Manager/Health and Human Service Transportation Coordinator within each county to improve the availability and accessibility of transportation services and maximize choice. • Mobility management focuses on meeting individual customer needs through a wide range of transportation options and service providers.

  12. Questions?? Ron Epstein, Director Public Transportation Bureau New York State Department of Transportation 50 Wolf Road, POD 5-4 Albany, New York 12232 (518) 457-8362 repstein@dot.state.ny.us

More Related