Mobility Management in the River Valley Region

1. Mobility Management in the River Valley Region Jarrod McCarthy River Valley Regional Commission Mobility Manager

2. The River Valley Region

3. What Are the Available Transportation Programs? • Public Transportation: Anyone within the service area can ride, provided that they pay a fare. • Medicaid: Non-emergency medical trips for people that meet certain criteria. • Department of Human Services (DHS): In our area, DHS is most commonly used to provide job-based trips for job training, interviews, etc. for individuals that meet certain criteria, as well as trips to and from Senior Centers for older adults.

4. Benefits of Mobility Management • Increasing coordination among different transportation funding sources so that the required local match amount can be reduced

5. Example of How Coordination Improves Cost Efficiency – Part I How you can utilize your 5311 (Public Transportation) program to aid your DHS or Medicaid program: • You pay 100% of the cost of your vehicles if they are only being used for DHS or Medicaid transit • If you coordinate by also using the vehicles for 5311, 5311 pays 80% of the vehicle cost with federal funds, 10% with state funds, and the remaining 10% must be paid for locally. • You save 90% of the vehicle purchase cost by using the vehicles for both programs • Important to note that 5311 trips must take priority over POS service trips, but it is feasible to accommodate this.

6. Example of Coordination Improving Cost Efficiency – Part II How you can utilize your DHS or Medicaid program to match your 5311 public transportation program: • If we assume you have a $100,000 5311 operating budget: • 10% must come from fare box • Remaining $90,000 is 50% federal and 50% local match • Some of your DHS and other programs can supplement the 50% local match • For matching, you can use: TANF, DFCS, Title 3 Social Security, DOL, some Behavioral Healthcare and Disability, and Medicaid • CanNOT use 5310, 5316, 5317 • The difference is that you can only use federal non-transit funds to match federal transit funds • Coastal RC managed to lower the local match from 50% to 10% by regionalizing (POS covers 40%)

7. Benefits of Mobility Management • Increasing coordination to maximize the number of passengers from each funding source that are utilizing a single vehicle in order to reduce the cost per trip. • Identifying additional funding sources to increase the diversity of people served and community needs addressed. (See hand out.) • Inter-System Cooperation

8. Benefits of Mobility Management: Cooperation • Tying systems into one another • Exploring cost sharing options between transit systems to reduce rates • Exploring the opportunities for joint transit systems and their potential financial and improved service benefits.

9. Advantages of Joint Transit Systems • Shared Administrative Costs • Shared Cost of Building and associated bills (electricity, water, etc.) • Residents may be able to ride further distances • Easier for residents to access and navigate. • Marketability of a universal name, logo, and slogan. • Easier to achieve coordination and the resulting cost efficiencies.

10. Re-Investing Saved Funds • Cost efficiencies resulting from increased coordination, cost sharing, and/or joint systems, etc can in turn be used to accomplish transit improvements including, but not limited to: • Increase Service Distance and Fill Service Gaps • Extend Hours of Operation • Hire Additional Staff • Upgrade Facilities

11. Deliverables • Existing Conditions Report • Regional Directory • Performance Measures • Financial Model • Coordination and Action Plan • Formation of the Regional Transit Advisory Committee 

12. Local Outreach • The RVRC Mobility Manager plans to visit each county to present and discuss transportation enhancement information relevant to that geographic area. • Cities and other pertinent entities and groups are invited/welcome as well • This extra effort will bring critical information to a much larger number of elected officials and staff beyond the Regional Transit Advisory Committee. • Much of the information is organized into maps for ease of use.

13. Other Endeavors • Established the Pataula Regional Transit System and its governing body, the Lower Chattahoochee Regional Transit Authority to serve Quitman, Randolph, and Stewart counties. • Serve as the administrative arm of the transit authority for the joint system and attend all meetings to advise • Administer a DHS program for 8 western River Valley counties. • Helping with any miscellaneous issues such as: • Needs presented by the nursing homes or Ombudsman office • If operators in our area had been having any trouble finding quality drivers, we were prepared to step in to help facilitate uniform hiring practices, if requested. • Presentations to groups such as local chapter of the National Federation of the Blind • Presented to the GDOT/Governor’s Development Council Technical Coordinating Group and Department of Public Health staff.

14. Want to Know More? Jarrod McCarthy Mobility Manager River Valley Regional Commission 706-660-5371 jmccarthy@rivervalleyrc.org