BLANK PAGE i GULF COAST REGION UPDATED REGIONALLY COORDINATED TRANSPORTATION PLAN PREPARED BY THE HOUSTON-GALVESTON AREA COUNCIL TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT APPROVED BY THE REGIONAL TRANSIT COORDINATION SUBCOMMITTEE TO THE H-GAC TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OCTOBER 2011 ACCEPTED BY THE H-GAC BOARD OF DIRECTORS PLANS AND PROJECTS REVIEW COMMITTEE DECEMBER 2011 Disclaimer: Funding for the preparation of this document was provided through a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors who are solely responsible for the opinions, findings and conclusions presented herein, and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Transportation. ii Table of Contents List of Tables iv List of Figures v Executive Summary vi 1. Introduction 1 a. Background 1 b. Methodology/ Planned Approach 6 2. Transportation Resources in the Region 16 a. Transportation Providers 19 i. FTA Direct Recipients ii. Other providers b. Transportation Planning Agencies 21 3. Public Transportation Needs Assessment 22 a. Unmet Transportation Needs 23 b. Inefficiencies in Delivery of Transportation Services 43 4. Planning for Comprehensive Services 45 5. Efforts to Streamline Parallel Planning Processes 56 6. Staff Structure and Process to Sustain Planning and Services 57 7. Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives 59 8. Leveraging resources/ Sustainability 61 9. Performance Measures to Evaluate Effectiveness 73 10. Next Steps 78 11. Appendices 81 a. Public Involvement Summary b. Transportation Providers Inventory c. Gulf Coast Region Population Growth d. Regional Transit Coordination Subcommittee Members e. Transit Needs Index Methodology f. Texas Health and Human Services Commission Offices- Gulf Coast iii List of Tables 1. Summary of Transit Vehicles Purchased- H-GAC Buy 2. Public and Private Transportation Providers (H-GAC Survey) 3. Gulf Coast Demographic Summary 4. Socioeconomic Indicators 5. Limited English Proficiency 6. Literacy Skills Summary 7. Transportation and Mobility Recommendations- Care for Elders 8. METRO Local Weekday Comments- 2007 Onboard Survey 9. Medical Transportation Program Summary 2007, 2008 10. Highest Volume County to County Flows (2000) 11. Highest Volume County to County Flows (2025 placeholder) 12. Houston JARC and New Freedom Program Funds 13. Fort Bend County (FBC) Transit- Development History 14. FBC Transit Funding partners 15. FBC Transit County Participation 16. Colorado Valley Transit District Partners for JARC Project 17. City of Baytown Fixed Route Service Partners 18. Transportation Initiative Grants-United Way Texas Gulf Coast 19. Commuter and Transit Services Pilot Projects 20. H-GAC Area Agency on Aging Title 3B Transportation Funding 21. METRO Key Performance Indicators 22. 2011 Action Plan-Potential Pilot Projects 2011-2015 iv List of Figures 1. Gulf Coast Planning Region 2. The Importance of a Much Improved Mass Transit System 3. METRO 2035 Long Range Plan 4. Montgomery County Demand Response Ridership 5. METRO Bus and Rail Ridership 6. Regional Transit Service Guide 7. Fort Bend County Transit Demand Response Ridership 8. Harris County Transit Fixed Route Structure 9. Baytown Ridership Growth 10. GCC Connect Passenger Boardings 11. Transportation Providers 12. Houston HOV Lane System 13. Gulf Coast Regional Transit Needs Index 14. Harris County Transit Needs Index 15. Limited English Proficiency Households in La Porte 16. Overall Factors Affecting the Decision to Use Public Transit 17. Regional Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas 18. EJ Areas Inside Beltway 19. Transit Travel Time Bands to the CBD 2011 and 2035 20. Project Access 21. METRO and METROLift Service Areas 22. Urbanized Areas 23. Medical Transportation Program Origins 24. Medical Transportation Program Destinations 25. Onboard Transit Survey Origins 26. Onboard Transit Survey Destinations 27. County to County Travel Patterns 2000 28. County to County Travel Patterns Flows 2025 (placeholder) 29. Gulf Coast Transit Coordination Organizational Structure 30. Planning and Coordination Conceptual Framework 31. AARA Stimulus Funding Summary 32. Developing More Sustainable Pilot Projects 33. Population Accessibility 34. Employment Accessibility 35. User Benefits v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Executive Summary presents a very brief overview of the key findings and recommendations that are included in the Updated Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan (RCTP) for the Gulf Coast Region. Following are a series of related questions and their answers. What is the RCTP ? The RCTP is a comprehensive multi-agency plan to better coordinate the public transportation services in our region. It is part of a statewide planning process that includes the councils of governments in Texas. The purpose of the coordination plan is to ensure that all of the agencies that are responsible for planning and providing public transportation are working together to make their services more convenient for their customers and more efficient. Why is the RCTP important ? When the transportation service providers, regional planners and health and human service agencies work together it can save the tax-payers money and increase the effectiveness of the transportation services in our communities. What’s in it for me ? Do you (or someone you know) need a ride ? Are you too young or too old to drive ? Do you sometimes not have enough gas money to get where you need to go and get back? Do you know about the low-cost public transportation options in your community ? If not, call 211, the United Way Helpline for information about available transportation options in your area. For more details about the regional transit coordination plan, visit the project website at www.ridethegulfcoast.com. The RCTP contains information about the public transportation options in your community and about the ongoing efforts to improve the regional public transportation system based on the transportation related needs that we heard about in the past. Many new projects have been implemented in response to those needs and we want to make sure that: 1) you are aware of those new or expanded services; and 2) that your unmet transportation related needs are documented for future action. What we heard in the past: Within the METRO service area there are many people that use the METRO and METROLift services on a regular basis and generally they can get to and from their vi desired destinations. There are also some communities within the METRO service area where people have had limited success in using the METRO system for various reasons including but not limited to the following: they could not use it easily for cross-town trips, for mid-day, evenings or weekends or for longer distance trips that required more than one transfer. Communities that are outside of the METRO Service Area have had very limited public transportation options in the past. Most of those communities are in Eastern Harris County or the outer counties. Those communities have had some form of a limited demand response service (dial-a-ride) for the elderly and disabled in parts of their areas. There has been a lack of adequate funding for county-wide demand response public transportation services for the general public in the outer counties in the Gulf Coast region. The general public with limited mobility options also includes those with lower incomes, youth, students and adults for various trip purposes including but not limited to employment, educational opportunities and recreation. What has been done: New and/or expanded transit services have been implemented recently in many communities that are responsive to transportation related needs that were identified before. Those new or expanded public transportation services are in Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, Eastern Harris County, Galveston and Brazoria Counties and Austin County. A regional transit services guide has been developed to provide more information to the general public and stakeholders about public transportation options. Transportation service providers in our region can now purchase transit vehicles through the H-GAC Buy cooperative purchasing program, saving taxpayer dollars. What else needs to be done ? Several projects have been identified to advance the coordination between service providers and stakeholder agencies in the region. Those projects include providing more information about the existing services and the benefits of using transit to elected officials as well as to the general public in more forms. A seamless regional transit fare policy is being pursued as well as coordinated training for drivers and operations staff, insurance pools and maintenance agreements are being considered among other strategies. Respondents to a recent survey by Care for Elders of more than a thousand seniors in Houston and Harris County indicated that transportation and mobility challenges are vii their highest priority concerns. Table ES-1 summarizes some recommendations to improve the transportation system from their perspective.1 Table ES-1. Transportation and Mobility Needs, Seniors 2010 Transportation and Mobility- Recommendations Frequency Percent Improve how current transportation programs 669 58.22 operate so that they better meet seniors’ needs. Make it safer for seniors to get around outside their 205 17.84 homes by doing things like putting in sidewalks and allowing more time to cross the street. Provide helpers on Metro buses and other transit 173 15.06 vehicles to help riders get on/off,