Georgia Transit Tour
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DIGITAL------------------ www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 1 FEATURES DEPARTMENTS From the Editors Rome Atlanta — Day One 4 Rome Transit Department Atlanta Regional Commission – Page 15 Atlanta Streetcar – Page 20 Publisher Page 30 Voices from the Community RouteMatch – Page 26 6 Dale J. Marsico, CCTM Editor-in-Chief Athens — Day Two Scott Bogren Athens Transit & UGA Campus Transit 10 EXPO 2014 Recap Page 32 Editor McDonough — Day Two Rich Sampson Henry County Transit 13 GEORGIA TRANSIT TOUR Contributors Page 38 Charles Dickson Griffin — Day Two 73 About Us Anthony Frederick Three Rivers Regional Commission Robert Hiett Hannah Kebede Page 47 Savannah — Day Three Circulation Chatham Area Transit DigitalCT staff’s hand-drawn map of the Georgia Transit Tour Please direct all circulation questions to Macon Page 52 [email protected] Macon Transit Authority Finance Page 44 Don Browner Hinesville — Day Four Editorial Offices Columbus Liberty Transit 1341 G Street, NW - 10th Floor Page 65 Washington, DC 20005 METRA Email: [email protected] Page 43 Web: www.ctaa.org/ct Darien — Day Four Advertising Sales Coastal Regional Commision Bill Shoemaker, A.H.I. 118 Church Street, P.O. Box 519 Page 60 Selbyville, DE 19975 Albany Phone: 302.436.4375 Albany Transit Fax: 302.436.911 Page 71 Valdosta — Day Five Email: [email protected] MIDS, Inc. Page 68 www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 2 www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 3 From the Editors Transit Across Georgia Click anywhere on the above image to view Editor-in-Chief Scott Bogren and Editor Rich Sampson share their reflections on the Georgia Transit Tour. www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 4 www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 5 Voices from the Community Georgia Transit Tour 2014 In the Georgia Transit Tour edition of DigitalCT, the CTPodcast page features three important conversations. To subscribe to the CTPodcast, go to http://ctpodcast.blogspot.com/ or search “The CTPodcast” in iTunes. Click on the microphone beside each entry to listen. The CT Podcast Janae Futrell, Atlanta Regional Commission, Senior Principal Planner The Community Transportation Podcast is a new information tool from Atlanta Regional Commission Senior Principal Planner Janae Futrell the Community Transportation Association of America. Take a listen as joins the CTPodcast to discuss the agency's growing role in shaping CTAA Communications Director Scott Bogren discusses some facet of the transportation future of the 10-county Atlanta region through inno- vative mobility management practices. Building from TCRP's influential community and public transportation with experts in the field. The CT Standardizing Data for Mobility Management report, Futrell discusses Podcast is a great way to learn about key issues, innovations, breaking how the ARC has built upon such concepts as trip discover, trip trans- news and fresh approaches. You can access the CT Podcast in two ways: action and even trip triaging. The goal of the ARC's work is route optimization that uses all modes — including volunteers and taxi-style 1. The CT Podcast Blog Page operations. 2. Subscribe to the CT Podcast on iTunes. HIPAA, Privacy and Community and Public Transportation Here, CTAA's Sheryl Gross-Glaser, director of the Partnership for Mobil- ity Management, discusses the implications of the Health Insurance Here’s who has joined the Podcast this month: Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other privacy laws for Americans For Transit’s Andrew Austin various types of community and public transit agencies. We reference Just two weeks young, Americans For Transit (A4T) is dedicated to orga- a recently-released TCRP Legal Research Digest on the topic, and nizing and mobilizing transit riders. cover additional information on HIPAA in plain English. Gross-Glaser, a lawyer, urges systems to think globally about privacy as well as the Reconnecting America’s Sasha Forbes reasonable standards and training that all systems should consider. Two weeks ago, Reconnecting America released an excellent report, Put- ting Transit to Work in Main Street America: How Smaller Cities and Rural Nathan Shimanek, Driver, CyRide, Ames, Iowa Places are Using Transit. Nathan Shimanek not only won the 2014 Rookie Driver of the Year at the National Community Transportation Roadeo, he also won the highly Treasure Valley Transit’s Terri Lindenberg competitive body-on-chassis vehicle division. It was truly a remarkable CTAA’s 2012 Rural Community Transportation System of the Year is Trea- accomplishment for the 15-year driver, who acknowledges he didn't sure Valley Transit, an 8-county transit system serving Southwest Idaho practice any of the obstacles prior to last month's competition. In this edition of the CT Podcast, Shimanek talks about the work of a CyRide Jarrett Walker, Author, Human Transit driver everyday in Ames, and offers advice to future Roadeo drivers. Jarrett Walker, author of the book, Human Transit, as well as the Human Transit blog. www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 6 From the Community Georgia Transit Tour 2014 Linking the Workforce: Rural & Suburban Transit By Robert Hiett Rural and suburban transit can be found Coweta County is the largest county in the are to support local employment and senior in nearly all parts of Georgia. Some parts of Three Rivers Region, approximately 130,000 citizen activities. Like the other suburban the state are purely rural in nature, and the citizens, and it operates a suburban transit cities and counties in the Three Rivers Re- local transit shuttle provides access to criti- system. Coweta Transit started operating gion, Troup County has retail, medical, and cal community services. Rural and suburban in 2009, and it was heavily used to support educational facilities to meet the needs of its transit provides Georgia’s senior citizens with independent living for its senior citizen com- citizens. The employment based trips show access to medical care, commerce centers in munity. However, Coweta County’s transit the importance of the local transit system each community, and helps them to live in system has seen its employment related trips to the workforce in the area, and the senior their home for longer periods of time. How- rise from 17% of the total trip types in 2009 trips demonstrate a good level of support for ever, rural and suburban transit service in to 45% of the total trip types in 2014. Cowe- the county’s senior citizens. Georgia is used for more than just the activi- ta County has a thriving set of medical, tech- ties that support senior citizens. nical, and community college locations, and Rural and suburban transit is a critical the transit system usage reflects this trend. link to support senior citizens, and it should Suburban parts of the state, such as the always support the elderly so they can con- Three Rivers Region south of Atlanta, have Troup County is the third largest county tinue to live in their communities. However, links to rural, suburban, and urban transit in the Three Rivers Region, approximately policy makers should also be aware that rural systems. Trips that assist senior citizens ac- 70,000 citizens, and its two largest trip types and suburban transit, at least in Georgia, count for slightly less than one third of the total transit system use, and direct employ- ment or people receiving employment train- ing account for nearly sixty percent of the system trips. The most common trip destina- tions related to employment activities are retail centers, technical schools, and com- munity colleges. The TRRC system has five participating counties (Butts, Lamar, Pike, Spalding, and Upson) with two suburban cities (Griffin and Thomaston), and a service area population of approximately 160,000 people. www.ctaa.org CONTENTS 7 plays an important role in workforce develop- raising the standard of excellence ment and availability. COMMUNITY I hope that transit can stay off the “chop- ping block” as the discussion continues over TRANSPORTATION the future of transportation funding because there are legions of people who need this critical service to work their way to a better life. TRAINING Passenger Service and Safety (PASS) Robert serves as the President of the Georgia The PASS program has become the industry standard in ensuring community transit drivers have current expertise in passenger assistance techniques, sensitivity skills, and emergency prepared- We can be your partner in devel- Transit Association (GTA), Georgia Delegate ness. This program trains and certifies both drivers and their trainers. Drivers can now receive PASS oping customized training courses in any certification in a new two-part process consisting of both online and hands-on training – visit: area of critical need. We will help to meet for RPO America, and served 6 years as the training.ctaa.org your customized training needs with our own staff and resources, or will help you Georgia Delegate for the Community Trans- Certified Community Transportation Supervisor (CCTS) identify and obtain the particular training CCTS is a training and certification program for front-line transit supervisors. It addresses core assistance you need for any conceivable portation Association of America. Click here supervisory skills in human resource management, operations and safety management, and situation. to read our full profile on Hiett and the Three performance monitoring. Program topics can be selected from the Rivers Regional Commission. Professional Dispatching and Scheduling (PDS) existing courses or can be custom designed This course is relevant for any demand-responsive environment, whether urban or rural, general based on the interests and needs of the public, paratransit or human services transportation. It expands proficiency in maximizing the group. Several organizations with the same efficient delivery of demand-responsive transportation, conveying riders’ requests into affordable needs may collaborate to reduce costs. All and appropriate trips, and in making effective use of the system’s transportation resources. courses are coordinated by our Training Coordinator, who will also assist in identi- Vehicle Maintenance Management and Inspection (VMMI) fying potential partnerships and collabora- The Vehicle Maintenance Management and Inspection training program promotes the commu- tions.