Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions TEN COMMUNITY CASE STUDIES FROM ONTARIO ACCELERATING RURAL TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS AUTHORSHIP AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Case Study Consultant Team: Lorna McCue, Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Lisa Tolentino, Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Robb MacDonald, MacComm International Special appreciation is extended to the key informants from each of the case study groups who provided the information that comprised the bulk of the case studies. They are the following: • Colltrans - Wasaga Beach/Blue Mountains Transit Links: Kris Wiszniak, Engineering Technician, Town of Collingwood • Community Care Northumberland Specialized Transportation Program: Jessica Hoskin, Specialized Transportation Coordinator, and Alicia Vandine, Regional Community Relations Coordinator • Corridor 11 Bus: Shonna Caldwell, Program Information Manager, Community Services, District Municipality of Muskoka • Deseronto Transit: Susan Stolarchuk, Transit Administrator, Town of Deseronto • Dial A Ride Rural Route Transit: Enzo Ingribelli, Public Works Transportation Supervisor, City of Kawartha Lakes • EasyRide: Melanie Higgins, Transportation Supervisor & EasyRide Lead Transportation Coordinator, ONE CARE Home and Community Support Services • Lanark Transportation Association: Marilyn Bird, Executive Director • Ride Norfolk: Brad Smith, Public Transportation Coordinator, Norfolk County • Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit (SMART): Roger Cook, Manager • The Rural Overland Utility Transit (TROUT): John Keith, Manager of Transportation Services, and Gord MacDonald, Executive Director, Community Care North Hastings Appreciation is also expressed to members of the Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions Project Management Team, listed below, and the Project Advisory Committee, who are too numerous to mention, as they contributed to identifying potential case study groups and assisted with the development of the research methodology. Project Management Team: Norman Ragetlie, Rural Ontario Institute Rob Black, Rural Ontario Institute Scott Currie, Rural Ontario Institute Lorna McCue, Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Lisa Tolentino, Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Brad Smith, Ride Norfolk Scott Butler, Ontario Good Roads Association #MovingRural Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions: Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario 1 2 Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions: Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario #MovingRural TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . 5 Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario: Case Study 1: Colltrans - Wasaga Beach/Blue Mountains Transit Links . 9 Case Study 2: Community Care Northumberland Specialized Transportation Program . 17 Case Study 3: Corridor 11 Bus ................................................... 27 Case Study 4: Deseronto Transit ................................................. 35 Case Study 5: Dial A Ride Rural Route Transit . 47 Case Study 6: EasyRide . 53 Case Study 7: Lanark Transportation Association . 61 Case Study 8: Ride Norfolk ...................................................... 69 Case Study 9: Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit (SMART)........................ 77 Case Study 10: The Rural Overland Utility Transit (TROUT) ............................ 83 Summary of Case Study Results .................................................... 95 Conclusions ..................................................................... 101 Additional Resources . 102 Appendix A: Key Informant Interview Questions .................................... 103 #MovingRural Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions: Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario 3 4 Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions: Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario #MovingRural INTRODUCTION 1. Background Rural residents have voiced concerns about transportation Many organizations expressed support for this project, challenges for a long time. The lack of viable transportation several of which appointed delegates to a Project Advisory options in rural areas makes it difficult for many adults Committee. A Project Management Team, consisting and youth, especially those with low incomes, to take of representatives of the collaborating organizations, advantage of employment and educational opportunities, transportation providers and others, was also established attend health and social service appointments, or to oversee and coordinate project operations. participate in social and leisure activities. This is a The Project Management Team identified a number of persistent issue and, given the aging demographic of models of collaborative rural transportation solutions that rural Ontario, the need for affordable and accessible have emerged and are continuing to evolve in Ontario. transportation services will increase in the future. The Several leaders of those programs were able to share their assumption that social, economic and health needs can stories and engage in a cross-sector dialogue with rural be met solely by private cars and volunteer programs stakeholders as a result of their participation in the project. is becoming increasingly untenable. Transportation Some participated in workshops and forums or provided services are also needed for rural communities to thrive expert advice in various areas of the project. For instance, economically by supporting a skilled, mobile labour a three-part webinar series was offered in partnership force within the region. However, rural transportation is with HC Link in February and March, 2014. Recordings of a complex and challenging problem, and the solutions the webinars, slides and related documents are available will almost certainly require many organizations to work at: www.ohcc-ccso.ca/en/rural_tranportation_webinars. together to support new approaches. Also, a user-friendly resource to allow transportation Responding to these concerns, the Rural Ontario service providers to assess and identify opportunities to Institute and the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition collaborate and develop a coordinated transportation collaborated on a project to share knowledge of effective model was created. It is entitled Towards Coordinated Rural models and emerging innovation in rural regional Transportation: A Resource Document (Dillon Consulting, transportation. “Accelerating Rural Transportation 2014) and available at: www.ruralontarioinstitute. Solutions”, funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation was ca/resources-reports/ under the heading “Rural designed to: Transportation”. • Identify and document case studies of effective rural regional transportation approaches in Ontario • Implement and report on a study of the current and potential business models and financing sources for cost-shared rural transportation systems • Communicate and facilitate dialogue to share the above resources at events and through learning channels including workshops, webinars and forums. #MovingRural Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions: Ten Community Case Studies from Ontario 5 Introduction 2. Scan of Rural Transportation General Population Programs 17. Collingwood-Wasaga Beach/Collingwood-Blue Mountains Transit Links One of the initial activities of the project was to conduct a scan to identify transportation initiatives that appear to 18. Deseronto Transit be successful and potentially sustainable. Various types of 19. Elmira Bus Route Service initiatives were sought out, including public transit, agency 20. Community Care Northumberland Specialized collaborations, ride-sharing/car-pooling and coordination Transportation Program and planning initiatives. We invited anyone we knew to be 21. Kawartha Lakes Dial a Ride Rural Transit involved in a rural transportation program to fill out an 22. Perth East Transportation online survey, and we asked them to pass the invitation along to others. The survey gathered basic information 23. Ride Norfolk about the programs, including, for example, the type of 24. Corridor 11 Bus program, whom it serves, what vehicles are used, and 25. The Rural Overland Utility Transit (TROUT) information about fares and schedules. We produced a 26. Town of Cobourg list of programs of varying types, such as public transit, volunteer driver programs and ride-sharing initiatives. Below is a list of the 35 public and not-for-profit programs Information, Planning and Coordination that participated in the scan: 27. Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force – Transportation Action Group Special Populations 28. Coordinated Transportation Strategy Committee 1. Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes (Grey County) Transportation Services 29. Huron Perth Transportation Network 2. EasyRide 30. Headwaters Communities in Action 3. MOVIN’GB Transportation 31. Community Transportation Committee (Simcoe 4. Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit (SMART) County) 5. South-East Grey Support Services 32. Tillsonburg Transportation Working Group 6. Beaver Valley Outreach Special Needs 33. Alzheimer Society of Simcoe County Transportation 7. Belvedere Heights Community Support Services Active Transportation Volunteer Transportation 34. Haliburton Communities in Action 8. Canadian Red Cross 9. Community Care for South Hastings Ride-Sharing 10. Community Reach 35. Haliburton Rideshare – Rural Transportation 11. Elmira Kiwanis Options 12. Lanark Transportation Association 13. Georgian Handivan Association 3. Scope of the Case Studies 14. Muskoka Family Focus and Children’s Place The case studies attempted to answer the question “How 15. Volunteer Transportation Program (Picton) can