Job Access and Reverse Commute and New Freedom Program Best Practices

1. Job Access and Reverse Commute and New Freedom ProgramBest Practices Presented By: Laura Calderon Program Manager Illinois Department of Transportation Division of Public and Intermodal Transportation

2. JARC Overview • Federal program to provide funding for local projects that support the development and maintenance of transportation services designed to transport low-income individuals to and from jobs and activities related to their employment and to support reverse commute projects. • Addresses the unique transportation challenges faced by welfare recipients and low-income persons seeking to get and retain jobs.

3. JARC Overview • Helps low-income individuals successfully transition from welfare to work and reach needed employment services such as childcare and job training activities. • Funds capital, operating and planning projects.

4. New Freedom Overview • Federal program designed to encourage new services, new alternatives and facility improvements to address the transportation needs of persons with disabilities that go beyond those required by ADA. • Projects must be targeted toward individuals with disabilities .

5. New Freedom Overview • Projects must remove barriers to transportation and assist persons with disabilities with transportation, including transportation to and from jobs and employment services. • “New” service is any service or activity that was not operational on August 10, 2005 and did not have an identified funding source as of August 10, 2005. • Funds Capital and Operating Projects.

6. JARC and New Freedom eligible subrecipients • Private non-profit organizations • State or local governmental authorities • Operators of public transportation services including private operators of public transportation services.

7. JARC Eligible Activities • Late-night and weekend service • Guaranteed ride home service • Expanding public transit fixed-routes • Demand-responsive van service • Ridesharing and carpooling activities

8. JARC Eligible Activities • Transit-related aspects of bicycling: • Adding bicycle racks to transit vehicles • Providing bicycle storage at transit stations • Local car loan programs that assist individuals in purchasing and maintaining vehicles used for commutes.

9. Jarc Eligible Activities • Promotion, through marketing efforts, of the following: • Use of transit by workers with non-traditional work schedules • Use of transit voucher programs by appropriate agencies for welfare recipients and other low-income individuals • Development of employer-provided transportation such as shuttles, ridesharing, or carpooling • Use of transit pass programs

10. Jarc eligible activities • Providing vouchers to low-income individuals to purchase rides, including: • Mileage reimbursement as part of a volunteer driver program • A taxi trip • Trips provided by a human service agency

11. Jarc eligible activities • Acquiring GIS tools • Implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), including customer trip information technology • Integrating automated regional public transit and human service transportation information scheduling and dispatch functions

12. Jarc eligible activities • Subsidizing the cost of adding reverse routes or service from urbanized areas and non-urbanized areas to suburban work places • Purchasing vans or buses for the use of shuttling employees between their residences and their work places • Funding for short term management activities to plan and implement coordinated services, such as a planning study

13. New freedom eligible activities • Expansion of paratransit service parameters beyond the ¾ mile required by ADA • Expansion of current hours of operation for ADA pratransit services that are beyond those provided on the fixed-route services • The incremental cost of providing same day services

14. New freedom eligible activities • The incremental cost of making door-to-door services available to all eligible ADA paratransit riders in an otherwise curb-to-curb system • Enhancement of the level of service by providing escorts or assisting riders through the door of their destination • Installation of additional securement locations in public buses beyond what is required by ADA

15. New Freedom Eligible Activities • Acquisition of vehicles and equipment designed to accommodate mobility aids that exceed the dimensions and weight ratings established for common wheelchairs under ADA • New “feeder” service to commuter rail, commuter bus, intercity rail and intercity bus stations, for which complementary paratransit services is not required under ADA

16. New freedom eligible activities • Building an accessible path to a bus stop that is currently inaccessible, including: curb cuts, sidewalks, accessible pedestrian signals or other accessible features • Adding an elevator or ramps, detectable warnings, or other accessibility improvements that are not otherwise required under ADA • Improving signage or wayfinding technology

17. New freedom eligible activities • Implementation of technology improvements that enhance accessibility for people with disabilities, including ITS • New training programs for individual users on awareness, knowledge, and skills of public and alternative transportation options available in their communities • Purchasing vehicles to support new accessible taxi, ride sharing and/or vanpooling programs

18. New freedom eligible activities • Providing vouchers to individuals with disibilities to purchase rides, including: • Mileage reimbursement as part of a volunteer driver program • A taxi trip • Trips provided by a human service agency

19. New freedom eligible activities • Supporting new volunteer driver and aide programs, including support for costs associated with the administration, management of driver recruitment, safety, background checks and other related support functions associated with volunteer driver and aide programs

20. Requirement of both programs All projects must be part of an approved coordinated Human Service Transportation Plan, addressing one or more of the identified service gaps.

21. Primary service goals/output measures for both programs • Measures used by FTA for reporting purposes: • Expanded geographic coverage • Extended hours/days of service • Improved system capacity • Improved access/connections • Improved customer knowledge

22. Thank you for listening to our mommy!