Coordinated transportation is being advocated in lieu of assigning dedicated vehicles to human service agencies. This paper compares the mobility options and service efficiency of an agency-dedicated vehicle transportation system with a similar coordinated transportation system to determine the positive characteristics exhibited by both transportation models. The recommendations propose a method of combining the best characteristics of both. Vehicle utilization data, performance indicators, and ridership statistics per funding agency were used to compare the two transportation models. The comparison shows that the coordinated transportation system operates state funded vehicles over a larger portion of the day and increases the overall mobility of the community by making the vehicles available to clients of many funding agencies and the public. The agency-dedicated vehicle transportation system is more proficient at performing trips for the sheltered workshop and recreation and shopping routes for the elderly and disabled. The agency-dedicated vehicle transportation systems social services transportation, however, performed comparable to the coordinated transportation peer. This paper recommends that the agency-dedicated vehicle transportation system transition to a coordinated transportation system to better serve its population. However, in becoming coordinated, the transit system should retain the most efficient aspects of the agency-dedicated vehicle transportation- the sheltered workshop and elderly and disabled trips. The least efficient aspect of its service, social service trips, should use its clients and vehicles to become the foundation of a coordinated system offering transportation to clients of other funding agencies and the general public.
Abstract