From the 1990s on, a growing number of federal and state human service programs have identified transportation as an allowable, often vital, support service for clients. State human services agencies in New Mexico are improving clients' transportation options either by funding the expansion of local transit operators' service areas and hours, or the starting up of new transit systems. Agencies providing this new transportation funding require specific reports based on the human service delivery model. Because services are client-based, the reports include the number of unique clients served, number of trips provided to each client, trip purposes, and costs. For New Mexico rural transit systems that operate under Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5311 guidelines, services and reports are trip based. To bridge the gap between human service agency and rural transit system cultures, the Alliance for Transportation Research Institute of the University of New Mexico developed a web-based software program, the Client Referral, Ridership, and Financial Tracking (CRRAFT) Transit Management System. The software integrates human service client transportation referral and service delivery with daily rural public transit operations, provides passengers with increased seamlessness in transportation service, and generates financial and client tracking reports that meet each funding agency's criteria, including those required by FTA. The CRRAFT lessens the burden on small transit systems that have limited administrative staff of two to three people. The software also provides funding agencies with tools to facilitate planning and to maintain administrative and fiscal accountability.
Abstract