BEN GRIBBON

COLLIER COUNTY ENHANCING COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION
	by R. Ben Gribbon, Research Associate, CUTR

Under contract to the Naples Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), CUTR recently completed a Transportation Disadvantaged Evaluation and Enhancement Study for Collier County in southwest Florida. The Study, initiated in the spring of 1994, was recommended following a Transit Feasibility Study conducted in 1993, during which it was suggested that enhancing the local Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) might help meet some of the potential need for public transportation.

The primary goals of this study were to determine how well the current community transportation system is meeting the needs of the transportation disadvantaged (TD) public and to develop alternatives to improve and enhance the TD system, while identifying any opportunities that these enhancements might provide for the general public. Throughout the project, CUTR worked very closely with TECH of Collier County, the CTC designated by the Florida Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged in 1991.

CTC Evaluation

The first part of the study was a general evaluation of TECH as a CTC, using the "Evaluation Workbook for Community Transportation Coordinators and Operators in Florida," which CUTR had previously developed for the Commission. CUTR staff evaluated TECH in nine different areas, including level of coordination, use of competition, cost-effectiveness and efficiency, quality of service, training, availability of service, funding, accountability, and comparison to peers.

The goal of the evaluation was to identify areas for possible improvement, but the process resulted in improvement sooner than expected. CUTR staff found this to be a particularly interesting process, as the CTC was able to implement a number of improvements faster than recommendations could be put in writing. The findings and recommendations were documented in three technical memoranda that preceded the final report.

Some of the improvements resulting from the evaluation include:

a subcontract with another operator to provide backup transportation;
improved monitoring of service performance measures;
an improved complaint and comment tracking system;
development of a quality improvement process;
new reporting capabilities;
the addition of an in-house computer programmer; and
consideration of an automated scheduling system.

Public Input

The next phase of the project was to gather public input on how well community transportation meets the needs of the community. A public workshop was held to provide a general forum for anyone with an interest in community transportation or who had ideas for improved public transportation. CUTR staff facilitated the workshop, eliciting feedback on transportation options, ongoing concerns and priorities, essential existing service, needed improvements, and priorities for expansion. In addition, a number of participants expressed their interest in some form of regularly scheduled service such as fixed routes.

A direct-mail survey of community transportation users also was conducted, and key officials and users in Collier County were interviewed.

Operations Analysis

In addition to the general evaluation, several specific aspects of operations were examined to determine where increased efficiency might be obtained and to develop enhancement options that might meet some of the need for public transportation. Client-registration, reservations, scheduling, routing, trip denials, and software were reviewed, and distribution of the TD population compared to trip origins and destinations was analyzed, using a geographic information system (GIS).

Existing fixed-route service in Immokalee was examined for possible replication in other areas in Collier County.

Conclusions

The findings and conclusions are summarized in a final report, which targets several specific areas for improvement and at the same time indicates that the CTC excels in a number of areas. It is noted that the tremendous increase in ridership accompanied by only moderate increases in revenue and expenses means that, while the system will continue to grow and improve, it is not currently equipped to meet much of the additional demand for general public service. CUTR has recommended that new services target the TD population through services such as shopper shuttles.

For more information, contact Rosemary Mathias, Paratransit Program Manager, at mathias@eng.usf.edu or R. Benjamin Gribbon, Research Associate, at gribbon@eng.usf.edu at CUTR.

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