About the Plan
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In August of 2005, Congress passed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation, Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), reauthorizing the surface transportation act. As part of this reauthorization, grantees under the New Freedom Initiative, Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) and Elderly and Disabled Transportation Program (5310) must meet certain requirements in order to receive funding for fiscal 2007 (beginning 10/1/06) and beyond.
One of the SAFETEA-LU requirements is that projects from the programs listed above must be part of a “locally developed coordinated public transit-human services transportation plan.” This plan is required to be developed through a process that includes representatives of public, private, and non-profit transportation services, human service providers and the general public.
The American Public Transit Association stresses the benefits of coordinating public transportation service with human services programs for vulnerable populations. “Existing public transportation systems have the expertise to serve clients of social service agencies in areas such as dispatching, route creation, and point-to-point services; and most significantly, the infrastructure to provide these services is already in place.” Coordination will also “enhance transportation access, minimize duplication of services, and facilitate the most appropriate cost-effective transportation possible with available resources.”