Capital District                                                                                               May 12, 2011

Transportation Committee      

 

 

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION COMMITTEE

RECORD OF MEETING

 

DATE/TIME: April 21, 2011 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

 

ATTENDANCE: Mike Barry—Center for Disability Services; Mary Broderick—Foster Grand Parents; Kevin DeLaughterColonie Senior Service Centers; David Ericsen—Premiere Transportation; Tim Farrell—Albany County DSS; Todd Finkle—Rensselaer County ARC; Bill Garrison—Center for Disability Services; Joanna King—CDRPC; Rosemary Nichols—City of Watervliet; Margo Mahoski—Catholic Charities of Schenectady; Elise Relyea--NYSOTDA; Phyllis Relyea—Ridge Services; Jane Schramm—Senior services of Albany; Deb Stacey—CDTC Staff;  Tom Vaughan—NYSDOT

 

STUDY DISCUSSION SUMMARY: Meeting participants introduced themselves.  After introductions, each agenda item was discussed in sequence:

 

RTCC Activities: 

a.     2008 New Freedom ProjectsCatholic Charities has “completed” this project and invoiced for the remainder of the grant.  The Eddy has requested assistance in scheduling their trips; Catholic Charities will enter the Eddy’s data using the scheduling software and will provide the output to them.

Catholic Charities also submitted a proposal to begin limited weekend service on a trial basis for seniors in the county.  The service began in October 2009. Ridership is slowly increasing.

2009 Project The city of Watervliet began the shuttle service in July. Ridership has been steadily increasing. Over 260 rides were provided in March 2011, up from 142 in October.  The route dovetails with existing CDTA fixed route service, and LINK tickets are available making it easier for seniors and mobility disabled individuals to get where they need to go using CDTA.  The route was modified to reduce travel time and ridership increased once these changes were made.  Person’s using wheelchairs are starting to use the service.  The shuttle will serve the popular farmer’s market beginning May.

 

Advantage Taxi (known as Yellow Cab) successfully bid for the contract to operate the first two accessible taxis.  The taxi’s are in full operation, although there are some remaining medallion issues in the city of Albany. Once CDTA has some experience with Yellow Cab in operating the accessible taxis, additional taxis will be ordered and the service will be put out for bid.

2011 Solicitation--
Approximately $214,000 of New Freedom federal funding was made available to the Capital Region.  CDTC received one New Freedom application, representing a collaborative effort between four human service agencies. 

Schenectady ARC, serving as the lead agency and fiscal agent, applied for $185,496 in New Freedom Program funding (federal share) in collaboration with Catholic Charities Senior Services in Schenectady, the Center for Disability Services in Albany and Senior Services of Albany.  The application is to purchase Digital Mobil Radio technology for the aggregate fleet of 124 vehicles.  This would put the four agencies in compliance with upcoming (January 2013) Federal Communications Commission mandates with the added benefit of expanding inter-agency communication and transportation coordination.   This project demonstrates how successful the Region has been in garnering partnerships between diverse human service entities. 

 

CDTC did not receive any applications from for Saratoga County projects.  Rather than “lose” the funds, CDTC and CDTA propose using the 2011 Allocation (~$231,000) to help fund the accessible taxi program, as the cost of the vehicles has increased.  RTCC members agreed with this approach.

 

CDTA:

a.     CST Funding Update-- CST 10 has been spent down by Albany and Schenectady counties; Rensselaer County has some CST dollars remaining.  CST 10 must be fully spent by June 2011.  At this point in time, the NYS budget continues CST funding at a very minimal level ($112,000), which will have huge impacts on the Social Service departments.  Albany County is currently using FFFS funds to fund the bus pass program. 

 

NYSDOT/Section 5310:

 

a.     Section 5310—FFY 2011 Section 5310 applications are due on May 4th.  CDTC received several requests for “coordination” letters from local agencies.  CDTC staff will be involved in the evaluation of the applications.  The Capital Region human service agencies have historically done well in garnering Section 5310 funds.

b.     Rural Solicitation for JARC and New Freedom—NYSDOT will release the solicitation for rural JARC and New Freedom projects shortly.

c.      Other—NYSDOT has hired a consultant to study mobility management; interviews of MPOs and select human service agencies will be conducted.  A training session will be developed.

 

Coordinated Plan:

 

a.     SAFETEA-LU rules require an update to the Coordinated Plan every four years.  CDTC staff drafted the update and distributed it to RTCC participants.  Basically, the 2011 Coordinated Plan documents what has occurred since the 2007 Coordinated Plan was approved.  Deb Stacey will present the 2011 Plan to CDTC’s Planning Committee in May, and requested that comments be submitted by the end of the month.  CDTC still plans to conduct an abbreviated version of the survey that was sent to Human Service Agencies in 2006.  The draft survey was modified to incorporated feedback provided by RTCC members.  The survey effort should commence in June 2011.

 

 

NEXT MEETING:

 

The next meeting of the Regional Transportation Coordination Committee is scheduled for Tuesday August 16, 2011 at 1:30 pm at CDTC’s offices.