Guest blogger: DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administrator Peter Appel: Aiken, SC, transportation resource center opens

Earlier this week, I attended the grand opening of the Lower Savannah Council of Governments (LSCOG) Aging, Disability & Transportation Resource Center (ADTRC) in Aiken, South Carolina.

This resource center--one of only three in the US--provides transit information and trip planning services to a six-county region covering nearly 4,000 square miles with a rural population of 300,000 people.

Cutting the ribbon for the expanded Aging, Disability & Transportation Resource Center. Courtesy Susan Richards, SR Concepts.

The newly expanded center is funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Department of Transportation’s United We Ride/Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) initiative. And it’s a great example of how Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can make a real difference in people’s lives today.

Many of us live in places where there are multiple public transportation options. But in some parts of America, the elderly, disabled, and economically disadvantaged must deal with transportation services that are fragmented and uncoordinated. Customers have to contact multiple case workers representing different programs to obtain travel services. They have to make requests too far in advance to be practical. They have to endure schedules that are inconvenient with long wait times that most of us would find intolerable.

At the Aiken TRC, staff like Vickie Jackson are there to make mobility easier. Courtesy Susan Richards, SR Concepts.

Even worse, this creates an additional challenge for those who are unemployed. And, in this economy, we need to make access to potential employers as easy as possible for all Americans who want to work.

Transportation centers like the one in Aiken solve this problem by providing a central location where residents can make one phone call or use the Internet to make transit reservations or get real-time travel information.

Aiken's Best Friend Express featuring the Resource Center logo. Courtesy Susan Richards, SR Concepts.

Ask Althea Smith, who joined us on the podium yesterday, representing bus passengers. Althea used Aiken's Best Friend Express transportation program to secure a job and attend Aiken Technical College. Now, through the new resource center, others across six counties will have similar opportunities.

Video courtesy of WJBF News channel 6

The center succeeds by using ITS technology to:

• Plan routes,
• Schedule trips,
• Automate billing,
• Verify passenger eligibility, and
• Manage buses, vans, trains and other vehicles in a single system

The result is a coordinated, technology-enabled network of transportation providers working together to meet the mobility needs of under-served Americans.

You can see how it works in a video about the Travel Management Coordination Center from Kentucky's Purchase Area Regional Transit, another of our three demonstration projects.

You have heard Secretary LaHood and me blog about how Intelligent Transportation Systems will make our cars and roads safer or less congested in the future. But as this video shows, this center is a great example of how ITS technology can make a real difference in the lives of the people who depend on transportation and transit services to meet their most basic needs.

It's also one more way Recovery Act transportation projects are getting Americans back to work and enhancing the quality of life in our communities.

Today in Aiken, the most disadvantaged travelers will find it easier to see their doctors, get to classes, shop for groceries, and seek employment thanks to the Recovery Act and ITS.

Comments

[Mason Hicks]

Aiken, SC does good work for a city its size with regards to seeing transportation as something beyond the car. Their greenway system deserves commendation. However, South Carolina as a whole is a gross disappointment. The fact that there is only one train a day each way, linking Charlotte to Greenville to Atlanta is a testimony to the pityful attitude of South Carolina's and Georgia's transportion principles.
Secretary LaHood, I believe it was you that said that they need to get "their act together..."

[HP Bryce]

I hope more programs like this can start popping up around America. You are so right when you refer to broken and fractured public transportation systems. I think also that a lot of people do not have access to the information or even know what is available. It does not matter how good a product is if the customers don't know it exist.

[Michael E. Bailey]

This is a good way of getting rural public transportation to areas where it is greatly needed. Another is creating rural fixed route bus systems coordinated by small towns, rural counties, and tribal governments for scheduled rural public transportation that meets all ADA requirements for access and is complemented by a demand-response system for disabled persons who have trouble using fixed route buses or trains. This kind of system operates now with the Umatilla Tribal Government in northeastern Oregon, connecting the Reservation, rural towns, and the larger cities of Walla Walla, Kennewick, and Pasco across the stateline in Washington. Another system connects the Yakama Reservation in Washington to small rural towns and the City of Prosser. We have rural areas of California with no public transportation or very limited and things like are happening with the tribal governments rural towns and counties in Washington and Oregon should be done here to. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[john lenti]

Are there any guidelines on how much road construction (lane closures) should occur in any one construction season? Or by proximity? While the job creation is great and the roads need work, we are concerned that not enough attention is spent on the disruption road work is having on our drive times and commutes.