Helping veterans and their families get where they're going

Our nation is tremendously grateful for the sacrifices America’s armed forces and their families are making every day,  and the Obama Administration is committed to giving them the opportunities and support they have certainly earned.

Last week, the Federal Transit Administration launched a new initiative to help ensure that getting a ride to work, day care, or to a medical appointment is no longer an obstacle for veterans or their families.  The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative will award grants to local transportation providers and other groups around the country so they can better coordinate and deliver important transit information through “one-call” or “one click” centers.

FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff signs the VTCLI notice of funding availability

All too often, our veterans face serious transportation challenges at home.  For instance, rising gas prices have hit military families' budgets hard.  And roughly 4 in 10 veterans--including our younger Iraq and Afghanistan veterans--live in rural areas where affordable transportation options are often limited, and where it's necessary to travel great distances to receive medical care, reach employment centers, and access other services to which they are entitled.

While public transportation services might be available, coordinating and using those services can be too complicated.  Our veterans and their families deserve convenient, ready access.

One-call and one-click centers are a proven way to solve that problem.  This initiative will help create, expand, or upgrade those centers across the nation.  With just one phone call or visit to a friendly website, military families can learn about the availability of commuter van services that travel to employment centers, vehicles equipped with wheelchair lifts that can provide rides to a local rehab center, or buses that stop by the local mall.  Coordinating this information in one convenient place will also help save transit agencies money by eliminating redundant service and outreach.

Of all our public transportation initiatives, I don't know of one that is more important than this.  We have long known that mobility is a key factor in the ability to take advantage of the terrific opportunities our society offers.  Helping to deliver that mobility to America's veterans and their families is a mission the FTA is proud to undertake.

As FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff said, “Every service member who returns home or relocates to a new community should have a reliable ride to earn a reliable paycheck.  Military families and veterans must be able to take full advantage of the transportation resources in their communities.”

Learn about the White House Joining Forces program serving America's military families

One terrific feature of the new initiative is the broad partnership that created it.  Our grants to communities and transit agencies will be complemented by training, technical assistance, outreach, and social media technology investments provided by FTA and other participating agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Labor.  The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense are also lending critical support.  The success of this partnership is very promising.

Our veterans and their families have made tremendous sacrifices for our nation.  The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative is one way to honor that sacrifice.  As President Obama has said, "They have done their duty, and now we must do ours."

Comments

[Harvey Botzman]

This brings to mind Canandaigua NY where the Veterans Administration maintains a relatively large hospital and outpatient center.

Although there is a local and efficient County operated bus system, the County Commissioners refuse to approve the installation of bicycle racks on all of its buses. This is a particularly strange situation since many veterans living in the County use a bicycle to accomplish every day errands (going to the Veterans Center, grocery story, restaurants, retail shopping strip malls and indoor malls, etc.) and the cost of purchasing and installing the bicycle racks is 80% (I think) financed through US DOT Transportation enhancement grants.

Is it possible for Administrator Rogoff and Secretary LaHood can encourage the County Commissions to apply for the transportation enhancement funds to place bike racks on all of the Ontario NY County buses? Such facilities would more than likely increase ridership of municipal/county public transit buses making them more efficient carriers of people as well as creating a better bottom line for the bus system.