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Mobility Coordination Committee Update
Crystal Odum, MPO Staff
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One of the core goals of the 2018 Updated Raleigh Urbanized Area Coordinated Public Transit Human Services Transportation Plan (CPT-HSTP), Amendment #1 that sets the priorities for transportation investment projects and initiatives for human services and public transit coordination that support elderly, disabled and low-income individuals in the region, is to create an organizational infrastructure to lead coordinated planning efforts. The plan recommends formalizing the Mobility Coordination Committee (MCC) and under the administrative oversight of CAMPO to assign this group responsibility for implementing the recommendations identified in the plan.
Beginning May 22, 2019, CAMPO staff convened the working group and its three sub-committees (Administrative, ADA and Community Transportation), inviting transit provider members from the Raleigh region - GoCary, GoRaleigh, GoTriangle, GoWake Access/Wake County, JCATS, KARTS and HARTS to participate. Later other stakeholders in the CAMPO planning area including participants from regional human service and non-profit agencies such as, but not limited to, the Town of Apex, the three Wake County Regional Centers, the Community Partnership Network/Transformation Exchange and the NC Council of the Blind were invited to join the Community Transportation (CT) sub-committee. The CAMPO Executive Board officially endorsed this full group as the MCC and approved the amended plan and its recommendations on February 19, 2020, establishing clearer direction for the MCC for achieving the short-term, mid-term and long-term goals outlined in the plan as well as adjustments to the implementation timeline.
Staff is providing an update on the MCC short-term (2019-2022) recommendations, strategies and goals attained including1) establishing the MCC; 2) creating a consistent framework for Wake County’s ADA Services; 3) coordinating the management and delivery of ADA services; 4) monitoring the ongoing changes in the State’s Medicaid program and 5) transitioning rural transportation programs into a mobility management framework and the necessary related activities.
With support and concurrence from the MCC members, CAMPO staff is in the process of preparing a Short-Term Implementation Report detailing the committee’s activities to-date and short-term goal attainment. The MCC has successfully advanced many strategy recommendations outlined in the CPT-HST plan, including the overall goal of establishing a formal structure in the MCC as a vehicle for advancing communications, coordination and service connectivity between transit providers and human service agencies. Increased coordination and communication became particularly important during the service delivery difficulties created by the unprecedented pandemic and as designed, the MCC is developing into a “think” tank for sharing ideas and brainstorming for solutions that support service delivery and planning for the elderly, disabled, low-income and the planning area’s population.
During the short-term time period, the MCC has created Sign off sheets for closing out addressed and/or implemented plan recommendations and goals, developed a methodology for defining ADA service gaps, established a joint contracting opportunity for the urban providers to conduct independent, but coordinated, functional ADA eligibility assessments, called for and provides direction and support to the on-going mobility management implementation study that will result in the recommended goal of a regional mobility management program. The MCC, continues to research and support a number of pilot programs that improve service connections in the region, supports the administration of the FTA Section 5310 Program and Call for Projects, conducts continued outreach to build a broader coalition with human services agencies by sharing and gathering information about existing and new services implementations. The MCC actively continues to monitor and improve the impact of the State’s Medicaid program that was implemented on July 1, 2021.
Next immediate steps for the MCC are to continue outlined work activities developing a consistent ADA framework and coordinating ADA service delivery among the urban transit operators, to conclude the mobility management study next year and implement a regional mobility management program that primarily supports the rural communities by July 1, 2023, continue to work with the State and NCPTA to help improve the Medicaid program delivery and prepare for Wake and surrounding county impacts during the final transformation, begin drafting and presenting targeted ideas on emerging mobility strategies and policies.
During the next two years, the MCC will also begin the mid-term goal period that includes further evaluating the brokerage model, further assessing and evaluating medical transportation needs and revising and expanding the mobility management program.
For more information about the MCC and its activities see the CAMPO website at <https://www.campo-nc.us/about-us/committees/mobility-coordination-committee>
Requested Action: Action Receive as information