Agenda - 11-15-2016-13-3 - Information Item - Memorandum - Human Services Transportation Research and Orange Public Transit’s Challenges and Solutions

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INFORMATION ITEM 1 MEMORANDUM To: Orange County Board of County Commissioners From: Micah Guindon, Fiscal & Research Manager and Peter Murphy, Transportation Administrator RE: Human Services transportation research and Orange Public Transit's challenges and solutions Date: November 9, 2016 Purpoc • Share results of the recent research project that examined the transportation needs of human services clients. • Share prioritized solutions (planned or currently in place) to address the transportation needs of human services clients and current barriers to these solutions. Problem Human Services staff consistently hear and see transportation being a barrier for clients. Thus,the Human Services Data Collaborative conducted a research project to gather quantitative and qualitative data to better understand client needs. This four-pronged research project shows there is currently an unmet transportation need for human services clients. While a full report is available upon request, research findings include: • Nearly one in five (18%)clients reported transportation is difficult for them. Various car problems (car trouble, no car, don't drive, and cannot find rides) are the most common reasons clients have difficulty with transportation. • Low transportation access clusters were identified in three areas of the County: Mebane (Elmwood Apartments and Cedar Hill Apartments), Southwest Hillsborough (Gateway Village Apartments, Oakdale Mobile Home Park, Colonial Estate, and Patriot's Point Apartments), and Southern Hillsborough (Woods Edge Mobile Home Park). • Twenty-eight instances of missed service opportunities due to transportation were captured over a period of two months. • Current human services staff strategies can be organized into four categories: dedicating resources to aid client transportation; offering services in homes, off site, and at convenient locations; transporting clients, and providing education and assistance navigating the public transportation system. Please see Appendix A: Alternative Transportation Systems Used by Human Service Departments for a detailed list of strategies currently in place. Current Solutions Through existing routes, Orange Public Transportation (OPT) provides bus stops at some of the locations identified in the research project. OPT has also mapped the low access clusters to show proximity to current transportation options. These Low Access Cluster Maps can be found in Appendix B of this memo. As part of OPT's five-year expansion program, new services on the Route 70 corridor and three zonal deviated fixed routes will provide additional transportation options to human services clients currently experiencing difficulty. In order to implement the new services, OPT is hiring additional staff and adding vehicles. Working with Human Resources, recruitment and retention challenges have been identified and implemented. Another priority is educating riders and potential riders on how to navigate public transportation. In order to do so, OPT and human services departments will: • Develop maps to critical human services locations • Work with clients on how to use Google maps and Go Triangle's trip planner 1