Tompkins County Coordinated Transportation PlanningIthaca, New York - Blog

Mobility Priorities for 2015 - #1

Fri, 02 Jan 2015 17:49:48 GMT

Basecamp Projects

My first 4 blogs in 2015 will be about priorities for mobility management. Most deal with policies. This blog is about affordable technology and is a update of a Feb 2014 blog about tech tools.

#1. Review Tech Tools for Mobility Management

In 2014, I fulfilled a New Year's resolution to never again use email to coordinate a project. I chose a portfolio of affordable tech tools for conference calling, screen sharing, & online collaboration. It's time to review how well it went.

First, basecamp.com, the online project collaboration site was a great find. In Feb 2014, the Upstate NY Medicaid Transportation site had 34 users. We are up to 104 users from around New York State. The site is the portal for enabling collaboration among counties with our work with NYS Dept of Health. I also use it for six other projects. The most intensive project of late is coordinating work preparing for our FTA Triennial Review in 2015. After each project is completed I archive it and free-up the slot for a new project.

For many people I work with, "basecamp" is a noun where project files, discussions and emails are kept. I'm still learning how the features of the service can be used for our evolving needs. It's a great value for $20/month for 10 active projects.

I schedule and conduct simple webmeetings/ conference calls using doodle.com, uberconference.com and joinme.com, a good package for $20/month. I'm still pleased with weebly.com for creating and editing websites, @ $4/month. I'm still looking for a better email marketing service than icontact.com. It gets a 6 out of 10 score from me.

In conclusion, mobility management is all about efficient collaboration, and with web tools we can efficiently manage the communications essential for collaboration. Many tools have apps for mobile devices and the Google Chrome browser. Take the first step and try these out.

Future Topics
2. Medicaid Transportation
3. Ideas for developing a community mobility system
4. Active Transportation and Street Alive! in 2015

What's in your Mobility Manager Tech Tool Kit?

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 21:32:12 GMT

Mobility management requires effective collaboration & communication. We need cost-effective tools and skills to succeed.

What is in your tech tool kit? We all have a tool kit and it's usually not of our choosing. My default tech tools include: a land line phone that can conference call to two other people, email, Microsoft Office, internet through a filtered state portal, and an unfriendly website builder to create county web pages. Compared to the early 1990's, my default tool kit is amazing technology gifted by aliens. Alas, in 2014, it's a bowl of cold oatmeal. What to do.

Fortunately, as the sole FTE in the Transportation Planning Division, operating with a separate budget, I've had the flexibility and means to build a decent tech tool kit for $54 a month.

Before I unpack my kit, I'll start right off and say I do not have a smartphone. We don' t have agency smartphones. I'm making due with a personal phone & my new iPod. This solution is good enough for me. I do love my apps. More on good apps in the future.

So what can you get for $54/month?

1. Unlimited conference calling (up to 100 participants) with UberConference.com ($10/mo). This is an excellent service that is fun and easy to use. And no more PIN numbers!!

2. Screen Sharing. I can share my monitor screen with other people, enable others to remotely control my computer or I can control their computer with joinme.com ($10/mo). Together, screen sharing and conference calling equals web meetings or simple webinars for $20/mo. Also, This is a useful way to provide simple tech support to a remote computer user.

3. On-line Collaborative Work Spaces. I'm using basecamp.com to create on-line collaborative work spaces, which is one web page of discussions, to-do lists, file folder, text files, and forwarded emails ($20/mo). The largest work group has 34 participants from all over the state. We are working on an urgent Medicaid transportation issue. I'm hosting weekly meetings using conference calling, screen sharing and the basecamp site.

4. Website building & hosting. Four years ago I began building & hosting websites using weebly.com. The Pro account is $4/mo. You can easily create websites that are optimized for tablets and mobile phones. I can not emphasize too much how easy and productive it is to use weebly.

5. Email Marketing. It's typical to have email mailing lists and the need to create e-newsletters, and send out meeting reminders or e-postcards. Now, of all of my tech tools, I've found email marketing to be the least friendly and satisfying tool to use. I'm on my third service, which is better than the previous ones, but I'm not married to it. I use icontact.com ($10/mo). It's good, but could be better.

6. Meeting Scheduling. What is better and easier to use than doodle.com for free?

So, that's the tour of my tech tool kit. Tell me about yours. Feel free to ask me questions or to schedule a demonstration. (Screen sharing is good.) Cheers.

Five Ways You Can Help Build Sustainable Transportation in 2014

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 20:19:56 GMT

Dwight Mengel & Ferando deAragon

Transportation is key to almost all activities that take place within a community. The ability of people to reach needed destinations impacts the viability of businesses, health and human services, economic development, local government, and more. We can “think globally, live locally and act regionally” for transportation. Together, we can choose to build up sustainable transportation in Tompkins County in 2014.

The topic of sustainable transportation is an all- inclusive subject, about how people, goods, and energy move in relation to patterns of human development. With transportation using 25% of the world’s energy, and growing, we come face-to-face with climate change. Sustainable transportation is also concerned about social equity and economic vitality. Job seekers, low wage workers, seniors, people with disabilities, rural residents, and youth face real barriers to mobility. Transportation equity means everyone can enjoy a basic level of mobility. Economic vitality requires people have affordable transportation choices to go to work.   Another economic benefit is to avoid public costs of building future parking garages by reducing the number of cars driven by solo drivers to downtown. Together, environmental, social and economic impacts are used to measure progress on sustainable transportation.

Here are 5 ways you can benefit from and contribute to sustainable transportation this year.

1.      Choose your housing location wisely. About 22% of county residents move to a new residence annually. Considering housing and transportation costs together to better know the total cost of living in a location. If you live along a TCAT route, you’ll have ready access to bus service. If you live near your job and other regular destinations you expand your transportation options to bicycling and walking.

2.      Know your travel options. Call 2-1-1 or go online to Way2Go.org to learn about all mobility services in the county. 2-1-1 Information & Referral, of the Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County, and the Way2Go community mobility education program, of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, work together to provide this coordinated public service.

3.      Learn and try new mobility services. A good source of information is Way2Go’s How-to videos at way2go.org or YouTube channel: Way2GoCCE. The are videos on carshare, rideshare, riding TCAT buses, and services for people with disabilities. Try out Ithaca Carshare and Zimride Tompkins (rideshare). If you commute more than 20 miles, look into vanpooling at vride.com. Many people walk and bike in the county. If you combine multiple mobility options, you may be able to replace owning a car, at a significant savings.

4.       Be a driver, a volunteer or both. Do you drive solo to work? Then look into ridesharing at zimride.com/tompkins. There is an urgent need for more drivers to offer rides. There are volunteer opportunities ranging from driving paratransit buses for GADABOUT or driving your own car for Tompkins County FISH (fishoftc.org/ ) and the School Success Transportation service. Other volunteer opportunities include being a travel ambassador with Way2Go to help seniors learn to ride TCAT buses, serve on TCAT’s Community Advisory Board, or volunteer to help run Streets Alive! Ithaca, a biannual celebration of city streets closed to cars and open to people. If you have any questions contact Way2Go at 272-2292.

5.       Contribute your knowledge in Transportation Planning. In 2014, there are important updates in transportation planning taking place. All efforts need diverse public input throughout the planning process. Agencies are updating the County’s Comprehensive Plan and the Long Range Transportation Plan together. The County Planning Department is responsible for the Comprehensive Plan. The Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council will update the long range transportation plan. These planning efforts will provide direction for future work in transportation. More information can be found at tompkinscountyny.gov/itctc or contacting the ITCTC offices - 274-5570.

A related short term planning effort brings together public transit (TCAT), other mobility operators, County Departments of Social Services and Aging, advocacy and human services agencies to identify unmet transportation needs of persons with limited income, seniors, and people with disabilities and to coordinate to improve services to these populations and also to the general public. The Coordinated Transportation Committee meets monthly and is open to the public. Work on the Coordinated Transportation Plan is expected to conclude in October 2014. More information is at tccoordinatedplan.org.

Every person can contribute to achieving transportation sustainability in our community. Learn about mobility options available to you, then take action to diversify your transportation. You will find that it can be fun and can save you money. Participating in planning efforts directly contributes to setting community priorities and plans for future services. Contact Way2Go (272-2292) or any of the agencies listed in the article for more information.

Dwight Mengel is Chief Transportation Planner at the County Dept. of Social Services.
Fernando deAragon is Executive Director of I-TCTC.

Portraits of a Cycling City - #BikeNYC

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:58:06 GMT

Janette Sadik-Khan & Citibike

One thing leads to another. I got an invitation to StreetFilms' 2013 Streets Ball. Streetfilms is are honoring Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC Transportation Commissioner.

Which lead me to find this post on #BikeNYC http://gudphoto.com/bikenyc/2013/05/13/bike-portrait-janette-sadik-khan-and-citi-bike/ and then to the portraits page.

I am hearten by these stories. We can do our part to create infrastructure for biking and for multi-modal community mobility.

Federal Highway Admin Supports Flexible Bicycle & Pedestrain Facility Design - Memo of Aug 20, 1013

Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:34:32 GMT

bicyclepedestrianfacilitydesignflexmemo.pdf
File Size:	1770 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Expanded Mobility Management Program at NYPTA Transit Conference, Sept 12, 2013 Part 2

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:15:40 GMT

"National leaders gather for an informative discussion on current trends and issues affecting the coordination of mobility options for today’s communities. The strategic, partner-centered approach to mobility services is taking many shapes throughout the country. Learn what models are working, and the steps they took to drive the process. A special one day package is available for mobility management professionals. Click here to register online or download a registration form (select the Thursday option on the form)." NYPTA Website

NYS Public Transit Industry Partners in Progress
Conference and Expo
Sept 11-12, 2013
Saratoga Springs City Center
Saratoga Springs, New York

Mobility Management Program
September 12, 2013, 9:00 am – 12:45 pm
ADA Compliance Lunch 1:00-2:30 pm

9:00 – 10:00 am Mobility Management Issues in NYS

Join in an active, open discussion on current mobility management issues. Participants are encouraged to create a 5-slide, 5 minute participation framing a question for discussion. There is time for 5 presentations. Deadline to submit presentations to Dwight Mengel is Sept 6.

10:05-11:30 am Mobility Management Roundtable

Dwight Mengel, Chief Transportation Planner, Tompkins County Dept. of Social Services, (Moderator), Robert G. Stanley, public transit consultant, Katherine Freund, Founder and President, ITNAmerica, Inc., and Sheryl Gross-Glasser, Director, Partnership for Mobility Management.

Topics include: reinventing public transit agencies as mobility managers; ITNEverywhere – developing a mobility business in small urban and rural areas; organizing mobility managers in states; national training, technical assistance, funding and networking, and roles of the new Center for Mobility Management.

11:45 – 12:45 Roundtable Open Mike

Engage the presenters in open discussion. All questions and comments are welcomed.

1:00 – 2:30 ADA Compliance Lunch and Learn

Grab your lunch and learn about requirements for applying ADA regulations to the operation of public transit systems, practical use of securement devices for today’s mobility equipment, and developing appropriate ADA operations policy to teach drivers proper techniques.

Web Resources about the Roundtable Panel:
www.mobilitymanager.weebly.com
http://www.apta.com/resources/hottopics/mobility/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.apta.com/resources/hottopics/mobility/Pages/SupportingtheEffort.aspx
http://www.apta.com/gap/advocacy/Documents/Microsoft%20PowerPoint%20-%20APTA%20MM%20TAC%20PPT%20.ppt%20[Read-Only]%20[Compatibility%20M.pdf
http://www.itnamerica.org/what-we-do/research-policy/itneverywhere

How to Register
1. Go to the NYPTA website to register
http://www.nypublictransitpartnersinprogress.org/index.php/conference-2013

2. Register by August 23 for the Early Bird rate and save $100. The Early Bird one-day registration for Thursday, Sept 12 is $195, including lunch.

3. If you are eligible for RTAP, rural and small urban areas, then click the RTAP bus icon to register.

4. Rural Transportation Assistance Program systems may request an RTAP Scholarship to attend this conference subject to NYSDOT approval. Eligible operators must complete and return an RTAP Scholarship Application (pdf), (RTF) to NYSDOT for approval prior to attending a training activity. For information on the RTAP Scholarship Program see the RTAP Scholarship Program Guidelines on the NYSDOT Web site.

New Name and Look for TCCoordinatedPlan.org

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:46:50 GMT

At the April Coordinated Plan meeting, I discussed our need to update the website look and name (url). Since 2010, our url was tccoordinatedplan.weebly.com.
I use weebly.com to build and update the website. (Frankly, Weebly.com is the best (e.g. easy-to-use) online website editor you'll probably find at an great price.)

The response I got from the group was "You decide on the new url and tell us." and "Go ahead and knock yourself out." I'm still conscious, but I did make changes.

The new url is "tccoordinatedplan.org". "tc" stands for Tompkins County. How many of you knew that? So, we dropped the "weebly" part and added .org instead of .com .

Why add "Ithaca, New York, USA" to the masthead? Frankly, the majority of visitors to our website are not locals, or even from New York State. Our Coordinated Plan members visit the site the day before, or day of our meeting. Otherwise, visitors come from all over the US and from far flung countries, including South Africa, Korea, and Ukraine. All visitors are welcomed, even the bots from websites re-selling diesel engine parts. (Ukraine, I googled you.)

Of course, our former url will point visitors to our website. If you have comments or suggestions, you can send them to me. Thanks.

Ithaca Carshare is Turning 5 - Time for a Party!

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:08:15 GMT

Whether you’re an Ithaca native, come into town for work from a surrounding village, a Cornell or Ithaca College student or a regular summer visitor; no doubt you recognize the cars with the green and blue windmill logo. “Born” five years ago, in June 2008, Ithaca Carshare is a result of community members coming together to create a vision. With NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research & Development Authority), Cornell, Ithaca College, and other support, carsharing in a small Upstate city became a reality. (report to NYSERDA)

Ithaca Carshare, a transit-oriented service, offers self-serve access to vehicles when needed, without the ongoing high cost of ownership. This model makes independent transportation affordable to more people, supports everyday bus riding, bicycling and walking, and is also a reliable back-up for bus commuters, carpoolers and single car families. “Carshare has made a huge difference in my life! I save a lot of time compared to riding the bus for everything, and a ton of money compared to buying a car,” says member Christine Stenglein. Ithaca Carshare launched with six cars and a truck serving about 60 members in 2008, and five years later has grown to 1300 members served by a fleet over three times that size, with 23 vehicles, including a minivan and that same pickup truck.

Of these 23 vehicles, four of the originals remain. Members often know them by their names, Nissan Versas Virginia, Dino, and Champ and Beau the pickup have helped with over 16,000 trips, logging almost 250,000 miles. “Ithaca Carshare has helped relieve parking pressure downtown and in Collegetown, reduce the number of student vehicles, and reduce local businesses’ vehicle cost.,” says Operations Director Anna Cook. Transit-oriented carsharing reduces high car expenses and environmental impacts by spreading ownership, insurance, and maintenance costs over many users. Ithaca Carshare has helped reduce car ownership in Ithaca by over 300 vehicles, and this spring reduced environmental impacts even further by adding 5 Toyota Prius C hybrids, which have tallied 42 miles per gallon.

To celebrate this milestone, Ithaca Carshare is celebrating in Dewitt Park on Wednesday, June 26, from 4-6 pm. Current, past and future members of Ithaca Carshare are welcome to share stories, pictures, music, cake and more.

Mayor and longtime Ithaca Carshare member Svante Myrick will be on hand to receive an award honoring Ithaca as the “Best Small City for Carsharing,” from international CarSharing Association president Wilson Wood, of Ottawa’s transit-oriented VrtuCar carsharing service.

Anna Cook
Operations Director
Ithaca Carshare
607.277.3210 x6

To join the event on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/events/479161065492775/.

MAP-21 Draft FTA Regulations - Comments due June 21

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 03:45:17 GMT

Have you read FTA's Draft Circular on the Sec 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Program?
(Mobility Management and JARC projects are defined on pages IV-6 and pp IV18-20, respectively. Public comments are due by June 21.)

I am carefully reviewing the regulations. The full circular is found here. I created an abridged version of the circular for mobility managers which can be read or downloaded here. In general, I am concerned the JARC regulations are too restrictive and would prohibit successful projects we operate now. I will complete my review by June 14 and will publish a new blog and LinkedIn post to the Partnership for Mobility Management group.

MAP-21 Redux. So, is JARC Alive or Dead at your Shop?

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:33:57 GMT

Last Fall (2012), I started a discussion on the LinkedIn Group - Partnership for Mobility Management about the impending changes to JARC project planning, processes, and funding under MAP-21. The discussion resulted in quite a few comments. I thought it would be useful to find out the status of JARC projects where you work.

Now, everything I'm about to describe relates to a situation where a county, as a small urbanized area with a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), was assigned designated recipient responsibilities by a state to manage its FTA Section 5307 urban formula program. This is relevant because JARC projects are funded with Section 5307 (and Section 5311 Rural Formula) under MAP-21. Further, as the designed recipient and FTA grant recipient, the county has the responsibility to manage Sec 5307 projects within the latitude afforded by FTA requirements.

I’m cutting straight to the results without describing how we got there.

We are using Section 5307’s new formula factor - Household-income-Less-Than-150%-of-Federal-Poverty-Level, to identify the amount of Sec 5307 funds available for JARC & Mobility Management projects. The State provided calculations to its small and large urbanized areas. Very useful.

We are using the existing Coordinated Planing project solicitation process to solicit and evaluate Sec. 5307 JARC and Mobility Management projects.

We added a third party review panel, composed of public transit, county, and human service agency representatives to prioritize recommendations for JARC & Mobility Management projects. The Coordinated Plan Committee, MPO and other staff provide input to the review panel. The recommendations are made to the MPO to adopt and add to its Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The County uses the TIP as the basis of creating a draft program of projects for Sec. 5307 grants.

The County is revising its program management plan, FTA grant management procedures and supplemental agreements to implement this approach.

And that is one way how JARC survives under MAP-21. What’s your story?

Note: I encourage all mobility managers to join the Partnership for Mobility Management on its website: http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=1790

After you join the Partnership, network and communicate with your peers and national staff or member organizations. We have a LinkedIn Partnership for Mobility Management Group. Sign up and join our discussions about mobility management issues."

Tompkins County Coordinated Transportation Planning​Ithaca, New York - Blog