The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Office of Transit is sponsoring a pilot program centered on the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Section 5310 Program to Enhance Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities and the coordinated plan requirements. A coordinated plan provides the framework to expand service coverage and availability by bringing together federal, state and local transportation resources to minimize duplication of services.
The ODOT Office of Transit is developing Specialized-Transportation Planning Regions for the state with a focus on public and human service transportation services. These proposed regions were based on the existing MPO/RTPO map, as well as the eleven Area Agency on Aging Regions in Ohio. The ODOT Office of Transit has proposed that the rural pilot region will consist of the following counties: Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Holmes, Harrison, Jefferson, Muskingum, and Tuscarawas. This is the same region as served by the Ohio Area Agency on Agency Region 9 and includes all of OMEGA’s counties except Columbiana County. Excluding Holmes County, the other eight counties in the region are served by a transit agency or coordinated transportation agency. Ultimately, the transportation regions will be designated through a data driven process with an emphasis on origin/destination data, trip generators and information gathered from the pilot project.
Goals of this project include:
- Facilitate the establishment of coordinated plans in the counties that either do not currently have one or do not have the resources to update existing plans to be compliant with ODOT’s new coordinated plan template and guidance;
- Once the initial framework is in place and all the counties meet minimum ODOT compliance, implement regional plans to broaden the view of the transportation resources along with the goals and strategies for meeting unmet transportation needs for the region;
- Administer Section 5310 projects on ODOT’s behalf for the region. This could include project selection and/or oversight.