Volpe Center: Transportation Strategic Plans

Accessibility for Aging and Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations

4. Implementation Activities

Improving the mobility of the poor, the elderly, and persons with disabilities is a national priority. Federal programs support the development of advanced public transportation systems, access-to-work transportation for welfare recipients and others with low incomes, reverse-commute strategies for residents of public housing, and innovative rural transportation services. Nevertheless, there remains a need for greater integration among these programs, for identification of research and technology gaps, and for coordination with organizations outside the Federal Government.

Coordinating Research and Technology and Related Deployment Activities

This initiative's broad approach is to develop an ongoing process for coordinating efforts to improve mobility and identifying gaps in research, development, and technology. The first action will be to assure that existing Federal activities are fully integrated and coordinated with state and local agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and industry. The research and technology programs that address mobility are summarized in the paragraphs that follow. Note: For each program, the plan shows two funding levels for fiscal years 1997 through 1999: the total funding for the activity and, wherever applicable, the portion of this funding specifically allocated for improving mobility (shown in parentheses).

Access to Jobs and Reverse Commute

Created in 1998 by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21), the Access to Jobs and Reverse Commute program provides competitive grants to local governments and not-for-profit organizations to connect persons to employment. The Access to Jobs component focuses on welfare recipients and others with low incomes, while Reverse Commute provides access to suburban jobs for people at all income levels. Administered by the FTA, the program requires a 50 percent cost-share for up to $750 million in capital and operating assistance. Among the activities eligible for funding are developing and deploying new technologies, employer-provided transportation services, and transit voucher programs. Award criteria for the Access to Jobs component include the percentage of population that are welfare recipients, coordination with and use of existing transportation services, coordination with state welfare agencies, and use of innovative approaches.

Funding