Regional Rural & Coordinated Public Transportation Program

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1 Section 6: Transit Current Regulations The Transportation Equity Act of the 21 st Century, or TEA-21, emphasizes the importance of transit to local communities by providing flexibility in the financing of transit services. Urbanized areas may divert funds from roadway improvements in order to allocate additional funding to transit. Available Funding The Section 5310 Program that is administered by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, or GDHR, makes federal funding available to social service providers for rural transit. Funding from this program is used to assist two non-profit transit providers serving Southeast Georgia, including Glynn County. The providers include Gateway Behavioral Health Services and Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority. These non-profit transit providers offer varying levels of service to the elderly and the mentally and physically disabled. Existing transit services are limited because they do not serve the transit dependent who are low income, under the age of 16, and visitors to Glynn County. Transit funding is also available through the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, through Section 5303 funds designated for transit planning activities, Section 5307 funds for urban transit programs, Section 5309 funds for capital needs, and Section 5311 funds for rural public transit. The Brunswick Area Transportation Study, or BATS, continues to assess the need for and the costs of implementing transit service in the urbanized area of Glynn County including the City of Brunswick and St. Simons Island. Exiting Transportation Services Greyhound Lines, Inc. This is a nation bus service that provides service in to and from the Brunswick area. The station is located on Gloucester Street. Intercity service and national services is provided from this station. Routes connecting to the Greyhound service network operate to/from Brunswick, Savannah, and Jacksonville with a number of daily trips. The prices range from $22.75 to $ 26.75, with the first being for service to Savannah and the second being service to Jacksonville. Regional Rural & Coordinated Public Transportation Program The Regional Rural & Coordinated Public Transportation Program is the third pilot project initiated by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). This project is designed to develop a demand-response, advance reservation program that will coordinate human service and rural, public transportation needs simultaneously. The ultimate goal of this program is to provide a seamless, coordinated system that offers Long Range Transportation Plan

2 rural, public transportation to anyone, for any purpose, to any destination within the coastal region without funding limitations or eligibility criteria. By combining funds and resources from two state agencies-the Department of Human Resources (DHR) Coordinated Transportation program and the GDOT Section 5311 (rural public) programthe Regional Rural and Coordinated Public Transportation Program will provide cost effective and efficient service for all of coastal Georgia. Coastal Regional Coaches Coastal Regional Coaches is a ten-county, regional transit program that crosses county boundaries and provides seamless service for anyone that wants or needs to use rural public transportation. The program provides transit service to human service consumers and the general public simultaneously. Additionally, transit service to riders under other private, Purchase of Service contracts is also provided on the same fleet of vehicles. This subsequently creates greater efficiencies through consolidation of programs, services, funding, and resources. The transit vehicles are purchased through GDOT s state management fleet and the funding received for provision of DHS human service trips is applied as revenue to the rural public transit program to reduce the overall cost of operation. The municipalities and counties are also stakeholders in the Coastal Regional Coaches rural and coordinated public transit program because they provide the local match dollars for draw down of federal dollars to help pay for the program. Each county s equitable share of match dollars is determined by the amount of service (in their county) and their respective percentage of rural population based on current census data. The fare for rural public transit on Coastal Regional Coaches is $3 one-way within the caller s county of residence ($6 round trip) and an additional $3 (one-way) for each county boundary crossed if traveling across the region. Regional Vanpool Program Commuter transportation to and from rural, outlying areas to work was identified as a significant need during the design of the Regional Rural &Coordinated Public Transportation Program. To satisfy this need the Regional Vanpool Program was created as a component of the Regional Rural & Coordinated Public Transportation Program. This program is specifically designed to provide a convenient, reliable, and low-cost means of transportation for employees traveling to and from work. The Regional Vanpool Program will provide great economic gain for the coastal region. By attracting business and industry to the region, the program will contribute to coastal Georgia s economic growth potential. The direct reduction of the number of vehicles on the roads as a result of vanpooling will reduce the wear and tear of roads and bridges. Human Services Transportation Long Range Transportation Plan

3 Human Services Transportation refers to the transportation of clients of human and social service agencies. The service is typically provided for medical, educational, employment, or recreational needs. The clients frequently represent special needs groups such as seniors, the mentally and physically disabled and low-income residents. The services provided are varied and include physical and mental health services, aging programs, employment assistance, substance abuse programs, and rehabilitation, training programs for the disabled, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TAN-F). Many programs are oriented to groups needing transit services including seniors, youth, and young adults, persons with disabilities, low-income, and unemployed residents. Agencies may provide or require transportation services for more than one population. Two such services include Gateway Behavioral Health Services (Gateway CSB) and the Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority. Gateway Behavioral Health Services The Gateway Center for Human Development provides demand-responsive and fixed route transit service to people with mental disabilities. In addition to Glynn County, the service area includes five rural counties (Bryan, Camden, Liberty, Long, and McIntosh) of Southeast Georgia. The transit service operates seven days a week on a 24-hour basis, including holidays. Its fleet consists of various vans and trucks that range from being in excellent to poor condition. Brunswick is the central point of contact for scheduling, dispatch, and maintenance. The transit service handles approximately 157,000 passenger trips per year. Gateway provides approximately 1,417,000 revenue miles of service per year. It partially coordinates its service with other similar transportation providers. Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority The Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority provides a demand-responsive transit service to rural Southeast Georgia including the following counties: Bryan, Camden, Evans, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Tattnall, and Wayne. Transit is available to the elderly and to people with mental and physical disabilities. Secondary service is provided to the agency s Head Start and Day Care programs. It also operates a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation program in Glynn County. The service is available at least eight hours per day Monday through Friday. Hours of service can be extended for special functions and events. The agency provides transportation to the elderly for non-medical functions such s grocery shopping, banking, etc. There are three part-time and four full-time drivers for Glynn County. The agency owns a combination of buses, vans, and sedans. Long Range Transportation Plan

4 The agency partially coordinates its service with other similar transportation providers. It has been working with other agencies in reference to program services, expanding needs, client referrals, case management, and the coordination of transit service. Private Transportation Service The Brunswick area also has taxi and shuttle service. Currently there are eight taxi services in this area. There are also some companies that specialize in limousine transportation. Shuttles are also available to and from Jacksonville, Savannah, and Jesup through A2B transport, Island Premier Transportation, Max Transportation, and Golden Isle Shuttle Company. The individual simply has to request or schedule the service. There are services that are provided for the disabled and elderly through Non Emergency Medical Transportation and Island Premier Transportation. Island Premier Transportation is a more upscale transportation provider. Public Transit Planning The City of Brunswick and Glynn County have explored the opportunity to provide public transportation services within the area to expand choices for residents, workers, and visitors. Goals developed as part of the December 2004 Brunswick/Glynn County Needs and Opportunities Study, indicate a transit service in the area could potentially: Improve the existing transportation system through innovative multimodal alternative; Stimulate economic growth and improve access to employment, educational, medical, retail centers; Promote improved transportation for underserved transportation groups; and Reduce environmental impacts associated with energy consumption, congestion, and air quality. In order to implement transit service, Glynn County initiated the development of a transit implementation plan to further refine the service concepts recommended in the December 2004 study. The Brunswick-Glynn Transit Implementation Plan was developed to provide a greater level of detail to begin transit services in the City of Brunswick/Glynn County area. The Implementation Plan was completed by URS in February Transit service recommended for the Brunswick-Glynn area was developed considering existing needs, community development patterns, community input, and findings from previous studies. The recommended service plan consisted of three fixed routes. A visual description of these proposed routes can be seen below in Figure 6-1. Route 1 Downtown/Mall Description The initial Downtown/Mall Route will operate weekdays between Mary Ross Park in downtown Brunswick and the Glynn Place Mall area, a distance of approximately six miles. Major streets for service include Gloucester Street, MLK Boulevard, and Altama Avenue. Service would initially operate Monday through Friday from 6:15 AM to 6:15 PM on a 30 minute frequency. For the last phase of this route there would be a Saturday Long Range Transportation Plan

5 that would operate with the same routing and frequency as weekday service, but only from 8:00AM to 6:00 PM. No Sunday or holiday service would be provided. Route 2A&2B-Downtow/I-95-Us 341 & Spur 25 Description Route 2 would be the second route implemented and operate weekdays between Mary Ross Park in downtown Brunswick and the I-95 interchanges at US 341 and Spur 25/ Golden Isles Parkway, a distance of approximately ten miles. Major streets for service include Gloucester Street, Norwich Street/ US 341, Crispen Boulevard, Cate Road, Perry Lane Road, Golden Isles Parkway, and Glynco Parkway. Service would initially operate from 6:15AM to 8:30 AM and from 4:00 PM to 6:15 PM on a 60 minute frequency. Route 3-Downtown/ St. Simons Island Description Route 3 would be the next route implemented and utilized the bus from Route 2 during the weekday midday period and connect downtown Brunswick with the southern portion of St. Simons Island, a distance of approximately ten miles. Major streets for service include Gloucester Street, Glynn Avenue, F.J. Torras Causeway, Kings Way, Ocean Boulevard, East Beach Causeway, and Demere Road. Service would operate from 8:45 AM to 3:45 PM on a 60 minute frequency. ADA Complementary Paratransit Service As required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), complementary paratransit service must be provided within ¾ mile during the days and hours of the fixed route service to eligible persons with disabilities who cannot access or use the fixed route system. The paratransit service would be implemented concurrently with the initial Route 1 service. Additional paratransit service coverage and demand would occur as the fixed route service phases are implemented. The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) decided to move forward with the first two routes. Since these routes were the most feasible and could be extended in the future. They also wanted to combine years one through three in the study time-table to save time and to move the system forward with existing GDOT contracts. Table 1 shows the anticipated ridership over a 10 year planning period. The forecast also includes operating costs, fare revenue, and subsidy funding requirements. The standard Category of cost per revenue hour was used for estimating operating costs. The hourly cost was derived through an estimate of average cost per hour currently charged for contracted transit services. The estimates for projected ridership were founding using other smaller transit system statistics. For routes 1 and 2 anticipated ridership on a daily basis ranges from 300 to 500 riders. Table 6-1 also contains the anticipated operating cost for the transit system over the planning period. The operating cost for the first year of service would be $614, 454. The operating cost would be covered by a subsidy and fare revenue. It was determined that Long Range Transportation Plan

6 the subsidy amount was not available at this time to provide for the proposed transit system. Future Plans The MPO will coordinate with the Coastal Regional Commission to satisfy the public transportation needs of Brunswick and Glynn County identified in the Transit Implementation Plan published February The Coastal Regional Commission currently facilitates a regional rural public transit system that is available in the rural areas of Glynn County and the additional nine counties of coastal Georgia. The rural transits system s funding limits its service to people outside of urban area. The urban areas of Brunswick and Glynn County are eligible for urban transit funding. It is the goal of the MPO to close the gap in service in Glynn County through implementation of a fixed route transit program to operate in the urban areas of Brunswick and Glynn County. This service will work in conjunction with the rural public transit system already operating in Glynn County. The fixed-route transit system will run on the routes previously designated by the most recent feasibility study approved by the Brunswick Area Transportation committee and the city/county commissions, but will be down-sized to allow for growth of the program. The proposed fixed-route system will be administered and operated by the Coastal Regional Commission and will require cooperation with the City of Brunswick/ Glynn County Board of Commissioners/and the Brunswick MPO. Long Range Transportation Plan

7 Figure 6-1: Proposed Routes Long Range Transportation Plan

8 Table 6-1: Transit Program Operating Projection Long Range Transportation Plan