Public Transit Planning

Public transportation contributes to quality of life in rural and urban communities alike by providing economical alternatives for those driving alone or by expanding travel choices of those without access to a car.

AMMA’s transit service plans always seek to balance improved effectiveness and efficiencies with responsiveness to consumers’ travel needs.   With an emphasis on paratransit service planning, policy and procedure, AMMA works towards the effective integration of transportation modes that extend riders’ mobility.

Services

  • Transit Development Plans
  • Comprehensive Operational Analyses
  • Short and Long Range Transit Plans
  • Coordinated Transportation Plans: Public Transit-Human Services
  • Intercity bus
  • Rail

Related Projects

  • California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)California Statewide Section 5311(f) Rural Intercity Bus Study
  • City of Fresno, CA – Fresno County Public Transportation Gap Analysis and Services Coordination Plan
  • City of Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro Transit Authority – Comprehensive Operational Analysis of ADA Complementary Paratransit Service
  • City of Visalia, California, Visalia TransitShort Range Transit Plan: Visalia Transit Dial-A-Ride and Green Line Call Center
  • Imperial County Transportation CommissionShort Range Transit Plan: Imperial County’s Seven Paratransit Programs
  • Lake County/City Area Planning Council – Lake Transit Development Plan and Marketing Plan
  • Long Beach Public Transportation Company – Dial-A-Lift Paratransit Service Operational Analysis
  • San Bernardino County Transportation Authority  (previously SANBAG)Five Year Short Range Transit Plan, Tables and Assumptions for San Bernardino County Rural Transit Providers, Morongo Basin Transit Authority and Needles Area Transit Service
  • City of Fresno, CAFresno County Public Transportation Gap Analysis and Services Coordination Plan
  • Transportation Research Board – TCRP A-21 Innovations to Improve the Productivity, Efficiency, and Quality of Public Transportation in Rural and Small Urban Areas. Published as: “TCRP Report 70: Change and Innovation at Rural and Small Urban Transit Systems”
  • Trinity County Transportation Commission – Short Range Transit Plan

AMMA has recently prepared Updates to the Coordinated Public Transit –Human Services Transportation Plans for multiple organizations, including:

  • Ventura County Transportation Commission
  • Los Angeles Metro
  • San Bernardino County Transportation Authority
  • Riverside County Transportation Commission
  • Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission
  • Calaveras Council of Governments
  • City of Fresno, CA
  • Imperial County Transportation Commission
  • Lake County / City Area Planning Council
  • Trinity County Transportation Commission
  • Tuolumne County Transportation Commission
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ADA & Demand Response Operations

Now more twenty years out from the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public transit continues to explore and re-invent strategies for providing compliant ADA service and doing so within ever-constrained resources to an increasing population.

AMMA team members have rich understanding of ADA complementary paratransit regulatory requirements and the decades of court decisions that have interpreted law and regulation. AMMA has designed cost-saving operations strategies and refined user policy and procedure to ensure efficient ADA paratransit programs and demand responsive programs that are compliant with law. ADA policy and procedure are complex and dynamic in an efficient paratransit operations environment. They must co-exist with the civil rights expectations of users.

Services

  • ADA and demand responsive service policies and procedures
  • ADA growth management
  • ADA demand estimation / demand modeling

Related Projects

AMMA’s nuanced appreciation of these sometimes conflicting objectives has brought measurable results to client agencies…

  • City of Claremont / Pomona Valley Transportation Authority – Claremont Transit Service Assessment
  • City of Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro Transit Authority – Comprehensive Operational  Analysis of ADA Complementary Paratransit Service
  • City of La Mirada / Norwalk TransitDial-A-Ride Comprehensive Operations Analysis
  • City of Lawrence/University of Kansas – Coordinated Public Transportation Development Plan and ADA Paratransit Plan
  • City of Long Beach / Long Beach TransitDial-A-Lift Comprehensive Operational Analysis
  • Imperial County Transportation Commission Short Range Transit Plan for Imperial County
  • Orange County Transportation AuthorityADA Paratransit Demand Estimation and ADA Demand Management
  • Placer County Transportation Planning AgencyPlacer County Regional Dial-a-Ride Evaluation

Mobility Management / Specialized Transportation

Public transit can’t easily meet all needs and populations benefiting from the individualized nature of specialized transportation include older adults, low-income single parents, young persons seeking their first job, individuals with disabilities or newly returning veterans.

AMMA works to creatively meet consumer needs within ever constrained budgets and operational limits. Our projects often involve constructing mobility management and non-traditional transit strategies for specialized populations.  These aim to improve mobility—through a family of services—and increase access to job opportunities, schooling, health and human services and life-enhancing activities.

AMMA’s strengths include:

Services

  • Specialized transportation
  • Human services transportation
  • Travel training
  • Senior transportation studies
  • Tribal transit

Also, please see related work on these pages:

Related Projects

  • Placer County Transportation Planning Agency – WPCTSA Call Center Planning Assistance: Health Express Trip Assignment and Buss Pass Subsidy Programs
  • Placer County Transportation Planning Agency – Short Range Transit Plan for Western Placer Consolidated Transportation Services Agency (WPCTSA)
  • City of Los Angeles, Mar Vista Community Housing Authority – Local Mobility and Transportation Needs Assessment
  • Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging/Community and Senior ServicesDoor-to-Door and Door-through-Door Transportation Needs Assessment / Development of New Freedom and JARC Applications for County Pilot Projects 
  • North San Diego County Transit DistrictNorth San Diego County’s Full Access & Coordinated Transportation Pilot
  • Rogue Valley Transportation District – “United We Ride” Plan / Public Transit – Human Services Coordinated Transportation Plan Update
  • San Diego County Department of Behavioral Health, Mental Health Services Transportation Needs Assessment

Performance Measurement

Analytics are powerful. Turning transit usage data into useful and strategic information is a central to every AMMA project.

AMMA’s tools for mining current transit utilization data, their interaction with area demographics or the deep analysis of historical data provide firm foundations to project recommendations. AMMA’s analytic experience includes extensive work with Trapeze, Novus and Route Match trip data, among other computer-aided dispatching software, as well passenger boarding and alighting data.

AMMA meaningfully reports on transit outcomes in the following ways and more:

Services

  • Transit service standards reporting
  • Performance measurement at route, program, system or countywide levels
  • Program management

Related Projects

  • City of Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro Transit AuthorityComprehensive Operational  Analysis of ADA Complementary Paratransit Service: vehicle utilization analyses
  • Riverside County Transportation CommissionAnnual Countywide Performance Report: an AMMA designed county-wide reporting structure that presents transit impacts.
  • Publication in the Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Volume 2034 (2007): Measuring Demand Management Impacts in a Sustainable Compliance Environment for the Americans with Disabilities Act: Orange County, California
  • Publication in the Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Volume 1884 (2004): Demand Forecasting and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Orange County, California, Transportation Authority’s Access Program

Veterans Transportation Planning

Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that there were 21.8 million military veterans in 2010, over 9% of the adult US population over age 18. These individuals, and their family members, have a range of transportation concerns, some they share with the general public and others unique.  Addressing the unique mobility requirements of veterans, active service members and their families will require individualized responses. Transit properties, human service organizations and communities must seek solutions that are locally feasible and meaningfully address needs.

AMMA is actively involved with several veterans’ transportation initiatives, including:

  1. A national research effort, TCRP Project B-42 Community Tools for Improving  Transportation Options for Military Service Members, Veterans and Their Families.  This year-long research effort of TCRP  B-42 was published in early 2014 as TCRP Report 164, as is available as a PDF download here. This report provides guidance, resources and tools for improving transportation options for the veterans, their families, and the military community. AMMA Transit Planning was a subcontractor to KFH Group, Inc.
  2. A two-county Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI)  project, VetLink. This project is developing new coordinated responses to address mobility needs of over 65,000 veterans in a large, predominately rural two-county region. Led by San Bernardino County 2-1-1, the project is shaping technology and information-based solutions that help to address veterans’ transportation needs. VetLink’s 1 call 1 click web portal is nearing completion. AMMA provides leadership to the Inland Southern California One-Call/One-Click Project Steering Committee.

Healthcare Transportation Planning

Transportation is one determinant of good health outcomes. Low income and rural communities are disproportionately harmed when transportation systems are underfunded, don’t operate effectively or can’t address pockets of need. These contribute, in part, to health disparities.

The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) presents new opportunities for collaboration between health care and public transit sectors. AMMA’s portfolio includes development of innovative strategies to get riders to and from quality healthcare:

Services

  • Health Care Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) Studies and needs assessments
  • Project development for health care and public transit partnerships
  • Project development for Veterans Administration health care facilities and public transit

(Please see our Veterans Transportation Planning page for more information.)

Related Projects

Outreach & Stakeholder Education

Effective outreach utilizes a range techniques and strategies to invite public input and educate riders and prospective riders about public transportation.

  1. Transforming public perception through consensus building is a key tool among AMMA’s capabilities. Moving people through complex and difficult decision-making processes is inherent in AMMA’s community outreach and public involvement activities.
  2. Transit-focused education is a second critical tool to inviting and encouraging new riders. AMMA’s training of riders includes travel training individual and groups of older adults, training human service agency gatekeepers in transit familiarization and developing passive travel training tools to provide support through the trip to new users.

AMMA gathers public input and uses it to inform solid project direction or to construct engaging travel training tools. AMMA uses the following mechanisms and more:

Services

  • Focus groups
  • Rider and non-rider intercept surveys
  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Consumer and agency surveys
  • Household and telephone surveys
  • Online surveys
  • Travel training for groups and individuals
  • Way-finding tools
  • Transit familiarization tools for agency staff

Related Projects

  • Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro)Seniors on the Move Senior Travel Training Program
  • Trinity County Transportation CommissionTransit Mobility and Awareness Plan for Trinity Transit
  • Orange County Transportation Authority / City of Laguna Woods, CAGo Local Way-Finding and Transportation Promotion Project

Technical Assistance & Training

Having worked with dozens of transit properties, in urbanized, small urban or rural settings and with decades of diverse consulting engagements, the AMMA team is able to provide support and assistance around an array of needs. AMMA’s variety of support services facilitate agency aims, helping to get more trips to more people through well-trained staff, clear procedures and effective public processes.

AMMA is well qualified to assist transit agencies, transportation commissions, human services agencies, and county governments and other public agencies with:

Services

Related Projects

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Active Transportation Program

The Active Transportation Program (ATP) encourages increased use of active modes of transportation, such as biking and walking. This program is consistent with AMMA’s dedication to improve mobility for all individuals, ensure access for disadvantaged communities, and enhance public health.

AMMA’s team of grant writers has a proven track record of developing successful ATP grant applications by demonstrating the project’s benefits through developing compelling narrative and thorough data analysis. For ATP Cycle 2, AMMA prepared nine applications on behalf of Los Angeles Metro and nine sponsor entities. Five of AMMA’s nine ATP applications were successful and will be receiving Federal and State ATP funds, for a success rate of over 55%, compared to a 14% selection rate for the overall statewide application pool.Developing these ATP applications includes:

  • Mastering evolving Caltrans scoring criteria, new application forms and application guidelines
  • Working with street and road design, bicycle improvements and pedestrian enhancements to accurately describe and communicate each proposals’ strengths and to create the best competitive package possible
  • Supporting public engagement activities that help to ensure a strong application
  • Communicating the safety impacts of pedestrian and bicycle improvements
  • Capturing the regional benefit and accurately estimating demand in completing missing links of bikeway
  • Collecting and inputing data for Cost/Benefit Model
  • Coordinating with public health entities to identify benefits and secure health department support

AMMA can assist by:

  • Grant writing and grant assistance
  • Community outreach
  • Technical assistance and training

Related Projects:

    • Los Angeles MetroCaltrans Active Transportation Program (ATP) Cycle 2 Grant Development and Grant Assistance 

AMMA’s successful ATP grant applications include:

(1) City of Arcadia Bicycle and Facility Improvements;

(2) City of Lancaster 10th Street West Road Diet and Bikeway Improvements;

(3) City of La Verne Regional Bicycle Gap Closure Project;

(4) City of Los Angeles Orange Line Sherman Way Pedestrian Links;

(5) City of Lynwood Community Linkages to Civic Center and Long Beach Boulevard Metro Station.

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Title VI Technical Assistance & Support

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, although a long-standing protection for individuals and a requirement for transit providers, is now receiving more attention. All agencies and organizations receiving FTA funds are required to develop and implement a Title VI Program compliant with October 2012 regulatory changes.

Since 2013, AMMA assisted many agencies with fewer than 50 vehicles in developing and implementing their Title VI programs. As part of Caltrans’ RTAP (Rural Transportation Assistance Program), AMMA also trained agencies across California and has constructed a program model for small agencies to craft their own Title VI Programs. AMMA is currently supporting transit properties in “embracing” their Title VI program, to aid in preparing Title VI Program updates and in ongoing compliance with Title VI requirements for public transit.

AMMA can assist by:

  • Writing your Title VI program
  • Writing your Title VI Program triennial update
  • Providing Title VI technical assistance
  • Conducting Title VI trainings and workshops
  • Guiding Title VI implementation

Recent experience with Title VI:

  • Developed fully compliant programs for rural and isolated transit systems, such as Needles Area Transit, and urban agencies, such as the City of Downey, in California and Southern California MPO’s.
  • Developed Title VI self-guided program model for agencies with fewer than 50 vehicles
  • Developed templates and “how-to” worksheets
  • Led development workshops and development webinars on behalf of Caltrans
  • Provided technical assistance for multiple human service transportation providers and 5310 agencies

Contact us to learn how AMMA can assist your organization with its Title VI process.