On September 23, the Secretaries of MassDOT and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) will co-chair the kickoff of the Statewide Coordinating Council on Community Transportation (SCCCT). The meeting will be held from 11 to noon in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House in Boston.

In 2011, Executive Order 530 established the Community, Social Service and Paratransit Transportation Commission, which held public listening sessions around the state on issues of quality and efficiency in paratransit services, human service transportation, and community transportation. Based on the findings, the Commission developed a Final Report, published in July 2012. One of the overarching recommendations in the report was the formation of the SCCCT.

The kickoff meeting will introduce SCCCT members, review key recommendations from the report, provide an update on progress MassDOT and EOHHS have already made, and discuss upcoming opportunities to get involved at the regional level.

We hope you will share this information with any colleagues, constituents, or consumers who would be interested in attending. Please note that there will not be any opportunity for public comment at the September 23 meeting, but public feedback is welcome by email at statewidemobility@dot.state.ma.us. Meeting documents will be available after the meeting on a public website.

The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SRTA) launched a new shuttle service to Boston-area hospitals on September 3.

SRTA is a member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Transportation Alliance (SMTA). In 2011 and 2012, SMTA and SRTA convened local community transportation stakeholders and Councils on Aging to discuss transportation needs. One challenge that emerged was the difficulty of getting to medical appointments in the Boston area for people who do not or cannot drive themselves. To address this barrier, SMTA and SRTA partnered to plan and launch the shuttle. SRTA will pilot this program for a year using money from its operating budget along with New Freedom funding. If it is successful, SRTA will seek additional funding to continue the service.

The shuttle is open to seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who live in the ten towns in the SRTA service area: Fall River, New Bedford, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Mattapoisett, Somerset, Swansea, and Westport. It leaves from New Bedford on Tuesdays and Fall River on Thursdays and costs $25 round trip. The shuttle is wheelchair-accessible and seats between twelve and sixteen passengers. To register, seniors should call their local Council on Aging, veterans should call their local Veterans' Service Officer, and people with disabilities should contact SRTA directly at (508) 999-5211 (option 2) to see if they qualify for the service.

With the launch of this shuttle, SRTA joins eight other Regional Transit Authorities that operate hospital shuttles into Boston-area hospitals and other regional destinations. Check out our new webpage on medical transportation for more information.

On August 15, MassDOT announced the winners of the fiscal year 2014 Community Transit Grant Program funding. This program distributes federal and state funding to increase the mobility of transportation-disadvantaged populations. Funding supports a wide range of expenses, such as vehicles for Regional Transit Authorities and Councils on Aging to use in transporting seniors and people with disabilities, operating expenses for community transportation services, and mobility management and travel instruction projects. A full list of recipients is available from MassDOT.

Ride Match is an online trip planner that seniors, people with disabilities, and other riders can use to find transportation providers for their trips in Southeastern Massachusetts and beyond. The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority developed Ride Match in late 2012 and recently released a mobile version. Web users who visit www.massridematch.org on their smartphones or other mobile devices will now find a streamlined version of the trip planner optimized for mobile use.

Every year, the Association of Travel Instruction (ATI) offers a national conference for travel trainers and others involved in travel instruction around the country to connect with each other and hear presentations. Travel instruction is the professional activity of teaching individuals with disabilities, seniors, and others how to use public transportation independently to access their environment and community.

This year's ATI conference was held August 15 through 18 in Chicago, and five representatives of Massachusetts travel instruction programs attended. On August 26, four of these attendees presented on their experiences and impressions of the conference to ten peers from around the state at a meeting of the Massachusetts Travel Instruction Network. The four attendees shared themes that emerged from the conference, and meeting participants discussed these ideas and shared their own experiences. Topics included connections between travel instruction and orientation and mobility services for people who are legally blind, and marketing to seniors who are reducing their driving.

If you offer a travel instruction program or if your organization is considering starting this service, please contact us to get involved in the Massachusetts Travel Instruction Network and connect with peer programs around the state.

From September 16 to 22, Massachusetts will celebrate Car-Free Week to emphasize the value of environmentally-friendly modes of commuting such as walking, biking, riding transit, or carpooling. Like these modes, community transportation services provide an alternative to driving alone. These services also play a key role in ensuring that people who always travel car-free have mobility options that allow them to commute to work and to travel to other important destinations like medical appointments, grocery shopping, and visits with friends and family. Here at MassMobility, we would like to thank all of you who work to make every car-free week in Massachusetts a successful one for our state's seniors, people with disabilities, and others who cannot or choose not to drive.

The Easter Seals Transportation Group is looking to hire a Training and Technical Assistance Specialist II in the Washington DC office to work on projects related to accessibility, coordination of transportation systems, and mobility management. The position will work closely with communities, coalitions, and Federal Transit Administration regional personnel. For more information on the position and how to apply, please refer to the job posting.

Are you on Twitter? If so, follow us @MassMobility for links to community transportation resources relevant to organizations and agencies here in Massachusetts. If you aren't on Twitter, you can still see our posts online at twitter.com/MassMobility/.

What social media are you using? Let us know where you like to find information and where you like to share information.

Check out our calendar of mobility management events and funding opportunities for Massachusetts.

If you have suggestions for news items or topics to cover in future newsletters, please contact us. Comments, questions, and feedback are also welcome.

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