Impact Feature Issue on Meeting Transportation Needs of Youth and Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Sixty-two federal programs fund transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults, and people with lower incomes (GAO, June 2003). For individuals whose transportation use and options are supported by these funds, the differences between program eligibility requirements and the fragmentation of services across systems can greatly complicate use of transportation. In response to this situation, the White House issued the Executive Order on Human Service Transportation Coordination in February 2004, setting in motion creation of new resources and initiatives for improving coordination of human service transportation in communities. United We Ride is one such initiative, its purpose to increase coordination of publicly funded human service transportation programs. Human service agencies and advocacy organizations that provide transportation services for their clients, and those that purchase or subsidize transportation services for their clients, may collaborate with other human service organizations and/or with transportation providers to coordinate the planning, operating, and funding of human service transportation in their communities (TCRP, 2004). The goal of such coordination is to share resources in a manner that reduces duplication and inefficiency and provides the best possible service.