Rural Transit Assistance Program at Work |
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Chapter I: Introduction This report presents the findings from the state programs that participated in the 1995 Rural Transit Assistance Program Monitoring Survey. The survey effort has two major purposes:
The 1995 RTAP Monitoring Survey is the second attempt in the history of the program to measure the effectiveness of the state programs quantitatively. Originally designed and executed in 1994, the revised 1995 survey continues to examine the structure and operations of the state RTAP programs. This year's findings are presented in three chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the program and the survey effort. Chapter 2 presents a summary and analysis of the state programs and is structured in sections that describe both specific and general state RTAP activities and services. The third and final chapter provides state-by-state profiles of the program, including the most up-to-date (1996) phone numbers and addresses for State RTAP Contacts. Additionally, there are appendices containing a copy of the survey and a listing of the 1995-96 FTA RTAP National Program Review Board, including phone numbers and addresses. BACKGROUND RTAP was created by Congress in 1986 under Section 18(h) of the Surface Transportation Act. Administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the program's overall goal is to provide training, technical assistance, and research activities that will improve rural transit services. Specific goals of RTAP are to identify and disseminate high quality information and training to rural transit operators who receive Section 18 (now USC 5311) funding and to provide technical assistance services and materials to state programs, where the information can be used and reproduced economically. Accomplishing these goals results in the on-going improvement and standardization of local service delivery to members of rural communities, many of whom are elderly and/or disabled and require special equipment and assistance. The FTA has a cooperative agreement with APWA to administer the program. The agreement also includes the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) as a subgrantee for work under the program. There are two major components of the program: the FTA RTAP State Program and the FTA RTAP National Program. The National Program provides centralized services and products for rural operators nationwide. Based on a formula, the State Program provides funds to every state (no state gets less than $50,000) to establish its own program based on the particular needs of its rural transit operators. State programs are training and technical assistance centers for the distribution and promotion of national program products and services. SURVEY In 1994, a survey was designed by APWA and the RTAP National Review Board that focused on achieving the goals of the survey effort described above. Modifications and revisions of the original 1994 survey were made before the 1995 survey was re-issued to the RTAP state program managers. The updated survey contains quantitative, qualitative, and opinion questions intended to draw out the information needed to compile a report illustrating the widespread and unique value of the state RTAP programs. A copy of the 1995 survey is provided as Appendix A. The surveys were returned either by fax or mail to the National Program office, where they were analyzed by APWA staff. Forty-eight states and Puerto Rico responded to the survey. The enormous amount of data gathered by the survey illustrates the multiple and diverse ways in which state programs continuously develop and/or disburse training and technical assistance materials. Chapters 2 and 3 of this report provide a summary and analysis of this data. Chapter II: Summary of State Programs The major task of the 1995 RTAP Program Monitoring Survey is to investigate fully the activities of the state RTAP programs. In the analysis that follows, this task is realized by:
This is the second attempt in the history of the program to process such extensive data into a report that is both numerative and evaluative. The arrangement of the report is based on the structure provided by the original analysis. After a brief summary of the survey, chapter 2 will present the survey findings concerning the activities of the state RTAP programs in 1994, including discussions and general explanations of the programs' operations and progress over the past year. SURVEY CONTENT Due to the variety of possible ways for executing state programs, the survey both begins and ends with administrative questions regarding the management of RTAP staff, funding, and time. After the opening administrative inquiries, the survey asks questions that are crucial in the discovery of effective training material and technical assistance: What products and services were provided in the last fiscal year? What products and services addressed the most critical needs of operators? How (and how often) was the program accessed and promoted? How were operators trained? How many were trained? What kinds of training materials were developed? Are these materials exemplary and can they be shared among other states? Commingled with these quantitative questions are open-ended questions that give state RTAP coordinators the chance to express their opinions and make value judgments about the effectiveness and the highlights of the program. Finally, the survey returns to questions about the management of the programs, asking the managers how programs are planned, who is involved in the planning, and whether or not their activities are coordinated with human service agencies' transit needs. PRODUCTS DEVELOPED AND SERVICES PROVIDED In addition to specialized and scheduled training events, each state program has a variety of services and products available for rural operators' and program staffs' routine use. Depending on the structure and organization of the individual state program, each state may offer any arrangement of the following standard services: lending library, newsletter, toll-free number, training sessions, conferences, peer-networks, scholarships, on-site technical assistance, development of training materials. Some states may emphasize the provision of scholarships for attending out-of-state conferences and training sessions, and therefore choose not to develop their own extensive training sessions or materials; others may exert considerable effort creating peer networks by offering numerous workshops and seminars or sending out frequent informational mailers. Most states provide various combinations of the above mentioned services based on the specific needs and requests of their rural operators and program staff. Several states, signified in the "other" category below, developed services or products particular to their individual program's specific needs. Certain of these "other" services are specialized mailers or brochures, marketing information, transportation guides and maps, software for financial management and maintenance, equipment testing, transit roadeos, and more. The table below illustrates the combined responses of the 48 states who listed the products and services provided by their state program in the last year:
Table 2-1: Products and Services Provided
Training Materials Developed Last year, twenty-five responding states indicated that they had developed their own training materials through their state programs; this year, that number has increased to thirty-one. Standard topics for these materials include driver training, maintenance training, support staff training, train-the-trainer training, and management training. Training topics are selected for development based on individual state programs' assessment of the needs of their various staff members. For example, as changes are made in available technology and equipment for special passengers vehicles, RTAP drivers will need progressive training courses for wheel chair lift operations, safety, and emergency procedures. Maintenance staff will need a different kind of training for this same equipment. Also, other types of technological and informational advances affect management and support staff, who require updated instruction on computerized record-keeping, financial planning, or routing and coordination. Some states apply RTAP money and time to organizing their own in-state training workshops using the National RTAP video modules and training products. This year's survey responses indicate an increase in the production of most areas of training materials. Table 2-2 illustrates how many states developed materials for each of the standard topics, and tables 2-3 A-E provide a state-by-state listing of each topic. The most significant difference between this year's results and last is found in table 2-3 F, where the "other" categories for training topics are listed. This number is almost twice last year's figure, indicating RTAP state programs' increasingly specialized and focused attention to the growth and development of materials to meet the needs of their individual situations.
Table 2-2: Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 A: Driver Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 B: Maintenance Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 C: Support Staff Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 D: Train-the-Trainer Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 E: Management Training Materials Developed
Table 2-3 F: Other Training Materials Developed
Exemplary State RTAP Products and Services One of the main goals of the program survey and of RTAP in general is to identify exemplary technical assistance activities and services that can be replicated or shared in other states. Being able to share other programs' information about successful methods of assistance allows state RTAPs to economically use or reproduce services already known to be effective without expending the time, money, and effort to create resources entirely on their own. Some products and services, however, are so specialized for the individual state which developed them that sharing the idea for the product is more productive than sharing the product itself. This report as well as the RTAP Training Catalogue and other resources assist states in discovering what other programs are doing and how to get information on services they wish to reproduce in their own RTAPs. This year, twenty-five states indicated that they had developed materials they considered to be exemplary, and twenty-three states feel their products are worth sharing with other state programs. Most of the exemplary services reported are available for free to other RTAPs, and a few are available at cost. Thirteen of the states reporting exemplary products also indicated an interest in having the National Program distribute these products. As table 2-4 illustrates in the most up-to-date listing of developed and developing services, transit roadeos, computerized record keeping, and various kinds of driver training are popular topics for exemplary products. LEVELS OF SERVICES PROVIDED Another vital task of the survey was to determine how many and how often transportation professionals are benefiting from the services and training provided by state programs. In the effort to determine how many people were assisted by state RTAPs in 1994, the survey asked the state coordinators to provide the total number of transit agencies as well as the number of individual transit professionals within the agencies whom the program served. Specifying that the total number of agencies might include more than just Section 18 agencies, the survey requested an estimation of how many individuals in the following professional categories used the state program in the last fiscal year: rural public operators, private nonprofit operators, urban area operators, private for-profit operators, school bus operators, vendors, other transit professionals. Because of the wide variety of transportation professionals who use the programs and the various ways in which RTAP training and materials can be accessed by these individuals, it was in many cases difficult to provide the figures the survey requested. In table 2-5, several states show a check mark ( " ") to illustrate an uncounted number of professionals within the given category. The final figures in all the categories are staggering, and they do not even represent a full count!! Almost 19,000 transit professionals from over 4200 agencies used state RTAP programs in the last fiscal year. As shown by table 2-5, most of the professionals served are private, non-profit operators (7,221) and rural public operators (6,047).
Table 2-4: Exemplary State RTAP Products and Services
Table 2-5: Number of professionals, number of agencies served Instances of Service The preceding table represents the number of individuals who used the program in FY 1994, but these figures do not account for the number of times RTAPs served transit operators and staff. In other words, Table 2-5 does not illustrate the "multiplier effect" that is the inevitable result of information continuously shared throughout the agency by the professional(s) who attended a training session. An assessment of the extent to which the multiplier effect is at work in the state programs relies on the number of "instances of services" provided throughout the year. Couple this figure with the number of transit passengers who ultimately reap the full benefits of technical assistance training information that is shared, multiplied and disseminated among transportation professionals, and the numbers would be amazing. In an attempt to account for the multiplier effect, the survey asked program managers to estimate the "instances of service," the widespread dissemination of information, facilitated by their state RTAPs. RTAP state programs make sure that the sharing of information and education is on-going and complete by providing several different types of service for all kinds of transit professionals. Training sessions, workshops, conferences, and the scholarships received to attend them are only a few of the methods through which professionals gain and share resources. An individual rural transit operator, for example, may also receive information via a newsletter issued four times per year. S/he may also be updated on current developments by receiving technical assistance via phone, fax, or mail. Further still, this operator might benefit from (and then share) knowledge gained from a university course or a technique demonstrated during an instance of on-site assistance. The result of this is that each transit professional receives information and training at all times and from all directions. This year's survey attempts to ascertain both how many people received different kinds of service as well as how many instances of service were provided. Table 2-6, therefore, contains two different counts: the number of professionals served through various methods of assistance and the number of instances of service provided by the state RTAP. The distinction is important because the "instances of service" tally allows for one individual to be counted as having received many types of services. The final count is impressive: almost 134,000 instances of service were provided by state RTAP programs in FY 1994! Table 2-6: Numbers of People Served, Instances of Service Total Instances of RTAP Service for 1994: 133,981 Cost Analysis The state RTAP programs, including Puerto Rico, received $4,568,260 in allocations for Fiscal Year 1994. To calculate the cost effectiveness of the program for this year, the allocations for the two states who did not respond to the survey were subtracted out, leaving a working total of $4,453,250 in allocations. Because several states who did respond to the survey reported percentages of unspent or reserved funds, this figure needed additional modification before a cost analysis could be calculated accurately. The final adjusted total, $3,298,124, is the sum of each state's account of RTAP funds actually spent in FY 1994. With this amount, the state programs provided 125,707 instances of service (this figure has also been altered to account for states reporting 0% of FY 1994 funds spent). The average cost per unit of service, calculated by dividing the adjusted total of allocations by the total instances of service, is $26.24. Special attention, including personal phone calls, was given in this survey to make sure the state program managers understood what the survey meant by "instances of service." As defined above, a "unit" of assistance, or instance of service, could be a scholarship, a training session, a newsletter, etc.; some instances of service, of course, are much more expensive than $26.24 (a scholarship to an out-of-state conference) and others are much less expensive (a copy of a report). This overall average figure is significant because it reveals the collective success of programs whose goals are to reach as many professionals with training, information and education as possible, and in the most economic fashion. Several states take advantage of the option to reserve a portion or all of the year's funds in order to purchase computers or other technical resources for the program; to save for the implementation of an extensive training program; to test, reassess and update existing facilities; or to bank funds for scholarships to upcoming events. Table 2-7 provides a state by state analysis of the amount of funding received, the amount actually spent in FY 1994, and the instances of service rendered by each state. The final column reflects individual states' total cost per unit of service, calculated by dividing the amount of funds spent by the instances of service provided. For states reporting that they reserved all funds from FY 1994, the instances of service and possible cost per unit of service appear in parentheses; these numbers are not included in the totals listed in the last line of the chart. Table 2-7: State by State Cost Analysis
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE METHODS USED State RTAPs use a variety of methods for providing training and technical assistance. Four program activities have been identified as the most popular and effective ways of offering such assistance: group training, networking, individual technical assistance by state and individual technical assistance by peer. Depending on the specific training need, different types of assistance may be appropriate. The survey asked state program co-ordinators to rate the importance of these four common activities on a scale of one to five, with one being the highest score. Table 2-8 reports the average score of each activity calculated from the states' responses. This year, like last year, program coordinators ranked group training as the most important program activity.
Table 2-8: Importance of Program Activities
Of course, there are many other very competent ways of providing technical assistance. So, in addition to rating a given set of activities, program coordinators were asked an open ended question that allowed them to offer their opinions about the most effective methods of technical assistance. Scholarships, workshops, training sessions and on-site assistance were among the most popular responses; this illustrates the unique appeal of RTAP services that are both diverse and consistent. A complete listing of each state's response is presented in table 2-9.
Table 2-9: Effective Methods of Technical Assistance
METHODS OF ADMINISTERING THE PROGRAM State RTAPs may be administered through a variety of organizational methods. This year's survey, like last year's, shows that RTAP activities and responsibilities are most commonly administered in-house by staff members of the state's department of transportation. Alternatives to in-house administration include contracting with universities, transit associations or districts, and independent consulting firms. Frequently, state RTAPs utilize more than one of these methods in administering their programs. The decision to administer the program in-house or to contract fully or partially with an outside organization depends on the availability of DOT staff, the needs of the state's operators, and the resources and abilities of the contracting firm. Table 2-10 presents the numbers of states using the identified methods of administration. Table 2-10: Administration of State Programs
Staff Time Devoted to the Program In addition to identifying the organizations responsible for administering the programs, the state RTAP coordinators were also asked to estimate how much staff time is devoted to RTAP responsibilities. The survey indicated a range of possible responses spanning from two full-time positions to less than 1/2 of a full time position. Like last year, this year's most common response revealed that many state RTAPs devote less than 1/2 of a full time position to RTAP activities and responsibilities. However, responses to this question in general suggest that time devoted to RTAP is increasing: the numbers in other categories have increased, where the number of people choosing the still most popular category have decreased. The second portion of this question exemplifies the necessary augmentation of hours devoted to the program. As state RTAPs offer increasingly widespread and sophisticated services and resources, the need for focused record keeping becomes more apparent. Therefore, the survey also included a question inquiring about the record keeping responsibilities of RTAP staff members. Table 2-11 indicates the states' responses to both the question about staff time and the question about record keeping. Table 2-11: Amount of Staff Time Devoted to State Programs / Record Keeping
Program Planning RTAP state coordinators and staff members may take a variety of approaches in determining their annual program of projects. Program planning efforts are on-going throughout the year. Most state programs base their program's agenda on the combined responses received from the following types of inquiry: survey of operators, program staff opinion, and ideas from advisory committees made up of industry representatives. Other methods of determining the direction of program planning are university research projects or responses from workshop evaluations. As table 2-12 indicates, program staff opinion most often decides what the year's program will entail, though it is certain that this opinion is informed by input from many other areas of interest. The full range of responses are as follows: Table 2-12: Program Planning
Coordination with Human Service Transportation Programs An important aspect of program planning involves coordinating with human services transportation agencies. Thirty-five of the 48 states who responded to the survey indicated that they coordinated with one or more human service transportation agencies. Thirty-four of the 35 coordinate with agencies helping the elderly; 28 with those with disabilities, 15 with head start and 29 with Medicaid transportation providers. Table 2-13 summarizes the states' responses and reveals that many states coordinate with more than one kind of human service transportation agency. Table 2-13: Coordination with Human Service Transportation Programs
Supplemental Funding Although RTAP moneys typically comprise all or the majority of the training and technical assistance funds used for rural and specialized transit operators in state programs, some states do have access to other resources that are used in conjunction with program funds. States with growing numbers of passengers who have specialized needs welcome the possibility of additional funds to ensure that RTAP trainers and drivers receive continuous and up-to-date training on new and developing equipment, procedures and techniques. The survey responses indicated that thirty-three state programs are 100% RTAP funded programs and sixteen programs receive supplemental funding. This extra assistance may come from federal sources or other state sources, from user fees, or from university contributions to research, education, training, etc. Table 2-14 provides a break down of the number of states receiving supplemental funds. Table 2-14: Supplemental Funding
ACCESS TO AND PROMOTION OF THE PROGRAMS Accessing Services Transportation operators can access the services of their state RTAP in a number of ways. The most typical ways are through the mail, toll and toll free telephone, fax, or a personal visit initiated by either the state or the operator. Mailings usually include newsletters, pamphlets, and various types of informational mailers. Also, as more and more states use advancing computer technology to organize their programs, RTAPs are accessible through on-line services. Access through the mail is still the most popular way to reach the program, but personal visits are growing in popularity. See table 2-15 below for the complete tally on accessing methods. Table 2-15: Access to State Programs
Promotion of the Program How do agencies and operators find out about RTAP's valuable training and assistance resources? The most common method is by word of mouth. Transportation providers and other transit professionals attending state or national conferences undoubtedly exchange information about helpful state programs during training sessions or workshops. Whether from conference presentations or on a day to day conversational basis, this method of promotion is on-going. Other popular ways of promoting the program include direct mailing or FAX, telephone promotion and advertisements in non-RTAP publications. Spreading the news about the benefits of RTAP is advantageous for everyone involved because state programs gain the opportunity to expand the reach of their services, and operators gain access to a most valuable source of training, education, information and assistance. Table 2-16 below summarizes the methods of promotion. Table 2-16: Methods of Promoting the Program
SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS Ultimately, the overall results of the survey illustrate what is well known among all those already involved with RTAP: the state programs benefit a lot of people. State coordinators and staff members, operators and passengers, are affected every day and at every level of service by the education, information and training provided by RTAP services. The survey's goals to gather information about RTAP organizations and their levels of service (measured in program activity) and to identify exemplary technical assistance activities that can be shared were more than satisfactorily met at almost every level of inquiry. By comparing last year's and this year's findings on exemplary products, instances of service, cost effectiveness, and methods of technical assistance, as well as planning, coordinating, and accessing procedures, it becomes clear that the volume and quality of service provided is improving and increasing at an amazing rate. The final table, 2-17, reflects the answers given to two of the open-ended, evaluative questions that the survey asked program managers to consider: "What state RTAP products and services are most used by rural operators?" and "Which products or services fill the most critical need?" The consistency with which the many popular responses appear attests to and underscores the compiled results for the quantitative questions: the training, scholarship programs, conferences, libraries, manuals and networks developed, up-dated and made available by state RTAP programs are key resources for the provision safe, standard and reliable service. Table 2-17: Important State Program Products and Services
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