|
|
 Dear Friend,
With the release of our second edition of our
newsletter, the Center for Transportation Excellence (CTE) is
celebrating its one year anniversary for managing Erie County's
Non-Emergency Medicaid Transportation Program. Over the course of the
past year, CTE has coordinated over 250,000 trips with 13 different
transportation providers for nearly 8,000 individuals in Western New
York. We look forward to our continued partnership with Erie County
Department of Social Services to bring even greater efficiencies to the
program over this next year.
In addition to operations,
things have been busy on both the transportation planning and research
fronts. CTE's Niagara County Committee is looking forward to hosting a
United We Ride Community Transportation Workshop at the Orleans/Niagara
BOCES Conference Center on September 22, 2009. The purpose of the
workshop is to assist the Niagara County community, including health
and human service organizations, transportation providers, local
leaders and educational institutions, in identifying and prioritizing
strategies towards creating a fully coordinated transportation system
that provides better service for all individuals. We are very thankful
for all the helpful input and effort of Committee members to make this
workshop possible.
Happy reading!
Regards,
 Kelly M. Dixon Director of Development & Community Outreach |
 In this issue |
Mobility Management Survey
Mobility Survey Highlights Differences between New York and Florida
The Center for Transportation Excellence partnered with the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida to develop and distribute a mobility management best practices survey. read more...
United We Ride Grant
The NYSDOT Partners with CTE on Pilot Program to Improve Coordination
The
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), as the lead
agency in a partnership with the Center for Transportation, is awaiting
a decision on a $250,000 grant from the Federal Transit
Administration's United We Ride Office. read more...
Collaboration Corner CTE Hires it's First Employee from Statler Center Contact Center.
The
National Statler Center is a program of the Olmsted Center for
Sight. The Statler Center provides employment training in the
hospitality industry for persons with physical disabilities and visual
impairments. read more...
Employee Spotlight
Marie Bonacci
Marie has been a Customer Care Representative for over four and a half years
| |
 |
Mobility Management Survey
Survey Highlights differences between New York and Florida The
Center for Transportation Excellence partnered with the Center for
Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida to
develop and distribute a mobility management best practices
survey. This online survey was directed at New York State
Departments of Social Service and Non Emergency Medicaid Transportation
Divisions and Community Transportation Coordinators which manage
Medicaid and other human service transportation programs in the State
of Florida. While the responses do not represent every region in
Florida and New York, the responses do demonstrate some interesting
trends.
Florida has been recognized as having a
high level of coordination among transportation programs, and this is
supported by the survey findings. A high percentage of agencies
from Florida reported coordination activities that include Adult Day
Care, Developmental Disabilities organizations and Mental Health
organizations. Florida agencies also reported handling a higher
number of trips annually compared to agencies in New York State.
The average cost for wheelchair trips, ambulatory trips and stretcher
trips were significantly lower in Florida than in New York State.
However, further investigation is needed to determine what factors are
affecting trip costs in each state.
The
low costs do not appear to have an impact on the level of services
provided. In fact, twice as many Florida agencies reported
providing door-to-door service while the majority of NYS agencies only
provide curb-to-curb service. A greater number of Florida
agencies reported providing additional driver training such as CPR and
First Aid, and a higher percentage of Florida agencies reported using a
variety of inspections to ensure transportation providers follow proper
procedures.
Findings also revealed that private
mobility managers typically had lower trip costs and provided more
services than government agencies. The majority of reporting agencies
in New York State were government agencies. While not as great as in
New York State a significant number of the reporting agencies from
Florida were also governmental agencies.
So what does this
mean for New York State? These results show that New York has
room for improvement in how health and human service transportation is
being managed. There are some fundamental differences in how
coordination of transportation is mandated and encouraged at the state
levels, and it is important that New York begin to look at these
differences and begin making appropriate changes. If you are
interested in a full summary of the survey's findings, please contact
Carl Sadowski, Research Coordinator at 898-7904 or via email.
-top-
|
United We Ride Grant
The New York State Department of Transportation Partners with CTE On Pilot Program to improve Coordination
 The
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), as the lead
agency in a partnership with the Center for Transportation Excellence,
is awaiting a decision on a $250,000 grant from the Federal Transit
Administration's United We Ride Office. If successful, through this grant initiative New
York State and CTE will work collaboratively improve coordination
for the transportation disadvantaged and demonstrate the benefits of
mobility management by purchasing 200 MDTs to advance data collection
and introduce standardized methods of reporting for state
agencies. This pilot project will build off of the
New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA)
grant that was awarded to CTE earlier this year for the purchase of 100
MDT units and software integration.
The combination of these grants will allow CTE to use this
technology in a significant portion of the vehicles in the
transportation network. In addition, the MDT units will
enable CTE to monitor conditions to improve safety, fuel efficiency and
reduce vehicle emissions through real-time monitoring of vehicle
location, speed and other conditions. -top- |
Collaboration Corner
CTE Hires First Employee from new Statler Contact Center
The National Statler Center is a program of
the Olmsted Center for Sight. The Statler Center provides employment
training in the hospitality industry for persons with physical disabilities and
visual impairments, and recently opened their new AVAYA Contact Center that
allows for employment training in customer service and call centers.
The Center for Transportation Excellence recently hired its first
employee from the Statler Center. Matt Coffman, who graduated from the 7 week
training program and has been working in CTE's call center for over
two months. CTE has also opened up its call center to Statler clients
interested in job shadowing and both organizations are interested in a more
formal relationship that will allow CTE to hire additional Statler graduates to
fill positions as call center agents. Please contact the Statler Center
for more information on the next training session.
-top- |
Employee Spotlight
Marie Bonacci
 Marie
has been a Customer Care Representative for over four and a half years
and her strong work ethic is apparent to everyone in the Call
Center. According to her supervisor "Marie gets it, she
understands that in our business we are dealing with peoples
lives." Marie takes the time to find out what our client's needs
are and how the Center for Transportation Excellence (CTE) can best
accommodate those needs."
Marie enjoys the
challenges she runs into and the problem solving that makes each day
interesting. She also enjoys being part of a team, "The best part
of working here is my co-workers. I have made wonderful friends with
the good people here and I hear about their professionalism and
kindness from our clients all the time." When not working at CTE,
Marie enjoys computers and reading books. Her work space also
demonstrates her love of dogs, which includes many pictures of her own
pets.
-top-
| |
|
|
|
|
|
