The Transportation Investment Act of 2010 tasked the Governor’s Development Council (GDC) with examining how rural and human services transportation is delivered in the State, and with providing the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) with a report identifying means to increase the coordination of Georgia’s rural and human services transportation system. A series of workshops was held around the State designed to gather information for the report as well as to update the Georgia Rural and Human Services Transportation Coordination Plan. Feedback obtained from these workshops helped the GDC formulate a series of recommendations to be contained in the final report. One of the recommendations was for creation of Regional Mobility Managers around the State with Regional Commissions serving as the logical provider of this service.
The Middle Georgia Regional Commission was selected by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to participate as one of three Mobility Management pilot programs around the State. The program seeks to optimize all transportation resources within the region with a goal of full coordination between the major rural and human services transportation programs. This includes rural public transportation and all of the various human services transportation programs to improve transportation for older adults, people with disabilities, individuals with lower incomes, and those needing access to employment and job training opportunities.
In MGRC’s first year as a Regional Mobility Management pilot program, efforts were focused primarily on improving current levels of coordination, increasing cost-effectiveness, and maintaining or improving existing levels of service. A particularly noteworthy program accomplishment involved the consolidation of DHS transportation subcontractors from four to two, resulting in a projected annual cost savings in excess of $200,000.