Overview | The Pilot

The Pilot Project - A Community-Based Transportation Planning Model

Overview
Strategies that were identified during the Dialogue sessions held in the summer of 2001 were consolidated into the Community-based Transportation Planning Model that was discussed at the Joint Dialogue Session on August 13, 2001.  (To see the strategies and the Community-based Transportation Planning  Mode, click here.)  Based on the feedback on the planning model received at that session, the following Pilot Community-based Transportation Planning Program was proposed to the Study Oversight Committee (SOC).

It was proposed as a pilot program in order to test some of the strategies on a limited basis.  It was hoped that the pilot would serve several functions.  It would allow the project to:

  1. test the applicability and potential of the strategies selected for application in the pilot.
  2. develop and apply evaluation measures that would show what strategies worked and did not work and how they could be modified, if appropriate, for better success.
  3. begin to work toward getting “buy-in” on the complete model from the leadership of the public agencies involved in the TIP process.
  4. test a limited model that could be included in this Guidance Manual.

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The Pilot
(It should be noted that because of the funding situation in Bexar County, the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) process was not conducted in 2002 as anticipated at the inception of this project. Consequently, this model was not tested in its entirety. Some of the specific strategies were tested however, in separate, independent situations. See the results of the surveys at the end of this section for one strategy.)
The Pilot Program was intended to serve a reduced area of Bexar County and the City of San Antonio as well as some suburban cities. The proposed area was bounded on the north by Commerce Street – and an imaginary extension of it – and on the south, east and west by Loop 1604. This area encompasses the majority of the census tracts identified in the 1990 Census as having fifty percent (50%) or more of their residents at or below the poverty level, and a majority distribution of minorities. It would also allow for involvement by urban and rural residents as well as those in incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. Residents in this area have typically not participated significantly in the TIP process in previous years.

The goals for the Pilot project were to:

  1. provide education to low income/minority populations in under-served areas about the transportation planning process, and
  2. increase the involvement of low income /minority populations in under-served areas in that process.

The elements of the Pilot project that should be implemented in the first stages of the TIP process are:

  1. Placement of a bilingual person for half-day (four hours) segments in the lobbies of offices of the Texas Workforce Development Centers and/or the Texas Department of Human Services to solicit proposed projects for consideration in the TIP process. Assistance in completing the application for a TIP project would be given to those interested in proposing a project. A process not unlike that used at the TIP community meetings would be adapted to this situation.

    These agencies were selected because the MPO already has a relationship with them and they have representatives on the Study Oversight Committee (SOC). They have indicated by their participation in the project to date that they interested in finding way to increase participation by the target population in the transportation planning process.

    It is suggested that at least four sites be chosen for implementation of this strategy. More sites should be included if there is sufficient personnel to handle the additional sites. Additional personnel may be recruited by asking the members of the SOC to volunteer or to volunteer members of their staffs. [The City of San Antonio’s Department of Community Initiatives volunteered to provide personnel to staff this effort.]
     
  2. Unfunded projects from the last TIP cycle will be identified and a survey instrument developed that would allow members of the target audience to indicate how important they think a particular project is. Based on the response, projects achieving a certain ranking would be automatically submitted for consideration in the current TIP process.

    The reason(s) the projects were not funded would be included in the information about the project. This information would be given to those being surveyed before they complete the survey form.

    These surveys would be conducted at public housing project offices, on VIA buses, and at least one rural location where people from the community gather.
     
  3. The community leaders who attended the dialogue sessions volunteered to host meetings of their groups. These meetings would include an explanation of the TIP process using “before and after” photos to show places where it has worked, a review of the unfunded projects, feedback on the projects, and suggestions about which projects should be re-considered. They would also have the opportunity to propose additional projects for inclusion in the current TIP process and be shown how to track a project. Twelve community members attended the dialogue sessions. At least half of them should be asked to host a meeting. The meetings should be selected in order to get participation from different locations across the pilot project area.
     
  4. The SOC should identify criteria and select a community to work to develop a comprehensive transportation plan coordinated with their community development and/or neighborhood plan. An intern would be assigned to work with the community in the development of their plan. [Interns were to be selected from members of the community itself.]

    Other alternatives would be to see what transportation projects were already included in community/neighborhood plans and the intern would work with the community to help get them funded.
     
  5. Outreach strategies that should be used to increase low income/minority participation in the TIP meetings include the following:
     
    1. Messages to the electronic and print media should be framed to address some of the concerns expressed at the Dialogue sessions, i.e., that their participation does not matter, that what happens will not affect them, that everything is already decided, and that nobody will listen to what they have to say. [A video public service announcement (PSA) was developed that will be used in future TIP processes. Click here to view the PSA.]
    2. Flyers should be developed that can be distributed at churches across the pilot project area. At least ten churches should be identified and requested to distribute the flyers. They should be churches located in the general vicinity of the TIP meetings.
    3. Flyers should also be distributed on the VIA buses, public housing offices, Metropolitan Health Department offices and community centers in the target area.
    4. Conduct training for personnel of the agencies involved on “talking to the public.” This training would address the issues identified in the dialogue sessions by both the community and the agencies.
    5. Materials to be used in the TIP meetings should be reviewed to reduce jargon and add simplicity.
    6. Evaluation measures will be developed to give guidance in what works and why and to show what could/should be modified for more effectiveness in meeting the goals.

Over the longer term, the following should be implemented later in the TIP process:

  1. Progress report meetings should be held with those groups that were met with earlier in the year (#3 above).
  2. The status of the projects they proposed should be reported and strategies for promoting their projects should be discussed.

This pilot project embodies many of the elements and strategies identified in the dialogue sessions as well as others stimulated by suggestions at the sessions. We believe the pilot includes enough strategies to be able to meet the goals of the Title VI and Environmental Justice Project, to test how well these strategies work, and to give feedback that will allow for modification of the strategies to improve their effectiveness.

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