Preparing for the next generation...

Dale Marsico, Executive Director
Community Transportation Association

At our Community Transportation EXPO in St. Louis there was an interesting Community Transportation Association Board of Directors Meeting that included FTA Administrator Jennifer Dorn. In the past, these sessions have focused on issues and concerns of mutual interest like regulations, important legislation, coordination, and how we can work to improve transportation services by working together. This meeting took a different turn that focused more attention on the future of smaller transit organizations and providers, especially those in Rural America. Part of this discussion was driven by the overall progress of reauthorization legislation and associated expansion of transit this legislation would provide especially to those small urban and rural transit systems.

In many ways the transportation industry's future and the nation's future have a lot in common. For instance, we're challenged by the need to increase the skills of those who work for us so we can utilize new technology in our workplace that will allow all of us to do our work smarter and more efficiently. We're challenged in competition for new employees in a competitive financial environment where skilled individuals can do better financially. And we're affected by an issue that is at the top of our agenda as transportation providers and advocates as well as managers and employers, an aging society.

America's aging society takes on a special significance for rural and small urban transit providers. Our sector of this industry is by far the newest. Rural and small urban transit has been with us in some form for many years but it has seen significant growth beginning in the late 1970's. It has expanded thanks to the support given it in major national transportation strategies first developed as part of the ISTEA and TEA 21. SAFETEA-LU, the subject of that discussion between the Community Transportation Board members and FTA Administrator Dorn, further expands these commitments and investments.

Along with the contributions made by our state and local partners there will be stronger demands for more services built on the successful efforts many communities of our nation now enjoy. Unlike other aspects of the transportation community, many of the men and women who invented this part of the transportation business are still running it. All of us know people who started some rural or community transportation agency or providers who have been there through this period of development and refinement that have now reached the point where they are either retiring or moving on to some other challenge. I don't think I've been to a transportation meeting in the last three years where we weren't discussing someone retiring from a local transportation organization or, for that matter, a state transportation agency or department.

How we meet this challenge will directly affect the future of our sector of the industry as well as the services many of us will need as we join the ranks of millions who will just need a ride to maintain their place in their community.

Many of us have been fortunate to have enjoyed good relationships with local educational institutions as part of our overall work. When I was a transportation provider I was lucky to participate in a number of academically based internship programs that brought many well-qualified young people to our organization. We often provided the on-the-ground connections and experience that gave them an opportunity to put into practice what they learned in finance, planning, human resources, education, and management. At the Community Transportation Association in Washington we're also lucky to have excellent opportunities to work with respected local institutions that also provide similar, very-qualified students needing the practical experience we can offer to help them make their first meaningful real-world connections.

Our partners in rural and small urban transit community need similar relationships. And, although many of them enjoy relationships similar to those I've mentioned here, many of them do not. Even those who do, probably don't have a relationship with an academically based program or institution that focuses on rural and small urban transit in the way the Small Urban & Rural Transit Center at NDSU does.

There is a need to develop a network of institutions that could connect small urban and rural transit providers to both a series of educational opportunities like those offered by NDSU and a strong internship program focusing on rural and small urban transit. Such a combination of academic work and practical experience would go a long way in helping to create the next generation of transit leaders. A university affiliation provides an added sense of importance to any profession. In the growing sector represented by small urban and rural transit, such a relationship helps us compete for the best minds of the next generation.

Our center at NDSU is the best place for us to explore and establish this effort to assure we always remain the newest sector of our nation's transportation industry. The experience and commitment of the SURTC staff is equal to our own as well as the challenge the future brings to us and to the next generation.