Training and Outreach

A Business Plan to Continue the Success of River Cities Public Transit

When one of the region's most successful transit agencies decided to develop an updated business plan, it asked SURTC for help.

River Cities Public Transit (RCPT) provides public transportation to Pierre, SD, and surrounding areas and has experienced phenomenal growth and success over the past six years. RCPT began as the Community Coordinated Transportation System, a non-profit corporation formed in 1998 to provide affordable transportation to elderly, disabled, and low-income individuals. As of 2007, RCPT offered about 25,000 one-way trips per month in an eight-county region serving a population of about 32,000 people.

Despite its success, the RCPT's board and its manager, Ron Baumgart, asked SURTC to review its operations and to formulate a detailed business plan. The process helped RCPT to identify additional public transit markets, forecast future capital and fund needs, and communicate a clear vision to its stakeholders.

Jim Miller, faculty affiliate for SURTC, worked extensively with RCPT and helped develop the plan. "While RCPT is an outstanding transit system and a major asset to the communities it serves, it is faced with several hurdles in order to provide high quality transit to central South Dakota," Miller notes.

He said continued growth of the RCPT system will be limited primarily by funding. To meet its goals, state and federal funds need to increase by 30 percent and local funds need to grow more than 25 percent.

"Although the issues identified in this study are serious, the future looks bright for RCPT," Miller says.

Transportation Glossary Now Available

A Transportation Glossary and Resource Manual is now available to help transit managers, academics, consultants and government agencies all talk the same language when it comes to transit.

The glossary is available on the SURTC website at www.surtc.org under the "resources" tab. SURTC is exploring partnerships with national transit organizations to boost awareness of the glossary and encourage its use.

The glossary, compiled by Carol Wright, SURTC associate director for training and outreach, has more than 200 pages of benchmarks, broad explanations, as well as examples of how the terms are used and how they're applied in the transit industry. The resource also includes information on a wide variety of federal and state transit programs and initiatives. Original sources are referenced so users can find additional information.

Following are a few examples of terms you will find in the glossary:

Catchment Area – Area from which primary transit ridership is drawn.

Discretionary Grant – Financial assistance which is awarded on the basis of competitive merits from among proposals that are submitted. Projects may on occasion be earmarked by members of Congress; however, recipients are generally required to file applications and abide by the procedures of what was designed as a competitive grant-making process.

Mobility Services for All Americans – A U.S. Department of Transportation Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program designed to utilize ITS technologies to address rising human service transportation costs and the need to improve mobility services for all, especially those with special transportation needs.

All Over the Map with Transit Training

Based on input from its strategic planning meeting in late 2006, SURTC staff decided to expand the center's outreach to a more national focus. As a result, transit staff from across the country are benefitting from SURTC training thanks to an ambitious schedule of travel and an array of educational offerings.

Nebraska. Gary Hegland attended the Nebraska Association of Transportation Providers Managers Workshop in June to present training on telephone etiquette. The focus of the session was to provide tips on improving telephone communication and to emphasize the importance of telephone courtesy in overall customer service. This conference was SURTC's first opportunity to work with the Nebraska Transit Association and its 75 member agencies.

Colorado. Sept. 10-11 Gary Hegland and Carol Wright were invited to the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies Fall Conference and Expo to give a presentation on fundraising and local match for transit agencies. Wright and Hegland emphasized that fundraising requires both the art of developing and nurturing relationships and the science of using data, research and tested fund-raising models. They discussed how transit agencies could enhance funding by working with federal programs, developing coordination and partnership programs, achieving long-term financial stability, using in-kind match opportunities, and developing special fund-raising events. This was the first training SURTC conducted for the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies (CASTA). CASTA provides ongoing training, resources, technical assistance and leadership to its members which represent urban, suburban, rural and resort transit systems.

Dakota Transit Association. Wright and Hegland also provided training at the Dakota Transit Association 2007 Conference, Vendor Show and Roadeo Sept. 15-19 in Dickinson, ND. They presented a session on human resource management. The session focused on recruiting and retaining quality transit employees as well as other management issues. Hegland also gave a presentation on the roles and responsibilities of transit board members. Dakota Transit Association is the result of a coordinated effort by the transit operators and the state Departments of Transportation of both North and South Dakota to enhance training and mobility options for both states.

Alaska. The Alaska Department of Transportation invited Gary Hegland to conduct training at the 2007 Alaska Community Transportation Transit Conference Sept. 25-27. He served on five panels at the conference and presented on finding coordination partners, overcoming barriers to coordination, risk management for transit agencies, marketing, and creative match sources.

Wyoming. On Oct. 12, Hegland attended the Wyoming Transit Association's Annual Conference and Bus Roadeo in Casper. While Hegland has attended Wyoming's annual conferences since 2003, this is the first opportunity he has had to present. He taught a 4-hour class which focused on using performance measures to aid in making management decisions.

Minnesota. Hegland attended the 2007 Minnesota Public Transit Conference Oct. 29-31 in St. Cloud participating in the vendor show. As a result, Hegland will be conducting sessions on risk management for all Minnesota Section 5310 and 5311 projects in February. Transit operators will be able to choose from sessions offered in Bemidji, Rochester, or St. Cloud. This training is being coordinated by MNDOT's district supervisor, Keven Anderson, who serves on SURTC's Advisory Board.

Back to Alaska. Hegland and Wright were in Anchorage Nov. 14-15 at the request of Debbi Howard, Rural Transportation Program Manager of the Alaska Department of Transportation. They presented a 2-day short-course, Introduction to Transit Management, for beginning transit managers that provided an overview of transitrelated issues and resources. Topics included human resource management, administration, service design and operations, financial management, planning, procurement, and customer service. Hegland and Wright have been asked to serve as trainers for Alaska's 2008 fall transit conference.