| Abstract |
This research was conducted to assess the exchange of (computer based) data between transportation providers, brokers, customers and human service agencies for successful mobility management undertakings. For decades, communities have been pursuing mobility management to improve transportation options for older adults, individuals with disabilities, individuals with low incomes, and, more recently, veterans. The success of mobility management requires effective exchange of information among transportation providers, service brokers, customers, and agencies that provide health, social, education, and other services. Events have converged in the last decade resulting in a need to examine how technology can be used to enhance mobility management and coordination activities. The goal of this research is to identify opportunities for the standardization of data relevant to mobility management systems, focusing on realistically achievable objectives that can be attained in the near-term, including possible specifications, and which can also contribute to more ambitious outcomes over a longer time frame. Data standards will provide a foundation for important advancements including: (1) enabling transportation brokers or providers to efficiently share trip records regardless of the brand of scheduling software they use, (2) developing a means for customers (whether individuals, mobility managers, or human service agencies) to obtain information on trip availability and cost, and (3) allowing software developers to build applications that use the data for both transportation agency use and customer use. (For example, we are now seeing applications using the fixed route data available for transit systems that have put their data into General Transit Feed Specifications format, including applications to assist people with disabilities. As the availability of standardized data becomes widespread, the benefits of such standardization will be increasingly manifest.) While there are challenges to developing data standards in such a diverse industry, the expected advancements illustrate how the public sector can benefit from improved communications between software programs and the investment of private sector industries, whether large companies or individual software developers. The federal commitment to improving mobility management, as demonstrated programs such as United We Ride (UWR), Mobility Services for All American (MSAA), and The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI), provides further impetus for moving forward. Leadership and a clear vision will be needed to establish data standards. |
