Coordination in Action:
Sussex County, Delaware
In Sussex County, Delaware, coordination is being used to increase local transportation alternatives and is a great best
practice to include in any issue focusing
on teamwork.
by Rich Sampson
“Are you looking for Gus?” asks
Shawn Turzani, Transportation
Director for the CHEER Senior
Services organization in Sussex
County, Delaware. “Gus’s bus is
down at the end, dear. Here, let me
take you,” Turzani replies, pointing
to the last of five white-and-maroon
CHEER vehicles qued at the entrance
of CHEER’s Warren L. & Charles
C. Allen Community Center in
Georgetown, Del. With a sturdy arm
and an easy pace, he guides passenger
Gloria to driver Gus Keebler’s bus and
her ride home. For Shawn Turzani and
his colleagues in Sussex County, this is
transportation coordination at its most
fundamental level.
14
Community Transportation
It’s a couple days before Thanksgiving,
and more than 200 Sussex County
seniors have just finished a holiday
feast – with all the trimmings. Now
it’s time to get them home. And while
many of the day’s diners at CHEER’s
community center are served here
and at various CHEER locations
throughout the county, others are
served by similar organizations and
programs throughout Sussex County.
But through the efforts of the Sussex
County Mobility Consortium, of
which CHEER is the lead agency, the
county’s seniors now have access to the
totality of the transportation services
offered by these organizations. And
for participants in these programs like
Gloria, that coordination of programs
and services need be no more complex
than a ride to enjoy a warm meal and
an active role in her community.
Partnering to Provide Better Service
Sussex County, Del., is the state’s
largest county in geographic size, and
the largest east of the Mississippi River,
and its least densely populated. About
one-third of that population is aged 55
years and over – the number of seniors
in Sussex County is projected to grow
43 percent between 2000 and 2010.
These geographic and demographic
factors combine to produce a large and
growing demand for community and
public transportation, especially for
seniors. It’s a need that is the largest in
the state and increasing at around 10
percent each year.
In support of this significant mobility
need, CHEER provides a range
of programs and services to help
seniors remain a vibrant part of their
community. Services ranging from
in-home care and fitness centers to
medical and nutrition services and
volunteer programs are provided
throughout the county. Many of the
organizations delivering these programs
also operate transportation services
CHEER buses stand ready to move Sussex County residents.
to allow participants to access them.
For instance, CHEER – a non-profit
organization that orchestrates many
senior services in Sussex County – is
the largest Section 5310 transportation
provider in Delaware, operating 15 of
its own vehicles each day and moving
more than 200 riders each day.
Although a sizable number of programs
and services for seniors are available
through a dozen organizations in
Sussex County, not all of them
independently offer every service
needed, and not all seniors had a
way to access them. As a result, in
April 2006, 11 organizations serving
seniors and people with disabilities
came together to find a way to provide
better and more efficient service by
coordinating their transportation
operations. The group – which dubbed
itself the Sussex County Mobility
Consortium – began a series of
monthly meetings to determine how
best to improve mobility options in the
county.
Comprised of CHEER, senior centers
in Laurel and Seaford, disability
service organizations such as KentSussex Industries, Easter Seals of
the Lower Eastern Shore, Sussex
Community Action, other private, nonprofit entities, including the Delaware
Technical and Community College,
the Consortium began defining
needs, compiling a directory of their
transportation resources and assessing
existing service options. The latter
of these also included work with the
state’s public transportation system,
the Delaware Transit Corporation, or
DART, to identify the existing public
transit options in the County.
“The Consortium partnership provided
a forum to not only identify needs,
but to develop ideas and plans to serve
those needs,” says Arlene Littleton,
CCTM, Executive Director of
CHEER. “I think by working together,
it increased the credibility we had
to make changes, rather than one
organization or agency going-it-alone.”
Through these collaborative efforts,
the group was able to identify that its
demand for transportation services
for seniors was growing by about 10
percent each year. The group also
recognized that its investments could
not keep pace with the combination
of inflation and demands from a
growing population. The existing range
of transportation operations could
be coordinated to better serve their
clients and make better use of their
funding investments. This was the
premise upon wich CHEER received
an inial $40,000 grant through the
Delaware Aging Network, funded by
the Delaware Community Foundation,
in January 2006.
“This project made sense for us because
it was the most effective way to help
improve access to services for seniors
in Sussex County,” says Susan Getman
of the Delaware Aging Network. “It
is really a pioneering program for
Delaware and other places around
the country, as it shows the benefit of
partnering to provide better service.”
Making Coordination Happen
With a mission to increase mobility
opportunities through the increased
utilization of existing resources, the
group began implementing a process
to make coordination a reality. Before
any trips could be scheduled and rides
delivered, a methodology for best
utilizing the existing resources had
to be established. The Consortium
identified a hierarchy for assigning
trips between travel modes. First, if
the existing DART fixed-route network
could serve a given passenger, that
option would be given the highest
priority. Next, if a public transit
option was not available, then
the transportation services of the
Consortium members would be utilized
to provide the best travel possible for
the rider while also maximizing the
efficiency of each service vehicle.
Finally, if those operations could
not meet a given request, then the
Consortium would assign the trip to
its network of volunteer drivers, which
would be combined into a collective
operation under the coordinated
model.
Having constructed a methodology
to prioritize transportation resources,
the group then turned its attention to
building an operational system to allow
for trip assignment. Working within
a budget limited by the grant funds
available, the Consortium worked
with a local software developer to
create a database to compile records
of all clients served by transportation
programs, and then assign trips once
At left, Deputy Director Ken Bock, Transportation Coordinator Marie Hannah, Shawn Turzani and Transportation Coordinator
Thomas McClain administer CHEER’s transportation programs as part of the Consortium, while at right, Johnette Lanham (right)
and driver Silvia Gaona of Easter Seals of the Lower Eastern Shore also do their part in providing mobility in Sussex County.
Community Transportation
15
CHEER is the lead agency among the 11 organizations of the Sussex County Mobility Consortium.
the system was activated. Since neither
the Consortium nor the software
developer had produced an entirely
new dispatching system, simplicity
became its fundamental component.
As a result, the Consortium developed
a basic software application that
was useful for registering clients
and tracking trips perfomed by each
Consortium member. The group
produced a software program that was
delivered four months from the date
the initial plans were submitted and for
a very resonable price.
“For every step, simplicity and
flexibility for our users became our
watchwords,” explains Ken Bock,
CCTM, Deputy Director of CHEER.
“Each member of the Consortium
bought into the concept that this was
a pilot program and our operations
would be refined – and in some cases
redefined – to serve the needs of our
customers. We very simply identified
how we would prioritize our resources,
and then designed a software program
that wouldn’t overburden us.”
Lastly, with a technological solution
in place to allow the coordinated
system to function, it was still missing
one crucial element to make it a
reality – transportation coordinators
who would actually orchestrate its
operation. Through a second grant
of $40,000 from the Delaware Aging
Network in January 2007, a new
16
Community Transportation
$25,000 grant from Sussex County,
and in-kind contributions from
CHEER, the Sussex County Mobility
Consortium hired and assigned two
part-time transportation coordinators
to staff the newly-created office
for its 10-hour service day. The
coordinators work with staff from
all the Consortium organizations to
determine which of their clients utilize
the system’s transportation resources
and then assign trips to the relevant
vehicles amongst all the members.
They also respond to new requests
and help those clients access the
DART public transit and Consortium
volunteer networks as well.
By accomplishing the three phases of
building the coordinated system – mode
priority, technology development and
program staff – the Sussex County
Mobility Consortium’s prototype
transportation network was launched
in April 2007. In its first full month
of operation, May 2007, the member
organizations provided 56 new
coordinated trips, in addition to their
existing levels of service provided to
their own clients, with another 42 new
trips handled by volunteers. Only five
months later in October 2007, the
former number had skyrocketed to
410 trips – more than an 800 percent
increase in use – while 77 volunteer
trips were provided. Consortium
members feel the service has only begun
to scratch the surface of its potential.
“We’ve grown only by word-of-mouth,”
says Bock, a former director at DART
and the Association’s State Delagate
for Delaware. “We intentionally did
not promote or advertise the program,
so we could develop and evolve at
a managable and sustainable pace.
Consortium members were concerned
that if we went too fast without
fully developed all of our operating
parameters or having sustainable
funding in place, the system could
collapse under the weight of its own
success.”
The Heart of the Matter
As much as its simplified planning
and start-up process factored into
the system’s deployment and growing
success, the Consortium’s coordinated
network finds its ethos in a much more
profound manner – the interpersonal
connections it has built, and is still
building, between its members, staff,
drivers and – most importantly – its
passengers. Although it was easy for
the group to determine the need to
coordinate, the degree to which the
system would be functional could not
be determined until it actually began
moving people.
“It is very easy for us to all sit
around a conference table and say,
‘coordination – this is great,’ but it
doesn’t mean very much until we see
it in action,” says Sue Franckowiak,
Coordination in Action: Sussex County, Delaware
Executive Director of the Nanticoke
Senior Center. “Our clients are quite
naturally concerned with being able
to reach the specific programs they’re
in, and until they actually saw that
our system picks them up and drops
them off dependably, there was some
trepidation. Essentially, it’s all about
trust.”
“We’ve been able to get on-site at all
the members’ locations and work with
individual clients, and that’s really
helped to build a common bond of
trust,” says Hannah.
“The Consortium process allows
the whole program to be more
responsive and accountable, because
nearly everything is conducted at an
individual level,” says George Tribitt,
one of the Consortium’s leaders and
a former transportation operations
manager with more than 25 years
of experience. Tribitt is one of two
retired transit professionals from
nationally-recognized systems who
have lent their time and talent to the
new Consortium. Vaughn Whisker, the
other life-long transit professional who
has helped make the Consortium a
reality, credits “the willing spirit of the
Consortium members to do good for
their fellow community members.”
Margie Turcol, an 85-year old resident
of Harberson, Del., who is legally
blind and whose walking is limited by
a hip replacement says, “this program
helps me to live and stay in my home.
I really appreciate the program and the
transportation coordinators do every
aspect of my trip – I just need to be
ready to go. The drivers who carry me
to my appointments are very friendly
and patient. Without this program, I
would have to go in a nursing home.”
Fortunately, the ability to build trust
amongst the various Consortium
members, their staffs and clients was
an inherent byproduct of the process
it used to establish the system. Trust
and momentum were established
within the group from its early days,
as members worked collectively to
identify needs and resources, and
their work was rewarded quickly with
the realization of grant funds for the
project. Meanwhile, the transportation
coordinators hired by the Consortium
found the basis of their work to be
forging direct relationships with their
colleagues at the member organizations
and their clients. As the coordinators
worked to ensure that rides were
delivered as promised, and more
people could access more services and
programs with regularity, a natural
level of respect and solidarity was the
result.
At the same time, the system’s
reliability and connectivity has
convinced riders of its usefulness.
Council has also lent its support to the
project through a grant to CHEER.
The Federal Transit Administration’s
Section 5317 investment stream – also
known as the New Freedom program
– is also anticipated to play a role in
the Consortium’s development. The
group recently submitted a proposal
through the State of Delaware, which
was approved for funding beginning
in January 2008. In conjunction
with the existing investment already
obtained, the Sussex County Mobility
Consortium is achieving sustainability
and will have the resources needed to
further develop, refine and expand its
mission to serve the citizens of Sussex
County.
Still, in spite of all the work that
needs to be done, members of the
Consortium are proud of their efforts.
A Foundation of Relationships
Members of the Consortium plan to
be able to leverage the momentum
created during the project’s first
year to further expand service and
increase participation among member
agencies. Support from the Delaware
Community Foundation through the
Delaware Aging Network has been
instrumental in the development of
the program, and the Consortium was
recently notified that their annual
grant was renewed for a third year.
Encouraged by the initial progress of
the the Consortium, the Sussex County
“When you look at the big picture, it’s
been quite an achievement,” says Bock.
“We’ve had lots of support from the
beginning, but we had to walk before
we could run. In all, our foundation is
built on good relationships – between
the Consortium, our various staffs, and
the people that we serve here in Sussex
County.”
Mr. Sampson is a staff writer for both
Community Transportation and RAIL
Magazines. He can be reached at
[email protected].
CHEER’s Warren L. and Charles C. Allen Community Center in Georgetown.
“Because of the strong relationships
that existed between the Consortium
members, we’ve had really good
success in building one-on-one
relationships on a first-name basis
with our peers throughout these
organizations,” says Thomas McClain,
who along with Marie Hannah serve
as the Transportation Coordinators for
the Consortium.
Community Transportation
17