| NEARC 2001
Sandra Johnson INTERNET TRIP PLANNER The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) was awarded a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Job Access Challenge Planning Grant of $20,000 (plus a $5,000 local match) to develop an Internet based trip planning application based upon the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) fixed-route bus system. The major goals of this pilot were to 1) determine if a system could be developed under considerable financial constraints and 2) develop a “how-to” manual to assist other transportation agencies in developing similar systems for Welfare-to-Work transportation services. Through outreach efforts CMRPC staff realized that while many job placement workers were aware a transit system existed in the city of Worcester, most did not use the system themselves and did not feel comfortable promoting the system to their clients. Therefore, the trip planner has been designed as an internet-based job placement tool intended to help job placement workers, human resource personnel/trainers and employers route their clients and employees to work, training, childcare and other destinations using the WRTA bus system. The Planning Commission’s Internet Trip planning development efforts included securing various funding mechanisms, soliciting bids to design the application and host the site, data development and maintenance, web development and beta testing. The Trip Planner is now completed and operational. Once beta testing has been completed, the system will be open to the public at www.therta. com. |