KPTA News

News Flash!

From the desk of....

Vickie Bourne

Important NOTICE for Kentucky Medicaid Recipients and Medical Providers - Regarding NON-EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION .... Read more .....

Amendment for the FY 2007-2010 STIP Transportation Enhancement Program (Exhibit A-7).

Kentucky Successful Grant Proposal to LKLP, Inc.

Dear Mr. Duke:

Congratulations! Your proposal has been selected as one of eight senior transportation demonstration projects to be funded by the National Center on Senior Transportation (NCST). The Demonstration Projects provide an important vehicle for enabling the Center to fulfill its mission, “To provide technical assistance and training and support innovations that enhance transportation for older adults at the community level.”

More than 300 public, private and faith-based aging/human services and transportation organizations, from 46 states plus the District of Columbia, applied. Needless to say, we were thrilled by this amazing response and we appreciate the patience of all applicants as we completed our review.

Based upon the recommendations of our panel of external reviewers, we believe the group of 8 projects that have been selected for funding will lead the way in addressing the transportation needs of older adults through the use of highly creative approaches. These projects offer tremendous opportunities for learning and innovation that will be of benefit to the field. They are geographically diverse and include a mixture of rural, urban and suburban populations. The demonstration projects that will be funded in 2008 are listed below:

§ Human Services Council, Vancouver, Washington

§ Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnesota

§ Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, Knoxville, Tennessee

§ Leslie, Knott, Letcher Perry Community Action Council, Inc., Jeff, Kentucky

§ Meadowlink Commuter Services, Rutherford, New Jersey

§ Mid County Senior Services, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania

§ Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, Benton Harbor, Michigan

§ Veolia Transportation Services, Inc., Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

___________________________________________

Letcher County Driver Goes That Extra Mile

By: Tammy Whitaker, Letcher County Office Manager

LKLP Transportation 03/09/06

On his morning run, Letcher County driver Jim Amburgey possibly helped save the life of an elderly passenger. During his routine stop at the passenger's home, as he helped her into the van she mentioned that she was not feeling well.

About a mile from the passenger's home, he noticed she was slumped over in her seat. Mr. Amburgey immediately pulled off the highway to check on her. Noticing that she looked quite ill, he asked if she wanted him to return her home. The passenger requested that she be taken to the emergency room. The closest hospital was Jenkins where he drove her straight to the emergency entrance and made sure she made it into the hospital safely to get the medical attention she needed.

Later that afternoon while picking up his returning passengers, he asked about her condition. He was told that his passenger had a massive heart attack and that they had flown her to Central Baptist in Lexington, Kentucky.

If not for Jim's awareness of his passengers and his quick thinking, she may not have survived. Taking care of our passengers is what it's all about.

GOOD JOB JIM!!!

This is an excellent newsletter from United We Ride.

From: United We Ride [mailto:USDOTUWR@govdelivery.com]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 12:26 PM
To: Bourne, Vickie (KYTC)
Subject: United We Ride Fall Newsletter

We are pleased to deliver the UWR Fall 2006 Newsletter directly to your inbox.

http://www.unitedweride.gov/UWRewsletterFall2006.doc

You can view or update your subscriptions, password or e-mail address at any time on your User Profile Page. All you will need are your e-mail address and your password.

You can always use the "Reset your Password" link on the Log-In page for help.

This service is provided to you at no charge by United We Ride.

Visit us on the web at http://www.unitedweride.gov/.

P.S. If you have any questions or problems e-mail help@govdelivery.com for assistance.

GovDelivery, Inc. sending on behalf of United We Ride · Office of Information Technology · 400 7th Street, SW · Washington DC 20590 · 202-366-4000

PATS Announces Driver Training Simulators

Paducah Area Transit System's (PATS) officially introduced the Driver Training program during the KYTC/KPTA Conference with a "real" transit driving experience, behind the wheel using vehicle simulators. At the KPTA/KYTC Conference the Kentucky Office of Transportation Delivery recognized Gary Kitchin for his efforts toward the "Safety" Training for all Kentucky Transit Systems. The Driver's Simulator Training program will be scheduled to travel throughout Kentucky with each system having the opportunity to train drivers. The project is funded in part through Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP), Kentucky Office of the Transportation Delivery and PATS. For more information, contact PATS Director, Gary Kitchin, Telephone 270-444-8700.

CHARTER BUS RULE ON-LINE MEETING: YOU'RE INVITED

The American Public Transportation Association's Charter Bus Task Force will host a free on-line meeting open to all interested APTA and CTAA members at which FTA's proposed charter bus regulation will be discussed. The meeting is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. EDT on March 28. There are a limited number of connections, so interested members should respond no later than March 21. If you would like to be part of this on-line discussion, please contact APTA's Jim LaRusch via e-mail (jlarusch@apta.com), and identify yourself as an interested person from the Community Transportation Association.

Vickie Bourne's Corner:

Drive thy business or it will drive thee. Benjamin Franklin

Fleets are in the business of driving. With rapid fire changes from rising oil prices to the buzz around "green transportation," it's tough to stay on top of what's involved in driving your business. The Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference + Expo 2008 is a one-stop shopping showcase of the fuels, vehicles and technologies that are the new marketplace drivers. Las Vegas is the place to be May 11-14 to see the vehicles, meet the players, and navigate the trends that will keep you in the driver's seat.

What will AF&V 2008 deliver?

The largest national fuel and technology neutral tradeshow

Common sense approaches to cost-effective alternative fuel strategies

A perfect balance of inspirational and practical ideas delivered by a "who's who" of industry experts

An opportunity to drive the newest light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles in the market from leading manufacturers

The latest available funding and incentives for fuel, infrastructure and vehicles

Analyses of current and prospective federal regulations

The AF&V Conference offers networking opportunities, celebrities like racing icon Bobby Rahal, breaking news, and the most thorough education you'll find anywhere in a four-day conference.

With five weeks to go, what are you waiting for? You are one click away from driving your business. Click here to register.

DOE Tests Hybrid Diesel-Electric Delivery Vans on the Job

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is evaluating the performance of 50 hybrid diesel-electric step delivery vans that currently are delivering packages for the United Parcel Service (UPS).

By Catherine Radwan

The hybrid diesel-electric delivery vans are expected to improve UPS fleet fuel economy and decrease vehicle emissions, while maintaining the same reliability and overall performance as conventional vehicles.

NREL's Fleet Test & Evaluation (FT&E) team is performing a 12-month evaluation of some of the hybrid vans at UPS locations in Dallas and Phoenix. NREL will publish its findings in fall 2008.

Atlanta, Ga.-based UPS hopes the evaluation will speed up market acceptance of hybrid diesel systems.

Freightliner LLC, Portland, Ore., and Workhorse Custom Chassis LLC, Highland Park, Ill., manufactured the hybrid diesel-electric vehicles. The Freightliner model has a Mercedes-Benz MBE 904 four-cylinder diesel engine, while the Workhorse model features an International VT-275 six-cylinder diesel.

Eaton Corp., Cleveland, Ohio, provided the hybrid propulsion systems that employ an Eaton automated transmission, an integrated motor/generator and advanced lithium-ion batteries. The Eaton hybrid system was developed in part under a $7.5 million, 33-month contract from DOE’s Advanced Heavy Hybrid Propulsion System program.

DOE's Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA), part of the department’s FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies Program that seeks to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies, funds the project.

(NEW 02/07/2008)

A Message from FTA

In 2004 FTA successfully launched the “Innovative Practices to Increase Ridership” web page. Please see http://ftawebprod.fta.dot.gov/bpir. This web page both allows transit properties to document their successful ridership innovations and users of the site to search a data base of case studies based on innovation type, area size, geographical location, or by keywords. In developing the site, the goal was to bring together the most innovative practices that have been undertaken by transit operators across the nation together into a useful format.

Since the website was initially launched almost four years ago, FTA has received over 250 submissions of successful ridership innovations that FTA has made available to the public. However, many of those case studies were submitted when the website was first initiated. We know that there have been many successful ridership initiatives implemented since 2004. However, FTA has not been as successful in capturing those more recent examples on our website. Therefore, it is time to renew our efforts and provide more recent examples of successful ridership initiatives.

In FY 2007, an average ridership growth of 2.0% was achieved by the nation’s transit properties. Please consider submitting to the Innovative Practices to Increase Ridership website (http://ftawebprod.fta.dot.gov/bpir) your examples of innovative practices to increase ridership that will permit other transit properties to understand how you achieved an increase in ridership and be able to increase ridership for their transit system, as well.

Working together, we can achieve an even greater growth in transit ridership. hank

CTAA Capitol Clips

March 16, 2007

NEWS ON FTA FUNDING, CHARTER BUS RULES, AND MORE!

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has finalized its apportionments and allocations of FY 2007 transit funds to states and localities. This notice is scheduled to appear in the March 23 Federal Register. In a move that is sure to be appreciated by transit providers, states, planners and other interested parties, FTA has already posted this information on its website, where you can find the apportionments, along with other important program information, at http://www.fta.dot.gov/regional_offices_6546.html.

In addition to its very helpful pre-announcement of these apportionments, the FTA notice is helpful in several other respects. For instance, this year's notice lists all the small urbanized areas that qualified for funding under the Section 5307 "Small Transit Intensive Cities" tier of funds, and is clearer than ever before on the availability of limited amounts of operating assistance to certain large urbanized areas.

The FY 2007 apportionments notice also explains the status of guidance documents for the various FTA programs. This is a challenge, since some programs (such as Section 5311) have new guidance documents, others (such as Sections 5310, 5316 and 5317) have program circulars that are nearly finalized, and some (such as Section 5307) are a long ways off from having new guidance documents.

As soon as this notice is published in the Federal Register, designated recipients of these various programs can begin to access a record-setting $8.8 billion federal transit investment.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, FTA will be soliciting applications for competitively selected Section 5309 bus and bus facilities grants. The notice of instructions for how public agencies may compete for $413 million in competitive grants is expected to appear concurrently with the apportionments notice, on March 23. FTA also anticipates publishing guidance as to how it is handling $266 million in unallocated Section 5309 "New Starts" funds for fixed-guideway systems, and instructions concerning the availability of $6 million for unallocated Alternatives Analysis projects.