Better Wasatch Front Transportation?

-Courtesy of Katie Rowley and the Utah Parent Center

Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project

Public Asked to Share Ideas to Improve Transportation Services for Wasatch Front Older Adults, Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Low-Income

Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project

The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Transit Authority (UTA), and Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG) are collaboratively conducting the Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project. Project planners invite organizations and residents to provide input on how transportation services for older adults, persons with disabilities and persons with low income can be improved through better coordination.

The objective of the Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project is to develop service and business plans for efforts that improve the coordination of transportation for older adults, persons with disabilities, and persons with low income. The project area includes the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) service area and areas within the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) and Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG) planning boundaries.

Each Open House is scheduled to last two hours. Planners will share results of recent findings, and will seek the assistance of Open House participants to confirm the study findings, to identify any instances of unmet needs, service gaps or service redundancies that are not among the findings, and to offer thoughts on preliminary coordination strategies.

Input from the Open Houses will be used to develop transportation coordination strategies to address unmet mobility needs among older adults, persons with disabilities, and persons with low income. A second round of open houses will be held again in November to gain feedback and to help prioritize alternative transportation coordination strategies. The details for the second round have not yet been finalized.

In addition to open houses, the project team will also hold a series of focus group meetings for older adults, persons with disabilities and persons with low income. The focus group meetings will consist of small group discussions of 8 – 12 participants from each of the three groups. Individual focus group meetings will be held in three different locations within the project area. Participation in focus group meetings is by invitation only. To participate in a focus group meeting, visit the project website. From there you will be asked to respond to a brief questionnaire. Responses to the questionnaire will be used to identify individuals that reflect a representative sampling of older adults, people with disabilities and people with low incomes. Focus group participants will receive a $25 stipend.

Members of the media should contact Barbara Thomas at Wasatch Front Regional Council (801) 363-4230 x 124 or visit the website at http://www.wfrc.org/cms/wasatchmobility/.

For general information about the Wasatch Front Mobility Management Project, the Public Open Houses, and focus group meetings, members of the public should visit the website at http://www.wfrc.org/cms/wasatchmobility/, or call the toll-free project hotline at 1-877-281-5199.

For special accommodations, please call the project hotline at 1-877-281-5199 at least 48 hours in advance of scheduled meeting times.

Dates, Times, and Locations for Public Open Houses:

Box Elder/Weber/Davis County Area Open House:

Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Weber County Library
2464 Jefferson Ave.
Ogden, UT

Salt Lake/Tooele County Area Open House:

Wednesday, June 17, 2008, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Salt Lake City Main Library
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, UT

Utah County Area Open House:

Thursday, June 18, 2008, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Utah County Health and Justice Building
151 South University Avenue
Provo, UT