King County Coordinated Vaccine Transportation Helpline

Recently, the Hopelink-based project helped make history. Throughout the last two years, Hopelink staff helped the Washington State Department of Transportation create almost two dozen new data feeds. Our work helped set a new data standard called GTFS-Flex. “Flex” is an extension project for GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification). The new data standard can tell the story of volunteer transportation, Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT), Dial-A-Ride, Door-to-Door, and other critical services.

2024 SVMC Mobility Resolution

Celebrating Inclusion in Community!

A Celebration of Opportunity, Equality, and Independence!

Cross-County Transportation Needs Between King and Snohomish Counties

The Open the Paths 2023: An Open Data & Transportation Equity Conference brought together data professionals and academics with community members, transportation professionals, and organizations working to increase community mobility. There was a palatable and shared passion among every attendee and speaker around simplifying transportation in our communities. The technical focus on data specification standards was particularly relevant for a multi-year project Hopelink is working on, a One-Call/One-Click system , which will begin with the launch of a beta trip planner website in 2023. The TDEI (transportation data equity initiative) is a project led by the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology and Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC), sponsored by the ITS4US Program, US Department of Transportation. Led by Anat Caspi Ph D, the mini-conference had wide-ranging implications for mobility and accessibility in our communities. People with limited options make agonizing decisions for both necessary and joyful trips around their communities. The barriers for non-drivers include geographic, language, financial, cultural, time of day, lengthy planning ahead, and many other factors. Open the Paths 2023, located at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science building, focused on refining relevant data standards to improve mobility for people with disabilities and an analysis of other barriers to transit. Data quality and continuity ensures more comprehensive information in transit planning tools. Better data standards can help transit agencies and policymakers to identify and address gaps in our systems. Keynote speaker, Karen Braitmayer, FAIA, architect, and wheelchair user, emphasized that working towards better data standards is both “an art and a science.” The conference also made connections to community mental health. Braitmayer explained how barriers like tree routes, steep hills, and bumps on sidewalks may make people afraid to leave their homes. Crafting data standards which help tell the story of our built environments is an urgent problem to address. During Day 2, the conference focused on evaluation criteria for equity and access. Anat Caspi Ph D emphasized a need for less “squishy” criteria so transportation data can accurately reflect the experiences of multiply marginalized community members. The day ended with a synergetic community visioning conversation towards best practices in tagging community collected sidewalk data. Over the two days, April 21 and 22, attendees pondered thorny questions like: Are wheelchair users pedestrians? What is meant by ‘good’ and ‘bad’ data? How might researchers assess when community members feel left out due to a lack of abundant transit options? How reliable are crowd-sourced data? How might lack of maintenance of existing data sources undermine the data integrity of existing data sets? What are collectible data? Neuropsychologist Taylor Kuhn, Ph.D., presented on the Human Connectome Project and their work at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. This project “aims to provide an unparalleled compilation of neural data, an interface to graphically navigate this data, and the opportunity to achieve never before realized conclusions about the living human brain.” Learn more . Kuhn’s presentation demonstrated how Connectome modeling may predict future mode shift from single occupancy car travel due to congestion pricing. Community volunteers are often co-creators in the data for sidewalks. This creates unique challenges for creating data standards. For example, Braitmayer described significant challenges translating concepts like “sidewalk bumps” into a data description standard. Several attendees mentioned how disruptive it can be when a paratransit trip that is supposed to be door-to-door takes extra time due to inefficiencies. The conference highlighted projects in Minnesota, Chicago, and Seattle tackling mobility options that currently are not included in Google or Apple Maps. The collaboration fostered in the mini-conference ensures a more coordinated approach at the federal, state, and local levels. It reinforces the need for organizations rooted in the local community, like Hopelink, to be engaged in data creation and long-term continuous maintenance. At Hopelink, in connection with our partners in Pierce, King and Snohomish, we are helping set best practices for mobility management data projects in the Puget Sound Region that prioritize the needs of older adults and people with disabilities. Hopelink’s One-Call/One-Click system, Find a Ride, will begin a multi-year roadmap with the launch of a trip planner website in 2023. This work arose from an inclusive planning process with King County Mobility Coalition and other partners. Hopelink’s guiding principles for Find a Ride include eventual integration with Access Map sidewalk data which focuses on understanding and improving the pedestrian experience through better data collection. At first, Find a Ride will be trip planner with “call ahead” and “right now” service. Longer-term plans include integration with mobility options like taxi services, micro-mobility, and more. As of April 2023, there are twenty-six services complete and twenty-six services in progress in Find a Ride. We appreciate the thoughtful data feed creation with our partners at WSDOT. Our project is shaping an emerging data standard for specialized transportation providers. Find a Ride Program Manager, Laura Loe, reflected on the event: “Open the Paths 2023 demonstrated the need for lived experts to be involved from the beginning, and at every aspect of mobility management, something Hopelink has ensured with support from our Advisory Committee. Hopelink’s engagement and outreach, new community navigator program, and transportation resources phone line are all rooted in listening to non-drivers and connecting them to choices to increase their independence and community connection.” At Hopelink, our mobility programs benefit from robust community connections. Find a Ride’s trip planner will lead to gap assessments, a theme woven throughout Open the Paths 2023. Our project will help the Puget Sound Region right away while also leading to long-term improvements for those who have been left stranded by current systems. Analogous to the work on sidewalk data, it will take on-the-ground feedback to increase accuracy and meaning to our One-Call/ One-Click program.

Consultants from the University of Washington will present recommendations to reduce barriers for cross-country travel.

Major updates from the Hopelink and King County Mobility Coalition (KCMC) project that aims to simplify and streamline the way community connects to specialized transportation options.

Program Overview To long-time partners of the King County Mobility Coalition, the story of the Community Transportation Navigator pilot will sound familiar. In 2018, Hopelink, on behalf of the King County Mobility Coalition, was awarded an inclusive planning grant to evaluate how people find and secure non-cost barrier transportation. From this process two major solutions emerged, Community Transportation Navigators and Central Puget Sound One-Call/One-Click . Two innovative and transformative projects which will connect community members to mobility options that work best for them. In the five years that have passed since the Inclusive Planning grant the Hopelink Mobility team has continued to work with community partners to refine and design this peer-to-peer approach to outreach so that people learn directly from trusted transportation champions in their community. In August of this year Hopelink and King County Metro launched the Community Transportation Navigator pilot to connect community members to travel options introduced to them by trusted sources. These community leaders have shared experiences, languages, cultures, and geography. This pilot will primarily serve community members who have lower usage rates of transportation resources. This includes low-to-moderate income community members, people with limited English proficiency, older adults, and immigrant and refugee populations. Program Goals & Aims This pilot project aims to reach the "hardest-to-reach" communities and improve communities' mobility, confidence level, and equitable access to opportunity and independence. Individuals benefiting from the program will receive information in a culturally inclusive manner. The program will provide: Education , access to navigation tools Program Enrollment , support in enrolling in reduced fare options & eligibility-restricted programs Training Sessions , creating trust and relationship building with other community avenues Incentive Distribution and opportunities for continuous engagement. Next Steps We are incredibly excited to share that we have recruited and onboarded our first cohort of Community Transportation Navigators that are part of the Filipino community! Navigators learn vital information about the transportation layout and resources throughout King County during the onboarding process. With this knowledge, Navigators can perform outreach in culturally appropriate strategies to educate and engage with community members. Navigators will have the experience and skills to provide nuanced support and creative solutions to meet the needs of the communities they represent.  Contact Information For more information or to serve on the project team, contact: Sandy Phan Program Coordinator, South King County Mobility Coalition sphan@hopelink.org 425-457-3940