The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have been working together for more than 10 years to foster increased coordination among the transportation services sponsored by each agency. Coordination experiences encompass a vast array of strategies, including complementary service planning, joint equipment and vehicle procurements, maintenance and facilities sharing arrangements, coordinated service delivery, and consolidated services operation.

The potential benefits of such arrangements have been long acknowledged and extolled. While many studies have been undertaken to chronicle and analyze successful methods for implementing coordinated transportation services, little has been done to quantify the benefits associated with different coordination strategies. Economic analysis of the coordinated arrangements has not been undertaken, and no quantification of the overall costs and benefits of coordination strategies exists.

As Congress increasingly demonstrates its interest in achieving the goals of coordination and General Accounting Office (GAO) undertakes an analysis of DOT/DHHS coordination efforts, more formal analysis of the coordination outcomes should be undertaken to assist Congress, as it crafts national transportation coordination policies and strategies, and local transit/human services agencies, as they seek to consider future implementation of coordination activities in their own communities.

The objective of this research is to develop a document that will (1) examine the net economic benefits associated with various strategies and practices for coordinating health and human services and transit providers and (2) provide quantitative and qualitative information on additional benefits (beyond costs) that might be obtained through further coordination efforts. This information may be used by federal, state, and local officials in developing strategies and policies for coordinating transportation resources. This research will consider rural, suburban, and urban settings.

Status: The Executive Summary has been published as a separate document in a brochure format. A pdf of the brochure---which was prepared by Jon Burkhardt, the principal investigator for the project---is available here: Executive Summary Brochure.The final report is published as TCRP Report 91.