In the Spotlight Florida Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged An interview with Transportation Specialist John Paul Irvine Approximately six million people in Florida are considered transportation disadvantaged (TD). TD is defined by the Florida Legislature as ‘those persons who because of physical or mental disability, income status, or age, are unable to transport themselves or to purchase transportation and are, therefore, dependent upon others to obtain access to health care, employment, education, shopping, social activities or other life-sustaining activities, or children who are disabled or high-risk…” In 1989, the Florida Legislature addressed the problem of transportation disadvantaged by creating the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged which sets policies and provides direction to the staff. The Commission also oversees the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund and implements the program as specified in Chapter 427.013, F.S. To get more insight into how this program affects the TD population in their everyday life, John Paul Irvine, Project Manager, Area 6 (Glades, Henry and Lee Counties) was asked to explain the workings of the Commission. LP: “Who would be a person that would not qualify under any program except the transportation disadvantaged?” JI: “A senior might be eligible under a program that would provide transportation to their meal program …, but that program may not provide the day-to-day transportation needed to go to the doctor, to go to the post office, to get their hair done, to the grocery store, that type of thing. So, if you call me and said John, I need a trip today. I would ask you where you are going and look at your application that you filled out. I would know the funding sources I have at my disposal to bill to. I would see if you qualified under any of those programs, and if you did, I would trip you under that program, and I’d bill that program to pay me back a trip. If you didn’t meet any of those requirements, but you did meet the definition of transportation disadvantaged, then I would give you your trip, and I would bill the transportation trust fund. Let me say one other thing. Depending on your destination, or what you’re doing, or your qualifications, in a given day, you might ride on three different funding sources. It’s up to me to figure out what you qualify for based on the information you provide to me as a client and for me to know as a coordinator who to bill for it.” LP: What about the Uber Program in Tampa? JI: “It’s actually Clearwater, Pinellas County. We’re not partners in the one in Hillsboro, Tampa area. One agency might not have a requirement, but another agency might. So our coordinators have to have their drivers trained for every social service agency’s requirements. Our programs are very safe and very well screened. So under those programs, we just can’t stick somebody in an Uber, because they don’t have those same requirements, you know of driver screening, thorough background checks, training, none of that. So as far as with the money we have from the State, for most projects, we’re not doing anything with Uber as far By Linda Price 30 AmeriDisability July/August 2017
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