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The Agency Council on Coordinated Transportation (ACCT) is a partnership of members from the legislature, state agencies, transportation providers and consumer advocates whose mission is to direct and promote activities that efficiently use all available state and community resources for special needs transportation across the state. The legislature created ACCT in 1998 to facilitate coordination and eliminate cross-jurisdictional and government program barriers to transportation. The ACCT Council concentrates on three critical areas: Identify and Address Barriers, Focus on Results, and Increase Advocacy.
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IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS BARRIERS
ACCT Holds Summit
ACCT members met in October to develop a work plan, budget, and legislative agenda for the 2005-2007 biennium. The Council confirmed their vision to remove transportation as a barrier to full participation in the community and their commitment to provide programs and strategies that remove barriers, focus on results, and increase advocacy for coordinated transportation. Using their experience and the input gathered through an on-line stakeholder survey, council members discussed what is working well, what can be improved, and where to focus future efforts.
Throughout 2005-2007, ACCT plans to focus on:
- Providing assistance to local coalitions
- Building relationships with regional transportation planning organizations
- Helping communities understand how they can utilize transportation tools including brokerages, school buses, and ride sharing
- Collecting more performance measurement data from transportation providers
- Aligning performance measures with the Governor's priorities on accountability
- Holding interactive Council meetings, with group discussions on specific topics
INCREASE ADVOCACY
ACCT Supports Revision of Cabulance Laws
ACCT has voted to support legislation that would regulate the cabulance industry statewide. Currently, the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) only regulates non-profit transportation providers.
In addition, local communities are developing conflicting rules for regulating private for-profit providers. ACCT supports statewide regulation to increase safety and standardize local policies. ACCT will work with the UTC to develop the next steps for revising state law.
FOCUS ON RESULTS
ACCT Survey Results
In October, ACCT surveyed its stakeholders and council members to gather feedback on program activities and priorities. ACCT received responses from a mix of special needs stakeholders including transportation brokers (7 percent), transportation providers (27 percent), agency representatives (36 percent), and advocates (18 percent).
Of the 124 people who completed the survey:
- 81% thought ACCT had made progress in removing the barriers for student transportation
- 93% thought ACCT had made progress in improving employment transportation
- 92% thought ACCT had helped improve full participation in the community
- 78% thought that ACCT had become more accountable
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