Job Access and Reverse Commute (jarc) Program fy 2009 Service Profiles Region X alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington October 2010 fta-08-0162 Job Access and Reverse Commute (jarc) fy 2009 Service Profiles: Region X

Evaluation: The evaluation of this project is based on several issues. The need and usage. The need is clearly established by the demographics of our population needing access to affordable transportation. Our unemployment rate is routinely one of the highest in the state and currently is above 12%. Prior to this higher unemployment rate, the percentage of our population living below poverty level was 16% and has undoubtedly risen as well. In addition, 14% of our population is 65 years of age or older and an additional 11% of our population under the age of 64 are persons with disabilities. 38% of our riders are clients of our partners either searching for jobs, attending job training, receiving counseling prior to seeking jobs, attending education activities, or actually going to work. The remaining 62% of our ridership are low-income general public and persons with special needs riding for a variety of reasons but mostly to access a variety of services not located in their small communities.
The second performance measure is the usage. This service maintains a ridership with steady increases. On the northern Oroville/Omak route we have had to purchase a larger bus to accommodate the number of riders. We recognize that the number of rides we can provide is limited by the number of seats in each bus coupled with the distances that we drive make our cost per ride higher than they would be in a more populated area where distances are not so pronounced. For this reason, we do not use cost per ride as a performance measure.
Accomplishments: With very few employers of any size, it has been a challenge to involve employers in this service. The southern route of our service was not utilized as heavily as the northern route and we were deadheading one way. However, we were able to work with the Chief Joseph Dam employees that were living in the Omak area and needed transportation to the Bridgeport area and back in the late afternoon. The addition of these riders allowed us fill the bus on both legs of the route.
Lessons learned: To make the need the highest priority. The sell the need both to state and federal funders and to financial partners. To make sure that everyone understands the cost of the ride is sometimes not the most effective measure of the success of the service.