The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) will hold a 21-day public comment period on a Non-Profit Transportation Feasibility Study for Lake and Porter Counties. The comment period begins August 21 and will end on September 10, 2024.
NIRPC has completed a study examining the feasibility of coordinating the transportation services of nonprofit agencies in Lake and Porter Counties, potentially under a new transportation organization. Agencies have a range of missions, from senior services, health care facilities, and after-school programs. Some of these agencies own their own vehicles and provide transportation to their clients; others provide vouchers or contract out transportation services while other agencies do not provide any transportation. For those agencies that do own their own vehicles, they often use their vans or buses only at certain times of the day, leaving some excess time capacity. In other cases, the trips they do operate do not always have full vehicles (i.e. excess space capacity). In addition, it is often difficult for these agencies to have consistent staff to operate the vehicles. For those agencies that do not directly provide transportation, there are many barriers they face including finding transportation providers that have the availability to meet the needs of their clients, funding obstacles, and other barriers expressed in interviews with each of the study participants.
The study's purpose was to develop recommendations for a demonstration program as a next step in solving transportation problems among nonprofit agencies. Agencies that currently provide transportation and have some capacity in their fleets were involved in a workshop to define the successful outcomes for a transportation program. The recommendations include an implementation plan that includes a matrix that identifies the timeline, those involved, the steps involved, the estimated cost, performance measures, and other factors.
Comments may be submitted until September 10, 2024, in the following ways:
- Email: comments@nirpc.org
- Phone: 219-763-6060
- United States Postal Service: NIRPC, 6100 Southport Road, Portage, IN 46368
All comments received during the 21-day public comment period will be compiled into a public comment report and responded to. This report will be made available to the public and distributed to the relevant NIRPC committees prior to any action on these items. It is anticipated that action will be taken to recommend adoption of the study at the September 10, 2024 meeting of the Technical Planning Committee, followed by adoption at the September 19, 2024 meeting of the NIRPC Executive Board/ Full Commission.
Documents and information will be available for review at NIRPC's website HERE. Requests for alternative formats may be directed to NIRPC by calling 219-763-6060, or by email at comments@nirpc.org. TTY users may use the Relay Indiana service by calling 711 or 800-743-3333.
NIRPC is the Metropolitan Planning Organization and Council of Governments for La Porte, Lake, and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana. Working collaboratively across the region, NIRPC coordinates regional comprehensive planning and programming for transportation, economic development, and environmental policy.