Through innovative policies and statewide acceptance, Maryland is advancing the role of transportation coordination among transportation providers and human services agencies across the state. Maryland's 1997 Executive Order established the Maryland Coordinating Committee for Human Services Transportation and launched the state's effort in addressing transportation coordination with human services agencies. The committee, chaired by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), represents a cross section of human service and employment agencies.

To give guidance and recommendations to Maryland's human service transportation providers, the MTA developed a comprehensive Maryland Transportation Coordination Manual. A series of forums were held throughout the state to initiate local coordination. To identify the resources for public transit and specialized transportation, the MTA inventoried their expenditures and by doing so further reinforced the need to improve coordination of funding and services. A five-year human services transportation plan was approved by the state agencies represented on the Committee to provide a foundation for improved coordination of services and funds to help the state meet current and growing mobility needs.

Maryland Job Access and Reverse Commute Program, which relies greatly on partnerships and coordination, has become a national model on coordination, providing over three million rides since its inception. Most recently, Maryland adopted statewide procurement of new technologies to support partnering agencies on regional and local coordination activities.

When transportation works, Maryland works.

Barbara is a woman that the media often portrays as a welfare mom. Yes, it may be true that she had received welfare funds from 1986 until 2001 - but not any longer- since she has moved from dependence on state handouts to self-sufficiency.

She was living in rural Crisfield when the Somerset Commuter started its transportation operation in November 2000. She was able to use the public transportation system to attend Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) classes at a nursing home twenty miles away from her home. Once her training was completed and she received her certification as a CNA worker, she was hired by the nursing home, and continued to use the public transportation system to get back and forth to work. In the spring of 2003, she was accepted as a candidate for the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program at WorWic Community College, in Wicomico County. This dream would never have been made possible without services from Shore Transit coming into existence. "I had always wanted, since being a girl, to be a nurse and now, God willing, I will be one. I just put my one foot in front of the other and everyday I go to school and to my job and I am going to make it, you just watch me".