Through legislation, Florida established the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund and which is overseen by the Florida Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged.
Services are provided on the county level, where local coordinating boards set countywide policies. The boards are staffed by a member of the local planning agency, either the Metropolitan Planning Organization or another designated official planning agency. A locally approved community transportation coordinator provides or arranges trips for consumers. Millions of trips are provided annually through the local coordinators, and the number is growing every year.
Transportation is provided in many ways depending on community needs and resources. Trips are coordinated and purchased from several modes, including taxis, paratransit and lift-equipped vehicles, school buses, volunteers, and public transit systems. During FY 2002/2003 the coordinated transportation system provided 53 million trips using $30.9 million from the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund and funds from other partners.
Among the most notable results of the state's efforts was the Miami Medicaid Transit Pass Program, which provided transit passes to Medicaid eligible persons who could safely travel by bus, resulting in the saving of over $7 million annually in Medicaid.
When transportation works, Florida works.
Marisa is a young mother with epilepsy who has depended on Tri-County Community Council's transportation services to get her son to daycare and get her to work for several years. Her driver's license was taken away from her in 1994 due to her epilepsy and she has been dependent on the transportation services ever since.
Due to the worsening of her condition she is not currently working, but she plans to begin courses for medical or legal transcription at a local technical school so that she can work from home and hopes to use the service in order to get to class.
"Without the transportation system I wouldn't have a way to get around, so they've really been a life saver."
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