An Exploratory Survey of Potential Community Transportation Providers and Users

Abstract

This report describes a large survey that was administered with the objective of better understanding specialized transportation resources and how they are being used. The survey had two key characteristics. The first was to question both organizations that provide transportation, and those that do not provide it but are actively involved in purchasing or arranging it on behalf of their clients. The second was to be comprehensive; that is, to survey any organization that might be involved either in providing or arranging transportation.

The most significant finding is that about 45% of the diverse organizations that were surveyed provide transportation in some form, and another 20% actively arrange transportation for their clients. This implies that there are more than 3,000 specialized transportation providers in Minnesota. The vast majority of these are social service agencies and housing providers. This confirms the common belief that the true size of the specialized transportation "system" is far larger than the formal network that is known to transportation funders and regulators. The report also contains numerous recommendations regarding how the findings of this survey can be used to develop more focused and definitive surveys of this type in the future.