TACL

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published Public Transportation: Enhanced Federal Information Sharing on Coordination Could Improve Rural Transit Services in January 2020. GAO recommended that Federal Transit Administration (FTA) “develop a communication plan that will effectively share information with state and local stakeholders on coordination opportunities in an accessible and informative way.”  This effort was created to improve interagency resource coordination between FTA and its five Technical Assistance (TA) Centers.

Coordination is the act of organizing federally funded transportation programs and sharing resources across agencies to improve the accessibility, availability, and efficiency of transportation services to targeted populations. To learn more about transportation coordination, visit FTA's Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM).

Each resource is reviewed by 1) a task force member from a different TA Center and 2) 1-2 additional reviewers (a transportation expert and/or a member of the public with an interest in transportation coordination).

Each reviewer assigns a Y (for yes) or N (for no) for each resource for each criterion:

• • Coordination Focus – based on the GAO report above that resources provide:
    • ways to coordinate with other providers
    • how providers addressed coordination challenges
    • technologies that were used to facilitate coordination
    • quantifiable data and results on coordination
  • Applicability – a user of this resource would be able to apply it to a rural and/or tribal transit service
  • Equity Focus – focuses on diversity, inclusiveness, and accessibility; is unbiased, not politically motivated
  • Timeliness/Up-To-Date – the content of the resource is based on current coordination practice and knowledge and is applicable to current practice

Resources assigned N in Coordination Focus are disqualified.  Resources with 3 or more N in any other criterion are also disqualified.

• TA Center - which technical assistance center published the document
• Date - the year the publication was most recently published
• Format - see below for what types of resources are included in TACL
• Subjects - broad, overarching focus of each resource, such as planning, funding, etc. For example, the subject Sectors means groups of people, such as mobility managers.
• TRT terms - see the answer below for What are Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) Terms
• Tags - terms and short phrases in the title or abstract of the article that define it, such as shared mobility, human services transportation, etc.

Search results in TACL can be filtered by each of these items.

The Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) is a tool to improve the indexing and retrieval of transportation information. The TRT's purpose is to provide a common and consistent language between producers and users of transportation information.

• Case studies - documentation of promising practices and approaches from one or more organizations
• Fact sheets - very brief summaries on topics
• Learning modules - in-depth training on topics, often with interactive learning components
• Peer calls - telephone or web meetings where peers discuss topics
• Research reports - scholarly articles based on current research
• Seminars - classroom-style online training
• Technical briefs - Brief documents providing technical assistance
• Toolkits - comprehensive online documents that provide guidance and resources
• Topic guides - collections of curated online resources about a topic
• Trends reports - research on data and analysis
• Webinars - recorded educational presentations
• Videos - recorded and broadcast trainings

Where possible, we have leveraged definitions from national organizations, such as FTA, American Planning Association, American Evaluation Association, Health Resources and Services Administration, etc.

Planning – deciding on activities needed to achieve goals and make recommendations on how a community or organization should proceed
Partnerships – cooperation between two or more people, organizations, or government entities for business purposes
Promising Approaches – show potential for developing into a best practice (a practice that has repeatedly demonstrated a positive impact on desired objectives)
Technologies – computerized improvements, tools, or techniques for moving riders from one place to another, such as equipment, hardware, software, online services, etc.
Funding – financial resources that are awarded or loaned, or provided through other means (like taxation, fares, bonds, local match, etc.)    
Geographies – places such as towns, counties, states, regions, service areas, etc.
Populations – demographics, such as older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, etc.
Sectors – types of industries, markets, or services
Governance – rules and practices used to oversee a place or sector    
Policies – rules, procedures, and protocols about what to do in specific situations
Evaluation – determining the effectiveness and/or impact of a program or process that shows the need and basic understanding of the work accomplished.

TACL will be updated on a quarterly basis.

Although the resources cover many additional subjects (transit technology, shared mobility, etc.), they are all also focused on transportation coordination.

TACL contains Partner Resources, which are resources that have been created by an outside organization in conjunction with FTA and/or one of its TA Center. You also can find related resources in the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Transport Research International Documentation (TRID) Library and through the Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) search on coordination.

The U.S. DOT Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative sponsored the August 2021 TACL Training. Alex Clegg, Transportation Specialist, provided an introduction to ROUTES during the training.

Yes. Transportation organizations (such as State DOTs, University Transportation Centers, etc.) are encouraged to do so and do not need to request permission.  Our URL is http://www.transportation-tacl.org. 

TACL resources can be used to identify high-quality technical assistance on transportation coordination. The resources can be used for research, training, practice, operations, planning, and other purposes.  We encourage authors to cite TACL resources.

Contact us at info@nationalrtap.org and we will be able to assist you.  You can also join our TACL Peer Forum to ask our Task Force and your peers questions.