Meggan Roberts Odell started out working for a logistics company that delivered freight while she was in college. She fell in love with the idea of logistics and making sure things got to where they needed to go on time while working with people from across the country.
When the job at RCATS Transportation/skat BUS opened up, she figured it would be similar to what she had been doing. After school, she applied for the job and got it.
As the senior director of transit services for Aging, Disability & Transit Services of Rockingham County, Odell has been a catalyst for positive change at ADTS.
Whether working directly with staff, program participants or community stakeholders, Odell has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to protecting the interests of the clients, staff, reputation and mission.
She oversees a comprehensive public transit system that has operated in a rural county since 1983. This system includes 26 vans providing door-to-door and connector route services and 6 buses that operate deviated-fixed routes in the three major geographic areas of the county. Over the past 5 years, Odell has spearheaded dramatic growth in the transit program with the addition of its fixed-route bus system and the consolidation of Medicaid transportation services.
In 2013, she was instrumental in securing the contract to become the Medicaid One Call Center for Rockingham County, streamlining access to services for Medicaid recipients and eliminating inefficiencies of this system.
Through the demand/response system, her team was travelling more than 55,000 miles a month to meet in-county needs for reliable transportation, as well as overseeing and coordinating all non-emergency medical transportation trips for Medicaid recipients.
Despite the success of this program, Odell recognized a need for expanded and more easily accessible sources of public transportation and led an effort to engage public officials, community and economic leaders, and community stakeholders in a dialogue to explore challenges and opportunities.
In 2013, they launched the first fixed-route bus to serve the county in more than 50 years. With the introduction of this service, ADTS, in collaboration with local government, took the first major step toward implementation of a county-wide rural transit system that has been in the making since 2010.
Odell worked tirelessly throughout the planning and implementation process serving as the program expert, supplying the necessary data to build community and public support. Local government officials not only contributed to the local match requirements but were also instrumental in the promotion of this program. Collaborative partnerships with the county and local municipalities have been instrumental in the launch and continued success of the transit systems, enhancing community interest and gave a sense that this policy, while administered through ADTS, was “community owned.”
In August 2014, a second route was launched in Reidsville with equal success and positive community reception and again in May of 2015 with the launch of the third and final leg of the bus network. The entire system continues to see steady use and growth. In addition to the three bus routes, the network includes a connector system that offers riders the ability to move across county as well as access the numerous services and programs housed in the county seat.
Rockingham County has consistently ranked as one of the highest economically distressed regions of North Carolina. Contributing to the economic vulnerability are several factors, including low education levels, an increasingly aging population that has left the work force and the closure of numerous industries that had previously populated the area. Odell has served as a catalyst for building new and unconventional relationships, such as the partnerships that she forged with the local community college system, which allows students to purchase transportation passes through the bookstore as a part of their annual school supplies.
The system also plays an integral role in expanding job training and employment opportunities. Last year, through the skat system, 50 of those individuals transported to training in Eden and 65 transported in Reidsville are now employed.
Odell has created a model for rural public transit in North Carolina. In just under a three-year period the community has seen truly remarkable growth in the public transit system. Last fiscal year alone the bus system provided more than 28,000 trips.
“Every day is different. I think the challenging part is just trying to meet the ever changing needs. Our county is economically depressed, we have a lot of industries that have left within the last 10 years or so, so people are trying to go back to school, to figure out some skills that they can have, to get other options that are available, they’re trying to cross county lines to get in to other places so I think the most challenging part is just keeping up with that because it’s just always changing.”
“When I first came to work here the biggest issue was getting people to their job fair appointments that lived in rural areas. And now it seems like it’s totally transformed and now it’s about getting people to work and to school and all those other things.”
“Every day is different. Whatever I’m doing today I can kind of leave here and tomorrow is totally different. It’s going to be somebody new that needs help, a new challenge from the system and we’re still continuing to grow the system we have and the connector vehicles, been trying to get people to park-and-ride lots that are outside of our county and so there’s still a lot on our radar screen to do.”
“I think working for this agency is the thing I’m most proud of. We have an incredible team of people that work; it’s definitely one of those things of sharing the load from all the staff to drivers. It’s a great place to work.”
“I think that goes back to being able to help people and making an impact. When I’m long gone, hopefully these buses will still be going and there will still be somewhat of a legacy left that I did something or we did as a collaborative group, something good for the community and that we really helped change people’s lives, get them back on their feet, get them to jobs.”
“I think that would be definitely if at first you don’t succeed, try try again. This industry is definitely one of those things that you’re going to run into some obstacles that you don’t plan for and we definitely saw that when we launched the Eden route. Where we launched and then were like, woah, learning there were things we should have done differently helped us do better when we launched the other routes. Learning from the failures and that the failures are what we do to success; don’t give up.”
