rabbittransit to Participate in $1.2M Federal Grant Innovative Pilot Program
rabbittransit has announced it will participate in an innovative pilot program recently announced by Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary Leslie S. Richards earlier this week. PennDOT received a special $1.2 million federal grant from the Rides to Wellness that will underwrite a pilot program to integrate medical appointments with ride scheduling in Adams, Franklin and York counties.
Pennsylvania received the largest award out of the pool of $7 million available from the Federal Transit Administration and will match the federal dollars with $510,000.
“With this investment, we will build on the innovation we released last year with our FindMyRidePA program,” Richards said. “This initiative fits with our mission to pursue new ways to build mobility for the people of Pennsylvania.”
PennDOT will seek a vendor to develop software that will connect medical appointments made at Keystone Health and Family First Health with the FindMyRidePA system. Keystone Health and Family First Health are large community health centers in Adams, Franklin and York counties. rabbittransit of York helped pilot FindMyRidePA and oversees transit in the new pilot area.
“Daily patients at Keystone Health miss health appointments in medical, dental and behavioral health because they lack access to transportation,” said Keystone’s President and CEO Joanne Cochran. “I believe this program has the potential to greatly reduce missed appointments and result in improved health outcomes. Access to care is a pressing public health concern, and greater access to care has been related to better health status, more frequent use of preventive services, and lower hospitalization rates. This funding will allow us to help improve community health, and it was a pleasure to work with rabbittransit and the Department of Transportation on it.”
“rabbittransit is excited to work on a project that focuses on the removal of transportation barriers and provides easier access to health care to help our community achieve its wellness goals,” added Richard Farr, rabbittransit executive director.
With “FindMyRidePA,” users can see detailed routes from whatever points they enter into the system, including bus schedules and walking routes. Users can print out the information in an easy-to-follow format. FindMyRidePA is now available in Adams, Cumberland, Cambria, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon and York counties.
