&GAO
Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548
February 24, 2004
The Honorable Thomas E. Petri
Chairman
Subcommittee on Highways, Transit, and Pipelines
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
House of Representatives
Subject: Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations: Federal Agencies Are Taking
Steps to Assist States and Local Agencies in Coordinating Transportation Services
Dear Mr. Chairman:
In June 2003, we reported that over 60 federal programs can fund transportation
services for certain "transportation-disadvantaged" populations (such as some elderly
persons, persons with disabilities, or low-income persons) that lack the ability to
provide their own transportation or have difficulty accessing conventional public
transportation, but that several obstacles impede coordination of these programs.!
Most of the programs are administered by four federal departments-Transportation,
Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education. Coordinating these disparate
federal efforts could result in more efficient use of federal resources and in improved
services for these transportation-disadvantaged populations. In fact, some local areas
that have overcome existing obstacles and successfully coordinated the services
offered by federal programs and others available in their area have realized improved
customer service and substantial cost savings.
To promote and encourage further coordination of the transportation services
provided by these programs, we recommended that (1) the Departments of Labor and
Education join the Departments of Transportation and Health and Human Services as
members of the Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (Coordinating
Council);2 (2) the members of the Coordinating Council develop and distribute
'U.S. General Accounting Office, Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations: Some Coordination
Efforts Among Programs Providing Transportation Services, but Obstacles Persist, GAO-03-697
(Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2003).
2The Departments of Transportation and Health and Human Services formally established the
Coordinating Council on Human Services Transportation in 1986, renamed the Coordinating Council
on Access and Mobility in 1998. The Secretaries of the two departments signed a Memorandum of
Understanding to create a forum where coordination of transportation programs sponsored by the two
departments could be pursued to achieve the basic objective of improving mobility.

GAO-04-420R Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations

Page 1