When I was at the CTAA expo this year, one of the presenters passed out a disc, a pen, some small round stickers, and a bottle of water. The disc represented your program or agency. The pen represented your challenges. The stickers represented your success. And the water represented the needs of your community. We were then asked a series of questions about clients, services, staffing, and funding. We had to poke holes in our disc for each yes answer in the first round, and we covered holes with stickers in the second. Inevitably, we all ended up with some holes that weren’t covered. We didn’t actually pour the water over the discs, but that was the idea to showcase our challenges. Then the presenters asked us to put our discs together with the people in our rows. When we put our discs together, all of the holes were covered, and no water could pass through.

The exercise was a good model and reminder about the value of collaboration. We all have challenges in our programs and services and needs in our communities that one person or one agency alone cannot solve. But when we engage with local partners in our communities, when we stack our discs together, we can more fully address transportation needs. Sharing our strengths (and weaknesses) across multiple partners can help each other perform better.

NDOT, UNO, UNK, NATP, and the statewide Mobility Management team are all available to you to share their strengths with you and to facilitate engagement with local partners in your area. The Mobility Management team is currently working to update the NDOT Statewide Coordinated Transit Plan that will help more agencies collaborate in the coming years.

Bill Bivin
Statewide Mobility Manager

bbivin@unomaha.edu

402-570-0491