2. Overview of CRRAFT

2.1 The Need for CRRAFT

One of the key elements of public assistance programs is ensuring that recipients of these services have access to necessary transportation. In many states, this has resulted in a de facto partnership between human services agencies, which manage assistance programs, and transportation agencies, which provide transportation services. Figure 2-1 depicts the basic processes of this partnership in New Mexico.

Figure showing the interactions between transit service providers and state and federal agencies. Referrals are sent to Transit Service Providers by New Mexico Human Services Department. Funding for services is sent from the Federal Transit Agency, New Mexico Department of Labor, and New Mexico Human Services Department to the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department. The New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department administers the funds to transit service providers for authorized services. To obtain funding transit service providers submit reports and invoices to the state and federal agencies.

Figure 2-1. Overview of the Rural Transit Funding, Reporting, and Referral Process in New Mexico

The process begins when someone applies for government assistance with either the NMHSD or the NMDOL. The transportation needs of the applicant are reviewed and, if necessary, the applicant is approved for transportation assistance and referrals are provided to the individual transportation service providers. Each applicant may be approved to receive transportation assistance through one or more of several available assistance programs and the assistance may apply to one or more transit service providers.

The transit service providers track service usage by those approved for transportation assistance and submit periodic reports/invoices of this usage for reimbursement from NMHSD, NMDOL, and FTA. As mentioned previously, NMHSD provides transportation funding for TANF clients, while NMDOL administers transportation funds under the Welfare to Work program. FTA has three programs that provide funding through this process. Section 5310 funds capital acquisitions for transportation services designed to meet the mobility needs of elderly and disabled persons. Section 5311 funds capital, administrative, and operating expenses incurred in the provision of rural public transportation. Section 3037 funds the JARC Program, which provides transportation services to jobs and employment related services for welfare recipients and low income workers. Funds from NMHSD, NMDOL, and FTA flow to the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (NMSHTD) and its Public Transportation Programs Bureau (PTPB), from which they are distributed to the individual transit service providers.

The CRRAFT application is specifically designed to help simplify this process and ease the tracking and reporting of the process.

2.2 The History of CRRAFT

The CRRAFT system began as a November 1998 project in which PTPB contracted with ATRI to produce a report entitled Public Transportation: A Priority Link in Moving People to Work. This study led to a more comprehensive effort titled Moving Forward: A Transportation Toolkit for Welfare Reform, which was funded by the NMHSD, Income Support Division (ISD). The Toolkit eventually became the statewide strategic JARC plan for New Mexico. The document recommended that the State, community transit providers, and Tribal departments and agencies work toward developing a coordinated transportation system, but recognized that significant barriers impeded coordination efforts.

In 2000, ATRI and its partnering agencies began looking for a technological solution to help with the coordination process. After due consideration, they decided to develop a software package in-house that would standardize transportation referral for clients of various agencies, authorize and track client trips, and report trip costs to funding agencies. Work continued under ATRI funding through 2001, with Beta testing occurring in the period from July to September 2001.

At about the same time, ATRI funding for transportation projects was reduced, jeopardizing the CRRAFT project. Although ATRI did continue funding work on CRRAFT, it also sought out other funding sources, resulting in obtaining Federal funding in December 2001 and September 2003.

With this new funding, ATRI began working closely with the Village of Los Lunas and the Zuni Reservation for a more directed field test of CRRAFT. CRRAFT development and testing by these agencies occurred during 2002, and rollout of the software to other agencies occurred during 2003. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2004 (October 2003 to September 2004), each of the transit agencies receiving Section 5311 or Section 3037 funding were required to use the CRRAFT application for record keeping and reporting. Table 2-1 shows the transit agencies that received funding through the PTPB (subgrantees) in FY02 and FY04. These are the agencies included in the analyses described in this report and those operating in FY04 that were required to use CRRAFT. As observed, some changes occurred from FY02 to FY04. For example, Farmington, which was a subgrantee in FY02, became municipal (meaning that it reached more than 50,000 inhabitants) and it is no longer funded through the PTPB. On the other hand, new agencies were created such as Colfax County, which was previously part of Las Vegas. Also, the South Central Council of Governments (SCCG) of Hatch and Socorro joined their operations in FY04.

**Table 2-1. Transit Agencies Receiving Funding Through the PTPB and Required to Use CRRAFT in FY04**
Subgrantees	FY02		FY04
Subgrantees	3037	5311	3037	5311
Angel Fire	X	X	X	X
Belen		X		X
Ben Archer Health Center^{^}			X
Carlsbad	X	X	X	X
Clovis	X	X	X	X
ColFax County^			X
Cuba^^			X
Espanola^^^		X		X
Farmington*	X	X
Fort Sumner Housing Authority	X		X
Go-For's Inc.	X		X
Grant County	X	X	X	X
Hobbs		X		X
Laguna		X		X
Las Vegas	X	X	X	X
Los Alamos		X		X
Los Lunas	X	X	X	X
Na'Nihoozhi Center (NCI)	X		X
Navajo Nation		X		X
Portales		X		X
Questa	X		X
Red River		X		X
Rio Arriba County	X		X
Roswell	X	X	X	X
SCCG Hatch**	X		X
SCCG Socorro**	X
Taos	X	X	X	X
Zia Therapy	X	X	X	X
Zuni (ZEE)	X	X	X	X
TOTAL	18	19	19	18
Table Notes: * Became municipal (<50,000 pop), not funded via PTPB anymore. ** Joined in FY04 in SCCG Hatch/Socorro ^ New start, previously part of Las Vegas ^^New start, operating since 2002 ^^^In FY04, requested reimbursement for 1 month only

2.3 The Scope of CRRAFT

2.3.1 Geographic Scope

The CRRAFT application must be used by the 27 transit service providers in New Mexico that receive Section 5311 or Section 3037 funding. These rural transit service providers are scattered across the entire state of New Mexico. Figure 2-2 shows the location of these 27 transit agencies in New Mexico.

Figure shows a map of the state of New Mexico. The transit providers are located all across the state.

Figure 2-2. Location of Transit Providers in New Mexico

2.3.2 Institutional Scope

The CRRAFT project is a multi-organizational effort that involves many different stakeholder organizations. Currently, key players at the Federal, State and local levels involved in the CRRAFT project are:

" The PTPB. The PTPB is a bureau in the NMSHTD that oversees the state's FTA Section 5310, 5311, and 3037 programs. PTPB serves as the lead agency in eliminating transportation barriers of people moving from welfare to work. PTPB also leverages funds from the NMHSD and the NMDOL to provide matching amounts for FTA JARC grants in rural New Mexico. The agency has provided support and funding for development and deployment of the CRRAFT system and serves as the state administrator for the system.
The ATRI. ATRI is an institute at the University of New Mexico that develops strategies and solutions to address New Mexico transportation issues. ATRI helped initiate the CRRAFT concept and has taken the lead in developing, deploying, and maintaining the CRRAFT system.
Rural transportation service providers. These providers, most of which are members of the New Mexico Passenger Transportation Association (NMPTA), are the primary end users of the CRRAFT system
The NMHSD and NMHSD-ISD. The NMHSD-ISD oversees the TANF program, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Under TANF, States, territories, and Native American tribes receive block grants that are used to cover benefits, administrative expenses, and services targeted to needy families. In New Mexico, the TANF program is entitled New Mexico Works, and part of the funding through this program goes through PTPB to provide transportation assistance to TANF clients.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA). FTA provides funding to support transit services in New Mexico, including JARC grants. In addition, FTA, in partnership with the JPO, is managing the CRRAFT project and evaluation.
The ITS JPO. The ITS JPO oversees FHWA funding for ITS projects and is providing funding for the CRRAFT project and evaluation.
The NMDOL. The New Mexico Department of Labor (NMDOL) oversees the New Mexico WtW program. One part of this program provided funding (through PTPB) for transportation assistance to welfare clients. However, the NMDOL went through a re-organization and re-directed these funds to their Workforce Investment program, thus CRRAFT is no longer used by the PTPB to manage the NMDOL WtW funds.

2.3.3 Technical Scope

CRRAFT is a Web-based application that is intended to help support the process for providing transportation assistance in New Mexico. The current modules of CRRAFT are³:

Transit System Management. This module contains transit agency information including the type of service provided, transit agency employee names, and vehicle information. This module consists of three sub-sections: Transit Systems, Users/Employees, and Vehicle Inventory. Using this module, users can add/edit transit agency information, add/edit employee job type/function, enable CRRAFT usage privileges, and maintain detailed vehicle information (VIN, make, model, year, etc.) and maintenance information.
Fiscal Management. This module allows the user to add/edit revenues, create/maintain administrative expenses, operating expenses, capital expenses, and budget information.
Reports. This module contains three sub-sections, Reports Menu, FAQ's, and Tips and Tricks. The Reports Menu section allows the user to generate and print various reports: Client Trips, 5311 FTA Trips, Vehicle Inventory, 5311 Trips by Vehicle Mile and Hour, 5310 Quarterly Report, DVR (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation) Report, 5311 Quarterly Report, TANF Ridership, WTW Ridership, 5310 Ridership, JARC Ridership, PTPB Invoices, Submit Monthly Invoices, Driver Log Edit List, and Driver Fares. The FAQ's section provides users with a listing of frequently asked questions and answers. Similar to the FAQ's section, the Tips and Tricks section provides users with helpful information and guidance.
System Administration. This module is accessible only to the State Administrator. There are four sub-sections: Accounts, Funding Providers, Referral Agencies, and NMHSD Transportation Regions. The Accounts section contains information about new/existing Revenue/Administrative Expense/Operating Expense/Capital Expense accounts. The Funding Providers and Referral Agencies sections contain the contact information for these providers and agencies. The NMHSD Transportation Regions contains the information about the New Mexico Human Services Department Regions.
Client Management. This module contains transit agency client information derived from the Referral Agency Submittal forms. The sub-sections allow the entry/editing of client contact information, subscription trips, referral information (case number, service start/end date, referral agency, etc.), trip information (purpose, trip fares), and sanctions. A Smartcard Utilities feature is also available to allow users to issue/manage the Smartcards.
Schedule Management. This module contains information about client trips for Demand Response transit service. The sub-modules consist of: Express Scheduling, Driver Log, Fixed Routes, Fixed Routes Monthly Ridership, and Process Usage Data. Express Scheduling portions allow the user to create/edit the daily schedule of trips for drivers. The driver log portions allow the user to manually enter the list of actual passengers and trip information. The Process Usage Data portions allow transit agencies with the Smartcard implemented to upload ridership information from the driver's PocketPC. The Fixed Routes and Fixed Routes Monthly Ridership portions allow the user to create/manage fixed route information and the monthly fixed route ridership data for each vehicle.

Although not operational during the time of this evaluation, the deployment of an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card system for authenticating transit users and tracking usage should be fully deployed in 2005. Called Intelligent Coordinated Transit (ICTransit), the system will consist of programmable cards, and EBT card readers and Pocket PCs which are installed in each bus. The cards will be pre-programmed with each client's information by each transit agency and distributed to clients. The EBT card readers will be used to validate each client before the start of each trip. Upon reading the card, the bus driver can use the Pocket PC to view/verify client data such as client name/type, funding agency, purpose of trip, etc. At the end of a driver's shift, the Pocket PC can be used to reconcile the driver's actual trips with those scheduled by the dispatcher.

2.4 Expected Outcomes of CRRAFT

CRRAFT was conceived to impact the transit providers and the funding agencies. The expected outcomes of each module of the system are summarized in Table 2-2.

**Table 2-2. CRRAFT Modules and Expected Results**
Module	Transit Provider Expected Outcomes	Funding Agency Expected Outcomes
Transit System Management	Better balancing of vehicle mileage, more efficient scheduling of maintenance, better prediction of vehicle replacement schedule, tracking of employee training and certification	Better access to information about status of publicly-funded vehicles and transit provider contacts
Fiscal Management	Consolidated revenue and expenses for budget monitoring	Better quality reports, better management and tracking of transportation costs and expenditures
Reports	Less time required to report to funding agencies	Less delay between end of reporting period and report, better quality reports
Client Management	Easy access to client information and eligibility for scheduling trips, avoid scheduling unauthorized trips	Better quality reports, accurate allocation of rides to funding agency, less time to research and collect information
Schedule Management	More efficient scheduling, better customer service	Reduced cost of transit trips (possibly)

³Because a spiral development approach was used for CRRAFT, the features of the application may change with time. Spiral development is a family of software development processes characterized by repeatedly iterating a set of elemental development processes and managing risk so it is actively being reduced. Source: "Spiral Development: Experience, Principles, and Refinements" Barry Boehm, edited by Wilfred J. Hansen, Special Report CMU/SEI-00-SR-08, ESC-SR-00-08, June, 2000.

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