This year’s National RTAP Conference: Reaching New Heights in Rural & Tribal Transit focuses on the day-to-day operations of small, specialized transit operators. RTAP is an FTA program that helps small rural and urban sites to better understand funding opportunities and operational procedures. They specifically benefit operations with areas with a population of less than 50,000, although there have been some recent changes to this restriction. You can think of them as your personal shopping assistant. They can help by turning you onto new technologies but also help you understand the tricky funding landscape in order to make a purchase and operate a targeted system in a smaller regional area. The conference will be held in Denver, Colorado from October 27-30 and you can register for it here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-rtap-reaching-new-heights-in-rural-tribal-transit-registration-16004922153

An Agenda Filled with Opportunities

Information sessions cover topics dealing with setting up new technology, accessing funding and discussions around national and regional transportation policies. Among the sessions at this year’s conference, you’ll be able to learn more about:

• Building websites using GTFS feeds
• Ladders of Opportunity and Rides to Wellness funding
• 5310 funding
• The Affordable Care Act transportation provisions

Join Our RTAP Webinar

RTAP does a great job of bringing in national speakers in order to connect vital information to attendees. Their website also offers many helpful resources to provide rural and tribal transportation operations with information about funding that is specific to their industry. This is why we thought it would be a good idea to host a webinar. With RTAP as the main guest, our audience can have the opportunity to get answers to their specific questions about how RTAP can help with funding initiatives. If you can’t attend this year’s RTAP conference (and even if you can) join our webinar on Tuesday, October 13th at 2:30pm EST. Among many topics, Robin Phillips, RTAP’s Executive Director will discuss the recent changes to the FTA’s guidelines that can possibly open up new possibilities to small transit agencies.

Remember, transit funding is definitely out there and there are many organizations available to provide assistance. I highly recommend you take advantage of the many RTAP resources, but also join our webinar at this link: http://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1054275/0A6BF857A51347D6A65E2AA9646007ED