In Bellevue, Washington, collaboration is not RARE. Equitable Transportation is a common practice.
On June 24th, 41 individuals met at the South Bellevue Community Center as the “Regional Alliance for Resilient and Equitable Transportation (RARET) held its first in-person meeting in over two and a half years. This day-long session had transportation, mobility management, emergency, and human services providers from 3 counties working side by side to launch what will become the Emergency Transportation Provider Network (ETPN). RARET is a member of the King County Mobility Coalition, as part of the Hopelink Mobility Management Team. RARET stakeholders have been meeting since 2016.
Emergency events, like natural disasters, environmental contaminations, or pandemics, often create time-sensitive environments. Identifying and mobilizing transportation resources to serve those most vulnerable is challenging without preparation. Local departments of emergency management, public health, and other agencies within local governments, do not always have working, up-to-date knowledge of transportation provider capacity or capabilities. Transportation providers often want to assist, but do not know how or don’t have a way of connecting to demonstrate their availability. Transportation providers also are not often closely connected to the emergency management community for situational awareness, so they are not well versed in how to run their operations and contribute to local response as the situation evolves.