Section 3: Program Management

Ongoing Challenges

Management of a voucher program can often feel like spinning plates. Sponsoring agencies must coordinate with riders, volunteer drivers, transportation providers, community partners, and State Departments of Transportation while also improving voucher tools and growing the program, not to mention grant applications and reporting responsibilities. To address this, sponsoring agencies should be cautious when deciding to incorporate more advanced aspects of voucher programs. A smaller voucher program that runs smoothly is more sustainable than a larger voucher program that struggles to function properly. 

One challenge is navigating the fuzzy line between rider clerical errors and misuse of their voucher budget. This can be a large or small issue, but it always entails technical, ethical, and funding challenges. This toolkit contains a simple-to-use trip-tracking spreadsheet. We built automatic clerical error and inconsistency flagging into the spreadsheet, but it is unlikely that we accounted for every possible way a rider could either make a mistake or try to take advantage of the program. A manual review of rides may be necessary, but sponsoring agencies are always welcome to contact us for help.

See “Section 6: The Tools” for more information about our tracking tools.

Insurance and liability issues are also an important challenge to consider. In most voucher programs, volunteer drivers are not employees. While full-time drivers with sponsoring agency-owned vehicles would be ideal, it turns the sponsoring agency into a transportation provider, which comes with an increase in responsibilities, costs, and liability that far exceeds the funding and capacity of most CILs. In general, voucher programs should fit well into what your CIL is already doing, which means not taking on additional insurance or providing direct transportation service.

See “Section 5: Tips & Special Considerations” for more information about liability issues.

Finally, turnover among staff and volunteers can be an issue. Working at a CIL or adjacent organization can be challenging, and this can result in staff turnover. Additionally, volunteer drivers are likely not going to dedicate decades of their time to the program, especially when drivers are not attached to a specific rider. Turnover among staff can cause issues with the fidelity and efficiency of the voucher program, possibly risking its existence. Turnover of volunteers can, of course, limit the ability of a voucher program to actually provide rides. These can be addressed by providing meaningful compensation and support to transportation coordinators, ensuring they do not burn out. Up-front investment in voucher program staff will pay for itself when they stick around. As for volunteer drivers, recruitment simply must be ongoing and consistent.

Quality Management

Maintaining the quality of your voucher program is another important aspect of sustainability. Many CILs already conduct occasional surveys or collect feedback from their consumers. These activities are designed to help the CIL understand how well services are meeting their consumer needs. The same idea can be applied to a voucher program to ensure that it continues to function well into the future. This can help you identify barriers or major challenges that consumers experience when using the program. These feedback surveys can also be used to generate evidence about the impacts of your program.

Program Growth and Advocacy

Finally, the growth of a voucher program does not necessarily mean proportionate growth of funds to run the program. This can cause staff burnout and turnover, harm the quality of the program, or require rationing of voucher budgets for riders. The most clear-cut way to solve this is, of course, raising more funds. Sponsoring agencies can hold fundraisers, request funds from local municipalities, or allocate flexible funding to the voucher program. Obtaining more funds is eternally challenging. Sponsoring agencies can manage program growth by streamlining processes. The more efficient the orientation and enrollment, trip tracking, and reimbursement are, the less work it takes to serve larger numbers of people. Whether improving toolkit tools or creating novel systems, sponsoring agencies should always prioritize processes that make program management as easy as possible for riders, staff, and transportation providers.

Advocacy is an effective way to generate continued support for your program. For example, the “Week Without Driving” campaign was launched by Disability Rights Washington in 2021 to bring awareness to the barriers and challenges that nondrivers face and work with nondrivers to create more accessible communities for all. You might also consider connecting with transportation organizations that may already be doing advocacy work, such as the Community Transportation Association of America, the American Public Transportation Association, or Transportation for America.