APPENDIX A

Literature Review and References Consulted

Introduction

The research team conducted a scan of literature, industry best practices, and peer exchange materials on VPI, particularly those that have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (these materials are described in an annotated reference list at the end of this appendix). The pandemic generated an abundance of new experiences using VPI, and has fostered information from practitioners who had to abruptly convert planned in-person public meetings and outreach events to virtual engagement. Task 1 includes a scan covering the guidelines public transit agencies and practitioners developed for meaningful and diverse VPI methods during the pandemic, documented examples of practice from this period, and any best practices evaluating the equity of VPI. In addition, members of the research team leveraged their concurrent research from NCHRP Project 08-142, “Virtual Public Involvement: A Manual for Effective, Equitable, and Efficient Practices for Transportation Agencies” to identify overarching themes and insight among transportation organizations and agencies, outlined in the next section.

Common VPI Themes from Transportation and Public Transit Agencies

The research team found transportation and public transit agencies face common themes in conducting inclusive and meaningful VPI by leveraging this study and concurrent research from NCHRP Project 08-142. The key points from the literature reviews of both research studies are:

• Expand inclusiveness. VPI provides opportunities for transportation organizations to reconsider the quality and effectiveness of their engagement practices with vulnerable communities, increase the size and diversity of their audiences, make engagement more accessible to some communities, and collaborate with community-based organizations for inclusive reach.
• Use a variety of approaches and tools. For effective virtual engagement and outreach, public transit agencies and transportation organizations can seek a variety of approaches and tools that best meet their community needs, as most tools have limitations. Some individuals may have limited knowledge of or access to communication technologies, restricting them from joining web-based meetings, while persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency may be challenged by software without closed captions, translation, or alternative communication options.
• Use passive and active VPI strategies to effectively engage communities with varying levels of motivation to participate. Passive engagement is low-effort and does not cost much in time or development—for example, offline tools such as digital fact sheets, short informal videos, and social media campaigns. Active engagement, such as virtual live meetings and workshops, requires more time and effort.

• The digital divide refers to limited access to online communication tools such as high-quality internet access, devices (smartphones, computers, tablets), and the capacity to comfortably navigate virtual services, and it exists in many areas throughout the country. Therefore, public transit and transportation agencies must fully understand their constituencies’ ability to respond to digital engagement and mitigate barriers to participation.

Annotated References Consulted

The following materials from the literature review were considered most relevant for inclusion in Task 1. Each entry contains a description and highlights key points from the authors or presenters.

1. Virtual Engagement Guidebook. Washington, DC: National Center for Applied Transportation Technology, March 2021. https://n-catt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Virtual_Engagement_Guidebook_Final.pdf.

This document was prepared by Kearns & West for the National Center for Applied Transportation Technology (N-CATT) to provide practical information and replicable resources for transit agencies and practitioners seeking to expand or diversify their virtual engagement practices. It offers approaches, procedures, and reference tools for transit agencies, mobility managers, human service transportation providers, tribal transportation programs, and metropolitan planning organizations to engage more successfully with their teams, policymakers, stakeholders, partners, and members of the public. The guidebook provides an overview of the various kinds of meetings and events best positioned for virtual engagement with examples of suitable technology, appropriate tools to reach diverse stakeholder groups, trade-offs between multiple technologies, and effective methods for virtual engagement activities. Tools include virtual meetings and conferences, webinars, webcasts/telecasts/radio broadcasts, teleconferences, prerecorded material, chat/message boards, and online collaboration.

Key points:

• Multiple languages. Technology has made it easier to engage with people who speak languages other than English via browser settings that allow users to automatically translate web pages to a language of their choice and view videos with embedded subtitles for various languages.
• People with disabilities. VPI has made it easier for some people with mobility limitations to participate by avoiding transportation challenges and physical barriers.
• Participation levels. Although virtual engagement can provide broader, faster, and less expensive processes, it usually does not translate to more public participation. Low participation rates among individuals from marginalized and underserved communities are common gaps between virtual and in-person ad hoc engagement. Transit agencies may find it easier to maintain participation levels for recurring community working group meetings, whether in-person or virtual.
• Facilitation techniques for virtual engagement include:
  • Define meeting objectives and desired outcomes.
  • Design the meeting format with meeting objectives in mind.
  • Develop a facilitation plan.
  • Create and enforce participation guidelines.
  • Use instant messaging to coordinate with other meeting hosts.
  • Ensure meeting materials are available to the public.

• Offer responsive technical support to participants.
• Organize discussion queues (answer questions in the order they are received, establish protocols) to help facilitators manage conversations, questions, and feedback.
• Management and staff. For virtual meetings, organizations should train or hire a manager and a team responsible for organizing and setting up the meeting, conducting rehearsals, and sorting the feedback.
• Multiple approaches. Other forms of virtual engagement should be considered, including digital fact sheets, electronic newsletters, project websites, podcasts, videos, online meeting-in-a-box, digital kiosks, social media, and online surveys/questionnaires.
• Strategy. Developing a diverse approach to VPI requires transportation agencies to be strategic in identifying:
  • The markets they seek to engage
  • The opportunities for reaching those markets
  • The obstacles or limitations those markets may encounter when trying to participate

2. Public Engagement in the Era of COVID-19. New York: TransitCenter, May 20, 2020. https://transitcenter.org/public-engagement-in-the-era-of-covid-19.

This blog post discusses strategies implemented by Transit Alliance Miami and Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase public outreach about system changes. Strategies focus on the efforts to reach the most vulnerable populations to provide feedback on planned changes.

Key points:

• Multiple technologies. Flyers and signs at transit stations and stops that display a number to text for more information can offer a more inclusive approach to engagement with people who have technology barriers.
• Greater inclusion. Telephone town halls, webinars, or web-based workshops can provide flexibility that translates into participation from people who usually cannot engage in public discussions because of multiple factors (e.g., physical disability, work schedules, family priorities, etc.).
• Level playing field. Emerging virtual formats can help create a more democratic exercise, opening the discussion to the people who use the transit system and leveling the ground for all voices to be heard.
• Vulnerable communities. Even when virtual tools for engagement continue after COVID-19 restrictions are more relaxed, transit agencies should still direct their efforts to reach out in person to the most vulnerable communities, who use transit the most and are the hardest to reach.

3. Beyond the Zoom Meeting: Public Engagement During and After COVID-19. Washington, DC: Foursquare ITP, July 8, 2020. www.foursquareitp.com/blog/beyond-the-zoom-meeting-public-engagement-during-and-after-covid-19.

This blog post discusses the virtual endeavors of the Eastern Panhandle Transit Authority (EPTA) in West Virginia to present the update of its transit development plan through a narrated video, social media promotion, and an online live Q&A session where elements of the plan were presented. The challenges and strategies to improve public engagement highlight how planners should embrace in-person lessons learned with virtual engagement tools to make public participation effective and equitable.

Opportunities for virtual engagement should include

• Administrative controls for managing the dialogue
• Recorded meetings to allow for asynchronous participation when convenient for the customer
• A blend of in-person and virtual outreach to increase the channels of communication

4. Extending Our Reach. FHWA, updated July 7, 2021. www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/public_involvement/vpi/resources/case_studies.

A series of short videos highlighting some virtual tools transportation agencies are implementing as passive and active strategies to increase public engagement and encourage participation for relevant feedback.

Key points:

• Interactive maps
  • An interactive map is an online tool where people can interact in real time with other stakeholders about transportation needs, problems, and potential improvements. People can participate by drawing on the map, adding symbols, and even responding to other people’s contributions.
  • Language and technological barriers can be prohibitive to this approach. Therefore, additional strategies are required to address this situation.
• Building an engaged social media following
  • This method is based on establishing effective and continuous two-way communication to increase community participation and feedback/input.
  • To be effective and create better engagement, transportation agencies need to consistently release, update, and promote online content; share relevant news and articles; and address public concerns in real time.
• Targeted online ads
  • Through online advertising, agencies can promote surveys, websites, meetings, or social media accounts. This method can be helpful to reach out to specific demographic groups and target geographic locations that might be overlooked through traditional methods.
  • It is recommended to prepare the strategy through a pilot and complement the tool with other traditional methods of advertising (newspaper, radio, and television).
• Telephone town halls
  • Using telephone town halls, transportation agencies can potentially reach thousands of listeners for their meetings. Calls can be geographically targeted to reach people with difficulties attending in-person meetings and those with technological or language barriers.
  • It is recommended to assign prepared, trained staff to address multiple questions, comments, and feedback in other languages and through multiple channels (chat, phone, etc.).
• Story maps
  • A story map is a digital tool that can be accessed online for technical presentations of projects or planning studies with text, images, infographics, videos, and GIS maps, presented in a very intuitive, straightforward, and interactive way for the public to understand.
  • It is good practice for transit agencies to define how much technical information will be presented and provide links where the public can access more information and leave comments.
  • The Utah Department of Transportation used a story map to request participation from the public for a proposed interchange upgrade on I-15, where alternatives and impacts were presented. The tool generated 1,400 visits and worked as the executive summary for the Environmental Impact Statement.

• Online in the field
  • This is a strategy that should work as a complementary method for public engagement and can help to bridge the digital divide, where transportation agencies bring technology and tools to places where populations with limited access or knowledge of communication tools gather, such as senior centers, libraries, or community events.
  • Professionals can reach communities and individuals with limited or no access to Wi-Fi, the internet, or equipment/devices (smartphone, computer).
• Creative use of short videos
  • Short videos can be used to present new projects or inform constituencies about planning processes underway through social media or project websites.
  • Videos are recommended to last 60 seconds or less, have one specific message, and include multilingual closed captioning to accommodate LEP and hearing-impaired populations.
• Emerging uses of visualization
  • Public transit agencies can rely on renderings or 3D images for in-person meetings or online tools, increasing the interest of the audience in transportation proposals. Visualization of simple to complex solutions can help the public better understand the project.
  • Virtual reality can encourage participation and enrich the conversation about transportation projects. However, this approach requires substantial training to operate properly.

5. TCRP Synthesis 156: Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board, 2022. https://doi.org/10.17226/26451.

TCRP Synthesis 156 gathers information through a survey, literature review, and case study examples about transit agencies’ use of social media and documents successful practices in the United States and Canada.

Key points:

• Share real-time information. Transit agencies have primarily used social media to share real-time information about service, fares, future projects, or special service-related information with their current and prospective riders.
• Use multiple communication approaches. Transit agencies can use social media to open more channels to communicate. Twitter can be used to release official statements, news, and project updates; share real-time service information; and request feedback through polls. YouTube can be used to provide instructional videos, prerecorded material, project information, etc.
• Create a social media team that includes public relations and communications staff. Some of their tasks should be to:
  • Adapt content to the nature of the platform and audience
  • Keep up with the dynamic environment and trends of social media
  • Promote interactions, answer questions, and respond to emergencies
  • Track and archive interactions
• (Re)build trust and strengthen relationships. Proactively communicating can help (re)build trust and strengthen relationships, creating a positive sentiment and better response when soliciting feedback. Examples on social media include live streaming and real-time service alerts.
• Add resources. Some transit agencies are challenged by the lack of resources and staff time to provide necessary and up-to-date information.
• Measure campaign success and engagement. Social media interactions can be assessed through analytics and metrics (such as Twitter Analytics, Hootsuite, Facebook Insights, or third-party data metrics), where transit agencies can measure campaign success and engagement generated.

• Generate qualitative data. Use status messages or conduct interactive conversations on social media platforms to receive qualitative data such as personal sentiment to identify areas of feedback and causes of dissatisfaction.

6. Transit Planning with Virtual Voices: Inclusive Online Civic Engagement Strategies for People with Disabilities and Older Adults. Washington, DC: Transit Planning 4 All, February 2, 2021. https://transitplanning4all.org/resources/virtualvoicesbrief.

Transit Planning 4 All sponsored a four-part series titled “Strategies for Promoting Civic Engagement in Inclusive Transportation Planning.” The series presents best practices for enhancing inclusion through specific civic engagement strategies, such as community mapping, focus groups, public forums, and online platforms. This brief is the fourth issue in the series that focuses on the use of web-based platforms to promote civic engagement activities inclusive of people with disabilities and older adults. The issue includes a list of virtual civic engagement strategies transit agencies can use.

Review the Benefits of Online Engagement for Inclusive Participation

• Communication barriers and transportation obstacles are minimized or outright eliminated with online civic engagement by enabling community members to contribute anytime, anywhere, without traveling to a specific physical location at a designated day and time.
• Studies have shown some people with disabilities prefer online civic engagement because technology can influence change related to self-efficacy. Additional benefits include:
  • A convenient, accessible, and engaging option for involving older adults and people with mobility, vision, or hearing impairments
  • Tools that can enhance the policy-making processes
  • A secure space to introduce a broader range of perspectives
  • Cost-effective and efficient ways of engaging with more participants directly
  • Improved organizational transparency and responsiveness
  • Support for community ownership across all levels of the engagement spectrum

Clearly Define the Purpose of the Engagement Strategy

• Set clear roles and expectations for staff, elected officials, and transit providers
• Identify the desired audiences and associated communication strategies
• Review local context and develop community-oriented questions and information
• Establish and analyze success criteria

Once the purpose and goals of an engagement strategy have been clearly defined, transit agencies can start identifying suitable online platforms.

Overcoming Barriers to Inclusion in Online Participation for People with Disabilities and Older Adults

According to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center (www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/09/10/americans-with-disabilities-less-likely-than-those-without-to-own-some-digital-devices), individuals with disabilities are three times more likely than those without disabilities to never go online, and only 40% of Americans 65 and older use social networking sites. However, Pew has been monitoring this statistic over time and has found a steady increase in the percentage of social media use among groups with disabilities over time. Nevertheless, it is important to note common challenges:

• Lack of internet access
• Affordability
• Availability
• Accessibility
• Lack of knowledge of communication technologies
• Lack of regulation for accessibility to technology platforms

Achieving Equal Access and Participation in Online Engagement

• Consider the cognitive accessibility of the technology
• Use plain language to provide greater access to complex information
• Support educating individuals to increase digital literacy

7. Shared Practices for Engagement in Virtual Meetings. Boston, MA: Metropolitan Area Planning Council, May 5, 2020. www.mapc.org/resource-library/shared-practices-for-engagement-in-virtual-meetings.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) developed a webinar on best practices for engaging in virtual public meetings. It offers practical guidance for the technical setup of the tool, roles of the team, and activities before, during, and after hosting a meeting or webinar through a virtual platform.

Preparation and Planning

• Staff roles and develop internal communication protocols:
  • Form a team with a facilitator, a notetaker, chat manager, tech support, access manager, and, if possible, a model participant.
  • During the meeting, set up a separate group chat through another platform for internal communication.
• Familiarity with chosen virtual platform:
  • Depending on the meeting objectives, capabilities, and interactions, the team can select between virtual meetings and webinars.
  • Within the selected platform, the team should be prepared for and aware of all tools and permissions for hosts/co-hosts and establish the settings of the meetings.
• Communication with participants:
  • When preparing the meeting, the credentials for logging in to each session and materials for the meeting should be provided in advance.
  • At the beginning of each meeting or webinar, the instructions and rules for providing feedback should be clear to all participants.
• Registration tools and access:
  • Requiring participants to register can help to collect additional information.
  • Although the registration option should be enabled, other forms of access like live streaming or telephone calls should be provided.
• Tech checks and test run:
  • A mock meeting should be conducted with the whole team before the live session, where all needed features are checked, and the team can test the tool, polling activities, and share presentations.

Setting Up

• Virtual platform settings: As part of platform familiarization, a recommended practice is to log on at a minimum of 30 minutes before the live meeting to set any additional configuration depending on the meeting size and objective.

• Physical and technological setup: Establish a neutral background for the speakers during the meeting and position the camera framing properly. Set the initial configurations before the meeting, upload the presentation, mute every participant as they enter the meeting, and enable closed captioning.
• Screen view options and screen sharing: Familiarize with the view options available to participants and how to share the screen during the meeting.
• Security features (preventing, protecting, and responding to Zoom bombing): To prevent inappropriate behavior, the team should be aware of the options available and the controls they can have as hosts and cohosts. Multiple options are available before the meeting is live, but others can be configured during the meeting.

Facilitating

• General recommendations: Depending on the number of participants during the meeting, the team should encourage participation and facilitate conversations, either by allowing participants to unmute for direct dialogue, share any opinions, or request feedback through chat functions or real-time surveys.
• During log-in and starting your meeting: Provide different messages while people are waiting for the meeting to begin and keep them informed. Be aware of the other languages available to provide better accessibility in the meetings. As participants sign in and the meeting starts, mute them as they enter the meeting to avoid distractive noise and set the ground rules for participation from the beginning.
• Managing participation and using the chat feature: Ensure information is being understood, welcome any questions, and outline the meeting with a summary slide. If the meeting is long, provide breaks, and at the end of each part, provide the summary slide. Request feedback through the chat box and read aloud the questions and the results of polls and surveys, especially for people who cannot view the screen.
• Notetaking: Make additional notes regarding participants’ concerns and comments and read them aloud periodically.
• Guidelines for recording: Study the situations in which the sessions should be recorded or not to allow participants to feel comfortable sharing and engaging. The team should let the participants know if the meeting is being recorded. At the end of the meeting, provide the link to the recording.
• Breakout rooms and polls: The team should be familiar with the breakout rooms and polling options and settings that better serve the meeting objectives. Set the proper number of breakout rooms depending on the size of the meeting and polls to engage without losing focus on the meeting objectives.

Troubleshooting

Review the specifications to ensure optimal screen views and sound. If any technical difficulty occurs, rely on the technical support team, and let the participants know that you are experiencing technical problems and the team is working on them.

Post-Meeting

• Staff debrief: After the meeting, share challenges, takeaways, and both positive and negative outcomes with the team to develop lessons learned for future meetings.
• Follow-ups with participants: Send an email with the meeting summary, next steps, and link to the recorded session. The email can also solicit feedback and provide the link or receive more comments.

Additional Recommendations

Prepare your meetings and webinars to provide better accessibility through closed captioning and a language interpreter and understand their limitations in virtual meetings. Explore live streaming to share the meeting or webinar through different social media and traditional channels to extend the outreach and comply with public meeting laws.

8. How to Make Your Virtual Meetings and Events Accessible to the Disability Community, Rooted in Rights, April 13, 2020. https://rootedinrights.org/how-to-make-your-virtual-meetings-and-events-accessible-to-the-disability-community.

This article discusses best practices to ensure access for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at virtual events by making accessibility a priority and remaining open-minded to changing processes, learning more, and creating welcoming events.

Key points:

• Organizers can create tip sheets for online platforms with directions so people will feel comfortable with online platforms prior to the event. Tip sheets can include step-by-step information about using the platform(s). Organizers should also consider providing an optional training session about the platform(s) before the event.
• Access for people with disabilities is a learning process. Accommodations differ based on an individual’s disability. This document provides specific best practices for a variety of disabilities, including:
  • People who are deaf or hard of hearing
  • People who are blind or visually impaired
  • People with sensory disabilities
  • People who are intellectually or developmentally disabled

9. Inclusive and Accessible Virtual Public Engagement: Lessons from the Field. Greater Portland Council of Governments, September 2020. https://www.gpcog.org/DocumentCenter/View/1420/GPCOG_Virtual-Engagement-White-Paper_Final_102120-for-website-1?bidId=.

Through the Cares ACT, the FTA funded the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) to conduct best-practice research for inclusive and accessible virtual engagement to better understand how organizations transitioned their programming to a virtual platform while maintaining their commitment to equitable public engagement. The report provides and overview of best practices for using virtual engagement and addressing community-specific virtual engagement needs.

GPCOG conducted interviews with staff from a range of community-based organizations in Maine that work directly with older adults, people with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented communities in the hope of identifying some best practices.

Key points:

• Older adults
  • Avoid stereotyping older adults and their technological capacities; ageist attitudes can discourage active engagement
  • Phone calls can be a quick and effective two-way communication tool

• Use clear, open, and respectful language
• Written materials should have large fonts that are easy to read
• Determine if additional support is needed to enable the use of digital tools and provide adequate training or support
• Be aware that older adults face different barriers and disabilities
• Consider the best ways to include a diverse range of older adults
• Visually impaired or blind populations
  • Encourage participants to mention their name each time they speak
  • Make audio recordings available after the virtual meeting
  • Ask presenters to explain pictures and images used and their relevance to the presentation
  • Use Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance levels to ensure supplemental materials are accessible
  • Use text alternatives for all digital images
• Deaf or hearing-impaired populations
  • Outline meeting rules such as having only one person speak at a time or raise their hand if they wish to speak
  • Ask participants to spell out acronyms and to speak slowly and directly in front of their camera so they are visible
  • Utilize live or automated closed captioning services during the meeting, paying close attention for possible mistakes or misspellings
  • Ensure that videoconferencing platforms are compatible with personal assistive technologies such as personal assistive listening systems
  • Ask presenters to provide slide decks in advance to make available to the caption writer
  • Use qualified American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services when needed
  • Be aware that some sign language users cannot read captions, and not all Deaf people use ASL
• Immigrants and refugees
  • Collaborate and partner with different organizations that also provide services to immigrant and refugee communities to extend reach
  • Translate your website, social media, surveys, presentations, videos, and other materials into the languages most used in your community
  • Make sure translated materials are accurate by asking a member of the community to test them
  • Prepare your English (original) version document for translation by making sure your information is written in plain language (fourth-grade reading level) and graphics are culturally universal
  • When using interpreters for virtual meetings, it is best to find interpreters from the community
  • Inform your audience when you publicize your virtual meeting event that interpretation services are available upon request
• Youth populations
  • Avoid tokenizing young people as this can easily discourage them from active participation
  • Social media platforms can facilitate participation and dialogue amongst young people, and can be used to share information multidirectionally
  • Break down information into small segments that are easy to digest and to the point; keep it simple
  • Leverage social platforms that are already present and regularly used by youth to disseminate information
• Low-income populations and access to broadband
  • Use nondigital engagement tools as a supplement to digital tools in rural areas (e.g., phone calls, texts, paper mail, and other means of engaging people who do not have internet access)

• Ensure all digital engagement tools are mobile phone compatible
• Consider the bandwidth of all digital platforms and materials
• Avoid digital tools that require downloads or are heavy data users
• Work with partner organizations to help low-income people access the internet
• Allow telephone call-in options
• Use televised town halls and radio to keep people updated

10. Tips for Creating an Inclusive Virtual Space. Aspen Institute, April 2020. www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/tips-for-creating-an-inclusive-virtual-space.

This blog post details how organizations can apply a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens to the design and implementation of digital content.

Key points:

• Diverse content
  • Diversify the voices of your content to deliver representative and responsible content to your audiences
  • Curate representative imagery for your invitations and communications
  • Carefully consider your language and framing of digital content as an opportunity to reach everyone; be mindful of populations without internet access
• Creating space
  • Identify ways to make people feel welcomed
    • Make it optional for participants to enable their video
    • Encourage participants to update their profile name to include their preferred pronouns.
    • In large meetings, build in space for quieter participants by creating opportunities for small group conversations
  • Design for different learning and processing styles
    • Support visual learners with images
    • Use digital collaboration tools that can closely mirror a brainstorming session with sticky notes and flipcharts to allow people to remain actively engaged

11. Guidance and Best Practices for Environmental Justice Policymaking. San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, June 5, 2018. https://bcdc.ca.gov/ejwg/0607EJPolicyGuidanceMemo.pdf.

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development’s (BCDC) mission is to protect and enhance the San Francisco Bay and encourage sustainable, responsible, and productive use of the Bay. In 2016, the Commission began developing the San Francisco Bay Plan and in 2017 the Commission unanimously initiated a process to amend the various sections of the Plan to address social equity and to add an environmental justice (EJ) section with new findings and policies. BCDC staff conducted one-on-one discussions with leaders from EJ and social equity community groups who have expertise on informing environmental policymaking processes. In 2018, BCDC prepared an EJ policy guidance memo synthesizing the guidance and best practices from these discussions and recommended resources.

Key takeaways for engaging EJ communities in decision-making are:

• Increase accessibility to community engagement. Best practices include:
  • Monetary compensation and other incentives (e.g., food/drink, providing childcare and transportation) for participation

• Scheduling events at convenient times/locations for target communities
• Provide translation/interpretation
• Advertise events through various media in appropriate languages
• Develop alternative methods of engagement
• Information sharing needs to go both ways. Best practices include:
  • Transparency: be explicit about how input is being used
• Develop clear and easy-to-communicate community engagement goals. Best practices include:
  • Good facilitation that is well-designed to the specific needs of the community
• Education is key in having effective and meaningful community engagement. Best practices include:
  • Use real-life examples to ground public workshops
  • Draw on lived experiences of the community
• Good community engagement builds trust and is sustained. Best practices include:
  • Spend time with organizations who are familiar with local social equity concerns
  • Speak at established community meetings
  • Emphasize the importance of traditional local knowledge
  • Naming and recognizing past issues and injustices even if you can’t address them

Examples of Practice

The research team has developed a preliminary record of VPI activities practiced by transit agencies during COVID-19. This section describes selected examples that feature a variety of approaches, tools, and strategies for overcoming barriers to participation.

Prerecorded Presentations, Videos, and Podcasts

Yolobus, Yolo County, CA

Yolobus planned a virtual meeting as part of a transit study to update the public about the operations analysis and give an overview of recommendations. They created a prerecorded video that the public could view asynchronously. To supplement the presentation, Yolobus developed an online questionnaire that allowed people who watched the prerecorded video to provide their responses, reactions, and feedback.

Source: https://yolobus.com

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) released the first episode of its bimonthly podcast, “The Next Stop,” on major streaming networks in 2018. The podcasts provide riders with a “behind the scenes” view of the transit agency’s people and programs and engage with riders to learn more about their stories and experiences. Episodes vary in length but are seldom longer than 20 minutes and cover topics such as free WIFI on transit, event planning, transit user guides, and transit equity.

Source: www.ridemetro.org/Pages/index.aspx

Summary

• Cost: Moderate costs are incurred depending on the hardware, editing software, and streaming services hosting the podcast. Streaming services tend to charge based on the length of each episode. Most computers have free video and audio editing software; however, agencies can also purchase software for advanced editing.

• Staff commitment: A high level of staff time and knowledge will be required to create, record, and share content, but staff are not needed for prerecorded presentations.
• Accessibility: Consider preparing printed transcripts of the content, providing closed captioning, and posting transcripts online improves accessibility. Provide subtitles in multiple languages.

Telephone Town Halls

California High-Speed Rail

Over 3,000 participants joined a telephone town hall meeting in 2020 in California that covered the state’s high-speed rail program between Burbank and Los Angeles. There is little barrier to entry for this activity because it allows anyone with access to a telephone to participate. Benefits of telephone town halls include reduced virtual meeting fatigue and a high level of accessibility when paired with translations for non-English speakers or TTY (text telephone) services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The high number of participants did not necessarily translate to active participation; the average participant joined for less than five minutes before disconnecting. To increase effectiveness, teleconferences can also be paired with webcasts, telecasts, and radio broadcasts.

Source: https://hsr.ca.gov.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)

DART is designing a new bus network for the North Texas region. Transit riders, employers, stakeholders, and community leaders were surveyed by DART about a new system that works best for their needs through a series of webinars and town hall meetings beginning in April 2021. As part of their public engagement approach to the project, DART scheduled a series of telephone town halls and webinars that helped decide how to balance competing priorities.

Source: www.dart.org.

Summary

• Cost: Low
• Staff commitment: Facilitator, meeting manager, and technical support
• Accessibility: Access to telephone

Hybrid Meetings and Events

Valley Transportation Authority, San Francisco Bay Area

VTA is an extensive suburban and urban transit system serving the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area. Online mapping tools have always been a part of the transit agency’s engagement activities, but the pandemic offered the agency a chance to explore new strategies and improve existing efforts.

During the pandemic, the transit agency transitioned from in-person board of directors and public committee meetings to virtual meetings and found participation to remain the same if not slightly improved. They also began hosting optional virtual public meetings for planning projects at midday and afternoon. This approach expanded their audience to participants who did not necessarily fit the mold of a typical in-person participant. VTA pivoted from hosting their large-scale planning meetings—often long, informational meetings that covered a large geographic area—to a series of shorter virtual/hybrid meetings to reach target communities.

Participation levels were measured by the number of attendees and number of comments/survey respondents. The transit agency’s online feedback and survey tools are offered in languages

other than English commonly spoken in their service area, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Receiving completed comment forms in different languages is another measurement of successful inclusive engagement for VTA.

Source: https://www.vta.org.

Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA)

NAIPTA provides nearly 2.5 million annual trips in Flagstaff, AZ, through their fixed bus route, paratransit, vanpool, and seasonal express services. In addition to providing services, NAIPTA provides travel training services, among other programs.

NAIPTA began the process of redesigning its downtown transfer center prior to the pandemic. As part of the redesign process, it formed a community stakeholder group in the Southside Neighborhood. Although the meetings had originally been planned as in-person events, they were carried out via Zoom.

Methods used to encourage people to participate during the pandemic were essentially the same as prior: staff worked with the neighborhood association, which had been a solid liaison, to get the word out and also relied on their dispatchers to inform paratransit users of opportunities to participate. With meetings having moved to Zoom, that transit agency found examples where virtual engagement does not work effectively for all populations.

To help bridge the digital divide, staff brought a computer to the transit center for individuals who would otherwise not be able to join the online meeting. For additional outreach to very low-income residents, including unhoused residents, NAIPTA offered socially distanced “COVID-safe” engagement outside of a shelter and food bank to collect information from riders about their trip origins, destinations, and peak travel hours.

Summary

• Cost: Moderate
• Staff commitment: Facilitator, in-person technical staff, online meeting manager
• Accessibility: Access to high-quality internet and understanding of digital devices

Online Chat or Message Board

City of Austin

The City of Austin, TX, conducted a Strategic Mobility Plan in July 2019 and hosted an event on Reddit, using the Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) feature. The format allowed members of the public to type questions about the program and service recommendations. A group of City and transit staff was available to offer live written responses. Over a two-hour session, the City received more questions than they could reasonably respond to; however, they found the feedback helpful for further analysis. Reddit’s free AMA feature allows hosts to curate, respond, and publicize questions online. Staff can opt not to reply to obscene or out-of-context questions, and other meeting participants can vote up or down questions or comments that are important to them. The result is a virtual question-and-answer session in text.

Source: www.austintexas.gov/department/austin-strategic-mobility-plan.

Summary

• Cost: Low
• Staff commitment: Staff to respond promptly to inquiries can vary depending on the scale of the project
• Accessibility: Access to high-quality internet and understanding of digital devices

Online Collaboration

Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Inc.

The Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Inc. (TCAT) hosted a virtual open house for their 2020 Transit Development Plan, where they launched three “service network design exercises” including interactive mapping, an idea wall, and participatory budgeting. These virtual exercises were made publicly available via an online portal and allowed users to provide feedback at their convenience instead of requiring the hour-long time commitment often associated with in-person events. TCAT staff found this approach a more successful engagement effort than their virtual focus groups and office hours, which were poorly attended compared to in-person.

Source: https://tcatbus.com.

Summary

• Cost: Moderate
• Staff commitment: Facilitators, support staff, and technical staff
• Accessibility: Access to high-quality internet and understanding of digital devices

Online Meeting-in-a-Box

Montgomery County Planning Department

To understand community priorities and inform the update to the Maryland-and Washington Regional District General Plan, the Montgomery County Planning Department invited community members to use their Meeting-in-a-Box for self-facilitated small group conversations and individual reflection at the stakeholder’s convenience. The Meeting-in-a-Box, designed to provide an hour-long discussion, was made available on the department’s website and could either be downloaded or completed directly via the webpage. A short video accompanied the packet, providing an overview of the process.

Source: https://montgomeryplanning.org/meeting-in-a-box-provides-tool-for-sharing-ideas-about-the-future-of-montgomery-county.

Summary

• Cost: Costs associated with providing meeting materials to stakeholders are typically low, primarily if the meeting packet consists of existing materials.
• Staff commitment: A moderate level of staff commitment in the early stages will be necessary to curate content and develop instruction. Further attention should be given to processing feedback and following up with stakeholders.
• Accessibility: A “meeting-in-a-box” distributed online is limited to access and knowledge of the internet and technology. Consider preparing physical packets that can be requested by phone and provide notice in high-traffic community spaces. To increase accessibility for stakeholders with visual impairments, consider creating 508-compliant materials. Provide translated materials in different languages based on the community’s needs.

This page intentionally left blank.