Transportation collaborative Taking People Places (TPP) is celebrating its third birthday by looking to the future. To facilitate its sustainability over the long term, this informal consortium is pursuing incorporating as its own nonprofit.

TPP is a group of 14 aging and disability services agencies in the Plymouth area that collaboratively contract with Lyft for rides for their consumers. The group began informally with stakeholders coming together around a shared need for additional transportation options in their region. They sought to model themselves after the successful Community Accessing Rides (CAR) initiative, a consortium in the Attleboro area that collectively contracts with Uber. Through CAR, participating agencies use member contributions and grants to pay for Uber rides for their consumers when public transit is unavailable. TPP sought to replicate the CAR model, but with more partners since they would be covering a larger and more rural geographic area. In the spring of 2018, the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce reached out to Will Shain, a local executive business coach who is an active community member, and Shain agreed to facilitate the group as a volunteer. Shain helped the informal group develop a mission statement and do some early strategic planning, gradually formalizing the partnership over the course of the first year. In 2019, TPP contracted with Lyft, received its first grant through MassDOT’s Community Transit Grant Program, and began offering rides.

TPP board member South Shore Community Action Council (SSCAC) serves as the fiscal sponsor, and Shain worked with them to set up a financial model that balances member dues with grant funding. Each participating agency pays into the program and is then entitled to matching funds (paid for through TPP’s public and private grants) equal to the amount they pay in. Using a shared Lyft Concierge account, any participating agency can schedule a trip for a consumer who is going to employment or job training, medical services (including dental and mental health), food access, or social activities. Once a month, Lyft bills SSCAC, and SSCAC reconciles the finances among participating agencies. In addition to contributions from members, TPP has also received support from community-based nonprofits like the Plymouth Lions who contribute to support the community despite having no riders in the program.

TPP has provided rides to over 4,000 consumers since launching. While ridership decreased in 2020 due to the pandemic, it recently returned to pre-pandemic levels with nearly 250 rides in March. “The program is working well. We have a great level of collaboration despite the fact that all participants have full-time work and do this on a volunteer basis,” Shain shares. However, the group would like to expand their capacity for grant-writing. Looking to the future, Shain and the TPP board foresee a need for administrative support, so they are working on incorporating as a nonprofit to facilitate fundraising efforts and sustainability.

For other initiatives looking for assistance with facilitation and coordination, Shain recommends reaching out to retired executives either through networking in your community or through organizations like SCORE, or accessing services from the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center. “There are people out there who want to continue to work – you just have to find them,” he says.