Regional Transportation Call Center Coming to East Texas

TYLER — A Regional Transportation Call Center is one step closer to reality. The East Texas Council of Governments, the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority, Smith County Commissioners Court, NDMJ Ltd. Transportation Services, LLC Transportation, and EasTexConnects have been awarded a $231,000 Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Capital Grant. The money comes from the U.S Department of Transportation through the Texas Department of Transportation. The grant is to establish a One-Stop Regional Transportation Call Center to provide a resource for transportation and mobility information in the fourteen-county East Texas region. The Call Center is a major component of the Smith County Regional Coordinated Traveler Management System (CTMS) which will be located in Smith County.

According to officials, the Call Center seeks to increase the value of transportation assets to veterans and other East Texans — along with reducing congestion, enhancing safety, improving air quality, and expanding economic opportunity. Officials say the Call Center will include joint dispatching operation capabilities and offer all residents of the region, particularly veterans and those with mobility challenges, a streamlined service to assist them in meeting their mobility needs. Advanced systems such as inter-operable communications, automated vehicle locators and GPS technologies will be used to improve accessibility and contribute to broader traveler mobility.

“Having a central transportation call station that is easily accessible to all East Texans is a big step in the right direction as we look to the future of transportation in our region,” said Smith County Judge Joel Baker. Smith County Precinct 4 Commissioner JoAnn Hampton added, “County residents will have the means to plan a trip to the grocery store or to the DFW airport with a simple phone call.” EasTexConnects, a transportation coordination committee administered by ETCOG, identified the Call Center as a high-priority strategy in its 2006 Regional Transportation Coordination Plan, which was updated in 2011.

Officials say the project will be executed as soon as the implementation plan, which includes the project schedule, has been approved by the grant recipients. Smith County officials expect the funds to be available in October; they say the implementation plan will be completed prior to that date.