What Is It?

A Transit Development Plan, or TDP, is an intensive study of community needs:

• Where do people live?
• Where do they need to go?
• Where do they want to go?
• What is the best way to get them there?
• How do we make that happen?

The TDP takes this information, adds in projections of economic development, conducts thorough analysis, and results in the creation of a strategic business plan for the next five (5) years of CAT service and community growth. Our TDP is being conducted by the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) and is a current work-in-progress. See below for the various ways you can voice your opinions and suggestions and get involved with this critical community venture.

We need your participation because this kind of plan is not just about CAT. It is about the businesses in our community--what do they need for their employees and customers? It is about the City of Savannah and Chatham County--what can we accomplish in agency partnerships to improve the way locals work and live and the way tourists come to play? It is about looking at the big picture to find out how pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles can most safely and smoothly interact for the optimum flow through our cities. It is a plan that requires looking at today, learning from successes and obstacles in the past, and taking the time to plan for a better collective future.

Specific Goals

CUTR's objective with our new five-year TDP is to...

• Design a plan that promotes effective and efficient mobility services, develops new services, and affords opportunities to optimize the use of existing resources and forge new partnerships;
• Assess the community and organizational stakeholders' vision and opinion of public transportation, including their service expectations and level of support for improvements;
• Focus on the relationships between public transportation and overall economic development;
• Facilitate the development of a plan that provides relevance and coordination of mobility services consistent with the vision and quality of life issues of the communities served by CAT;
• Develop a public involvement and outreach plan that emphasizes customer orientation and provides CAT with insight into the public’s issues, needs and opinions;
• Coordinate the TDP short-range strategic planning perspective with the Metropolitan Planning Commission’s (MPC) long-range transportation plans (e.g., their Total Mobility Plan) as well as various local government mobility initiatives;
• Develop goals, objectives and strategies resulting from all task activities and analyses, including both peer and trend analyses of CAT;
• Create a goal-oriented work program based upon a five-year operating and capital program that supports sound management decisions and prioritizes service improvements.

How Can I Get Involved?

You, as a member of our community---whether business owner, student, local resident, or out-of-towner---are the reason we exist at CAT and have our vehicles on the street. So please let us know what you want and what you need. Tell us what you would like to see CAT achieve in the next five years. What would make you select transit for work, school, errands, and entertainment? Where do you want the bus to take you? When do you need transit service? What is missing? What works well? We want to hear it all, and we know you have the answers.

Simplest and quickest, shoot us an email: tdp@catchacat.org

Want to talk in person? Come to a public meeting at the library:

• Saturday, October 20, 2012  *  10:00-11:00 AM at the Carnegie Branch
• Thursday, October 25, 2012  *  6:00-7:00 PM at the Southwest Chatham Branch
• Thursday, November 15, 2012  *  5:00-6:00 PM at the Bull Street Branch
• Tuesday, December 4, 2012  *  5:00-6:00 PM at the Bull Street Branch
• Thursday, December 13, 2012  *  6:00-7:00 PM at the Southwest Chatham Branch
• Thursday, January 17, 2013  *  6:00-7:00 PM at the Southwest Chatham Branch
• Thursday, January 24, 2013  *  4:00-5:00 PM at the Bull Street Branch

We'll post additional information as this process continues, and you can keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter as well by clicking on the icons at the very bottom of this page. Most importantly, we'd like to thank you all for caring about your community and continuing to believe in the possibilities for growth and change. There will always be tough choices in transit, as in business and in life, but we know we can do the best job for the most people with your help. So thank you.