Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC), Green Mountain Transit (GMT) and United Way of Northwest Vermont (United Way) worked with the Chittenden County Elders and Persons with Disabilities Transit Program partners (E&D) in order to answer the following challenges: How can we support Chittenden County’s E&D partners in their role as program administrators to help create a rider-informed and equitable paratransit service for all Chittenden County residents? How can Chittenden County’s E&D providers modify services to increase rider satisfaction and optimize limited program funds? The project evaluated Chittenden County’s E&D program from the partner perspective and generated opportunities for shared learning and collaboration between all Chittenden County’s E&D stakeholders.

Increasing public transit use can reduce demand for single occupancy vehicles, lower emissions, improve transportation cost equity, and reduce congestion. Due to the real and perceived costs of using transit, demand for fixed route transit often increases when coupled with workplace parking restrictions (e.g. limits on permits, higher costs, remote parking requiring longer walks or other transfers). In this project, a targeted pilot intervention was conducted to test connecting potential transit users with incentives to increase bus ridership on the Route 116 corridor between Hinesburg and Burlington.

The City of Burlington has been exploring the possibility of establishing a multimodal transportation facility in the City’s South End for over twenty years. The Burlington South End Multimodal Center Feasibility Study examined the feasibility of a transit center and potential housing at 68 Sears Lane in Burlington, investigated site layout options that tie together the planned uses on both parcels, developed conceptual construction cost estimates, identified potential funding streams for the project, and facilitated stakeholder outreach.

Beginning in 2021, the CCRPC embarked on an update of the Chittenden County Park & Ride Plan. This plan identifies opportunities for improvements to the existing facilities and evaluates the potential for new facilities that will benefit commuters and residents throughout Chittenden County and the adjacent communities. The Plan created a vision statement for the purpose and function of park & rides, completed an inventory of existing facilities, prioritized a list of park & ride and intercept facilities, and created an implementation plan. The updated Plan incorporates elements from the 2011 Plan using a revised approach to account for the many changes in the demand for park & rides, remote work, and general changes in travel behavior.

Concerned about the cost of operating two separate call centers for demand response services in the GMT service area, particularly in light of changes in ridership brought about by the COVID-19 public health emergency, GMT and its Chittenden County service contractor, Special Services Transportation Agency (SSTA), partnered with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) to undertake this study of consolidated call center options for the two organizations. The objective of the project was to update information presented in the 2018 report about the operations of GMT and SSTA, with a focus on the demand response service reservations and scheduling/dispatch functions, and to identify and evaluate options for a consolidated call center.

2022 marks the first year of Park Your CARbon, an updated and re-imagined version of the previous Way to Go! Challenge. Park Your CARbon is an awareness campaign encouraging Vermonters to park their vehicle for one trip, one day, or one week in an effort to curb carbon emissions and promote the use of other transportation modes.

With the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, there is expected to be a 35% increase in transit funding above the FAST Act investment levels; additional resources at the local level to serve as matching funds will likely be needed. Rather than just continuing to lean on existing sources of revenue, this renewed need for local funding offers the opportunity to overhaul how transit is funded both in the Chittenden County metropolitan area and in the rural parts of Vermont.

The three contiguous communities of Cambridge, Underhill, and Jericho are seeking to develop a comprehensive “alternative” transportation system (i.e. one that does not rely heavily on single-occupancy auto) to serve their residents. This area has come to be called the “Tri-Town” area. The purpose of this study is to examine the range of possibilities for accomplishing this including various modes and services, organizational and administrative structures, and funding. It is intended that the results be relevant not only to the Tri-Town area but also for other rural portions of the GMT region.

Building off of the GMT Route 116 Bus Ridership Pilot Project in 2018-2019 , the Chittenden County Bus Commuter Ridership Pilot Project aimed to increase ridership in the County, specifically targeting commuters living and working in towns served by the county’s bus provider, Green Mountain Transit.

In 2011 the CCRPC, in collaboration with CarShare VT, Chittenden Area TMA, Local Motion, and Green Mountain Transit, was awarded a Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to launch a Chittenden County Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Pilot Program, which features ready-to-implement TDM activities to meaningfully improve transportation system efficiency, reduce VMT, improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion, improve access to employment, and enhance the livability of our communities. The suite of complementary projects included creating two regional multimodal transit hubs, developing a regional walk/bike program, developing an employee transit pass pilot project, establishing a TDM circuit rider, launching a marketing program to change transportation behavior, and expanding the existing car-share service in Chittenden County.