REGISTRATION CLOSED

 Cache Employment Training Center gets grant to help manage bus fleet By Kevin Opsahl | Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2012 1:15 am Bus drivers for Cache Valley’s clients of the Cache Employment Training Center — responsible for nearly 13,000 trips over the past summer — now have new technology at their finger tips to make their jobs a little easier. Just recently, the bus fleet of 15 received Android mobile tablet devices, thanks to a grant from the Utah Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration. Funded in 2009, but just now coming to realization, the grant also covers an additional vehicle to the CETC fleet and more bus attendants. Paul Beecher, transportation manager for CETC, said they applied for the grant “to make it easier so we didn’t have to put so much time into transportation,” and so they could “concentrate on our mission.” The CETC provides people with disabilities the training they need to be successful at employment. It also offers other services such as respite care, supported living, vocational evaluations, summer youth program, senior services, and host home services. It’s widely known by the community for the Bike with Brent (Carpenter) race it sponsors every year. The Samsung Galaxy tablets are used to track vehicle location in real-time and improve communications between drivers and dispatchers. The center can also now inform clients’ families of their arrival times, and the software has helped them improve operational efficiencies, reporting and reduce paper. Kae Lynn Beecher, executive director of the CETC, said the tablets are a big help to their operations. The CETC uses the fleet to be available for everything for their clients — from going to work to going to a movie. “They’re an added advantage — and to the families too,” she said of the tablets. “At night, after the buses leave, I get calls from the parents. … And we can see exactly who’s on the bus, who has been dropped off.” The tablets are pre-loaded with RouteMatch Software, a company that the CETC hired to assist with dispatching, scheduling, automated vehicle tracking and reporting, said Mikkel Skinner, CETC transportation coordinator. UDOT requires the CETC to track all of the trips CETC provides, Kae Lynn Beecher said. From July to September, according to data provided to UDOT, 12,956 trips were made with the fleet. In that same period of time, the fleet drove 36,962 miles. “We’ve learned that because of the amount of trips we take, (UDOT) classifies us as the second largest transportation provider in Cache Valley,” Paul Beecher said. “We couldn’t afford the vans, (tablet) units, and ongoing support without the grants.”

Cache Employment and Training Center has received a $223,411 grant that will help provide funding for its transportation program. The grant was awarded by the Utah Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration. CETC transports people with disabilities from the Cache Valley, Brigham and Tremonton areas to help them access employment and other needed services. Officials at the CETC say the funding will go a long way in keeping services viable. “Increased operating costs and economic budget cuts have made it increasingly difficult to keep the vans on the road,” said Executive Director Kae Lynn Beecher. Many served by the center are not able to access public transportation due to where they live or their inability to travel without assistance. More than 100 people a day are transported on CETC’s 10 wheelchair acessible vans. These vans traveled more than 108,000 miles last year.