Nine social services agencies that own or operate 87 vehicles will take some first steps toward acting as a single, coordinated fleet as part of a update to a county transportation plan.

Residents will be briefed on the 2013 Coordinated Public Transportation-Human Service Transportation Plan for Clark County from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today and again from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 in Room 151 of the Springview Government Center, 3130 E. Main St.

“My hope is that over the next couple of years, we see the possibility of a one-call center,” where a client of any of the agencies could call to arrange for a ride, said Glen Massie, a transportation planner with the Clark County-Springfield Transportation Coordinating Committee.

At present, each agency has its own contact for rides.

Massie said the updated plan has three essential goals:

• To get more and more efficient use out of the vans paid for with federal money.

• To better serve elderly, disabled and low-income people.

• To expand service to the group with the next greatest need, people younger than 60 who aren’t disabled but need rides for work and elsewhere.

“Meeting unmet needs is probably the key,” Massie said. “But we also want to make sure we are completely serving the people we’re intended to serve.”

Massie, who will brief the public on the plan, said improved efficiency might make it possible to expand hours to serve people who work later in the day or on weekends.

The first plan update in five years coincides with a new federal transportation bill that requires Clark County and other smaller transportation districts to meet cooperation standards that larger cities already have been required to meet.

“The timing actually was perfect,” Massie said.

On Nov. 1, the local agencies and Springfield City Area Transit representatives gathered for the first meeting of the Clark County Human Services Transportation, an organization that will help to encourage cooperation.

The new council has representatives from Mental Health Services for Clark County, Clark County Job and Family Services, the Salvation Army, TAC Industries, the Clark County Board of Developmental Disabilities, United Senior Services, Oakwood Village, Easter Seals Adult Services of Springfield, the Springfield Masonic Community and Springfield City Area Transit.

Membership is open to private and non-profit transportation providers in Clark County. Those interested can call Massie at (937) 521-2132 or gmassie@clarkcountyohio.gov.

A first step was to inventory the vehicles available and the hours of operation. Members also discussed the possibility of jointly buying fuel and maintenance services.

Cross-training of drivers may also be necessary if drivers from United Senior Services, for instance, eventually provide rides to clients of the Clark County Department of Developmental Disabilities.

“Now, in a lot of cases, they’re transporting one person at a time,” Massie said. With cross-training and coordination, a single van might serve people from different agencies on the same trip.

“With a one-call center,” he said, “we could have a single dispatcher actually working trips through an automated system.”

That might save the various agencies from each having an individual taking care of its own rides. Supporting that kind of operation would be a so-called mobility management system to look after the operating and maintenance needs of all the vehicles in the system.

Massie said it will be a challenge to work out the details of the system because each agency has rules and regulations it has to follow in spending money. The committee also would have to work out a system in which one agency reimburses the other for providing a ride.

“But all the participating agencies seem willing,” he said, and can see some of the benefits.