Another JARCy Acronym

You know there is government money involved when a press release starts out like this:

Enacted in August 2005, SAFETEA-LU – the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users – authorized $45.3 billion in transportation funding over a four year period (2005-2009). Under the new SAFETEA-LU regulations, the existing Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC), New Freedoms, and Transportation for Elderly Personas and Persons with Disabilities Grant programs are now components of a Coordinated Human Services Transportation Planning (CHSTP) process.

Since the press release came from those wonderful people at DVRPC (Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission), who are so focused and detailed they make me feel flighty and carefree, and eventually gets around to saying the Philly area will be the beneficiary of nearly $8 million for transportation, perhaps the JARCy jargon can be forgiven.

Here is the English language version:

To help ease access to jobs for low-income workers and reverse commuters, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has announced almost $8 million in funding for the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program. The announcement was made at a press conference on March 7, at the Market East SEPTA station. Representatives from DVRPC, SEPTA, PennDOT, the Federal Transit Administration, the region’s Transportation Management Associations, and elected officials attended the event.

SEPTA gets the bulk of the money, $5.2 million, and the Transportation Management Associations and local non-profit agencies will share the remaining $2.8 million. Reverse commuting means people going against the flow, such as going from the city to the suburbs in the morning and back into the city at night. Other programs will provide transportation to high employment areas, such as Quicksilver IV which has a route connecting the city of Chester to UPS at the airport. “$8 million for SEPTA, other reverse commuters,” by Paul Nussbaum in the 3/07 Inky provides a list of routes and expansions that will be funded.


Personally I was most pleased to see that the airport train will be adding more early morning runs. The current schedule and time required to get through airport security make it impractical to take the train for early morning flights. The airport train is a wonderful thing.

My thanks to the gentleman with the friendly smile and warm handshake who is responsible for me now having my very own glossy spiffy DVRPC folder.