December 4, 2008

Anderson Township Resident Creates Award-Winning Foundation

Above: Ted Bergh stands in front of the Metro stop downtown.

Metro, Southwest Ohio's fixed route bus service, is being recognized by the American Public Transit Association (APTA) with the national 2008 Innovation Award. APTA awarded Metro with its top honor for creating Everybody Rides Metro (ERM), the first foundation of its kind in the country. APTA calls ERM the greatest innovation in public transportation in the nation in the past year.

Created from an idea by Ted Bergh, a resident of Anderson Township, Everybody Rides Metro (ERM) is an independent charitable foundation to provide reliable transportation to the economically disadvantaged of Cincinnati, assuring access to employment, education, health care and other vital services as they work towards self-sufficiency. Bergh serves as executive director of Everybody Rides Metro and is Metro's CFO.

ERM partners with local non-profit agencies who were already helping low-income individuals live more sustainable lives. This collaborative partnership has been successful at raising $1.25 million from governments, charitable foundations and individual contributions. Agencies have distributed more than 100,000 tokens to people in need since the program was launched in the spring of this year. The model's success depends on this partnership by:

• Ensuring the most needy receive tokens for Metro rides
• Minimizing administrative costs so that donations go directly to rides
• Eliminating duplication
• Reaching diverse populations of those in need

"This foundation started in 2006 and grew from providing 2,000 rides per month in 2007 to 22,000 currently," said Bergh, executive director of Everybody Rides Metro. "This is 1 percent of all Metro rides, and our goal is 3 percent or 70,000 rides per month by 2009."

Everybody Rides Metro was born to fill a critical need in Cincinnati, but can be used as a model for public transportation agencies across the nation that are looking for ways to offer free transportation to low-income people without straining already tight transportation budgets.

Metro operates transit. It did not want to duplicate the role of agencies. The plan is simple: Everybody Rides Metro raises funds; agencies determine need; and Metro provides rides.

"Charitable agencies in Cincinnati were already purchasing 600,000 rides a year with their own funds," said Bergh. "We asked those agencies to help develop a foundation for low income riders. The result is the unique and highly successful collaboration."

ERM started with 18 agencies and has grown to more than 50 agencies representing a diverse community of needs. ERM hosted a lunch celebration Friday, Oct. 17, for its funders and partner agencies to thank them for working with ERM to provide over 111,000 rides to more than 7,000 individuals. There were 64,000 rides to get to jobs or job training; 24,000 rides to health care; 11,000 rides to school or college and 12,000 rides for essential services.

"Rising fuel costs are pushing transportation beyond the reach of the poorest members of our community, blocking access to jobs, education, health care and other services that are generally taken for granted," said Bergh, "We needed a way to sustain the most vulnerable members of our community." More information is at www.everybodyridesmetro.org."

Source: Community Press & Recorder, Dec. 4, 2008
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/C2/20081204/NEWS05/812040374/