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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element Transit Transit can serve two principal functions. One is providing transportation services to the transportation disadvantaged, while the other is mitigating roadway congestion by reducing single occupancy vehicle trips. The transportation disadvantaged function can involve both demand/response service and fired route service. Reducing congestion is primarily accomplished through a fixed route system. Through the Council on Aging (COA), the County has had a successful transportation disadvantaged program. As the County' s Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC), the COA has brokered trips between purchasers of transportation disadvantaged service and providers of transportation services. At the same time, the COA has performed well as the principal provider in the transportation disadvantaged system. Since FY 93 /94, the COA has also run the County' s fixed route transit system. While increasing ridership each year since its establishment, the fixed route system still almost exclusively serves the transportation disadvantaged. As part of its transit planning activities, the County has prepared a Transit Development Plan and a Transportation Disadvantaged Service Plan. The County has also worked with the Council On Aging to develop a transit system marketing plan and to conduct focus group sessions with potential transit users . Based upon the results of those planning efforts, it appears unlikely that the County' s fixed route system will be a viable alternative to the automobile for most County residents in the near future . Consequently, the fixed route system will not reduce roadway volumes nor serve as a congestion mitigation alternative . There are a variety of reasons for that. Among those reasons are the County' s size , density, household income, lack of congestion, dispersed employment, and other characteristics . Without high parking costs , a lack of parking, and a fixed route system that serves a large geographic area with low headways and extended hours, fixed route transit will not be an alternative to the private automobile. Even where those conditions exist, fixed route systems seldom serve as an alternative to the automobile unless the system is a fixed rail system or uses exclusive bus lanes. Although transit is not currently a viable option for most County residents, there is a possibility that transit can have an expanded role in the future. As indicated in the land use section, it is important to ensure that new development complements future transit use. The Future Land Use Element does that by setting urban growth limits, promoting infill, encouraging higher intensity development along major roadway corridors, inter-connecting uses, promoting TND developments, and encouraging other transit-friendly development. Prior to completion of the MPO ' s next long-range transit plan, there will be some changes to the County' s existing fixed route transit system as a result of the 2002 TDP major update. As the operator of the County ' s fixed route transit system, the Council on Aging, has proposed to significantly change the system. The purpose of these changes is to increase ridership and enhance the transit service provided. Proposed future transit facilities are noted in Figure 4 . 12 , Future Transit Facilities . Community Development Department Indian River County 125