ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies (2022) / Chapter Skim
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1 Why You Should Read This Synthesis Most small to midsized transit agencies that provide ADA paratransit or other demandresponsive transportation services perform all day-to-day functions in-house or through a sole turnkey contractor. This synthesis was commissioned to study the other ways in which small to midsized transit agencies are providing such services so that such agencies can learn from these experiences.
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2 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies and sections on contracting details (for both sponsoring agencies and service providers, asset provision, and technology)
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Summary 3 The identification of 30 candidates for the SG-19 targeted survey stemmed from the literature review and a review of 2019 National Transit Database (NTD) data, filtered to identify transit agencies with smaller ridership and fleet sizes, as well as those agencies that delivered service by some combination of agency-operated vehicles, contractor-operated vehicles, and taxis.
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4 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies Alternative Services The term alternative service is used in the transit industry to mean a transit-subsidized, on-demand mobility option offered by a transit agency to ADA paratransit individuals, noting that some agencies that provide coordinated services sometimes extend eligibility for their alternative services to other riders of their coordinated service as well. The general concept is to use existing on-demand providers in the community, such as taxis or transportation network companies (TNCs)
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Summary 5 • Comingled fixed-route transit/ADA paratransit service. In Section 7.5.4 of the same FTA circular, it is acknowledged that transit agencies, especially in less dense areas, can operate local fixed-route service while using the same bus to fulfill its ADA paratransit obligations for that route.
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6 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies ALL-IN-HOUSE Transit Agency RES SCH DIS ETA OPS VEH FAC TURNKEY Contractor(s) RES SCH DIS ETA OPS VEH FAC However, there are several other approaches where the transit agencies and their contractors split the CCC functions, as well as models where the transit agencies assign certain functions to their broker.
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Summary 7 TURNKEY/OVERFLOW Contractor RES SCH DIS ETA OPS VEH FAC Subcontractor(s) OPS VEH FAC Another service model espoused by small to midsized transit agencies is to contract out service delivery to one or more service providers as a cost-reduction strategy.
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8 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies Alternative services, microtransit, and even ADA paratransit can be provided as a userside subsidy program. In a way, this is similar to a turnkey contract in that the service providers are responsible for all of the day-to-day functions.
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Summary 9 trips. e service mix is the split between the trips scheduled and dispatched onto the dedicated eet versus the trips that are assigned to a nondedicated provider (for subsequent dispatching)
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10 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies identified and were invited to participate in the survey. These agencies represented a geographically diverse set of transit agencies providing DRT services in small, urbanized areas (with populations between 50,000 and 200,000)
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Summary 11 that participated in the survey. Figure S-1 shows the location of the 20 participating transit agencies.
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12 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies ADA Paratransit Coordinated Paratransit Alternative Service DAR E&D DAR Gen Pub DAR & NEM NEM Service Microtransit Flex Transit Flex & DAR HSA Programs Total All-in-House 4 2 3 4 4 1 18 In-House + Overflow Contractor(s) 1 1 3 1 1 7 Turnkey Contractor 2 1 1 2 2 8 Turnkey Contractor with Agency Assets 1 2 2 5 Turnkey + Overflow Subcontractor(s)
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Summary 13 It is also interesting that three different services -- an ADA paratransit, a dial-a-ride service for seniors and persons with disabilities, and an NEMT program -- are operated as user-side subsidy programs. Use of Service Contractors As shown in Table S-5, transit agencies operated 18 (or 33 percent)
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14 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies • The transit agency and the contractor each provide some of the supporting assets for 10 (45 percent) of the 22 services.
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Summary 15 In a related question, the transit agencies were asked why they have chosen to maintain the current service model for their various DRT services or why they changed their service model. Several of the respondents indicated that they had changed their service model in the recent past; some of these are documented in the case examples.
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16 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies 10 8 11 7 12 4 To improve cost efficiency (afford more trips) To provide more control over service quality To better control the balance between cost efficiency and service quality To better manage demand To provide more mobility options for our customers Other Figure S-3.
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Summary 17 DAR services for seniors and persons with disabilities, NEMT programs, microtransit services, and flex transit services. Table S-7 also shows the types of service models represented among these 40 services.
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18 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies within its service area, often with different service models. For these transit agencies, the cost savings from a more consolidated and uniform approach are outweighed by the customer benefits that stem from a more pinpointed approach to serving a particular need associated with different neighborhoods, for example, or at different times.
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Summary 19 But where there was a choice, virtually all the survey respondents indicated that they chose a turnkey contractor-service model to reduce operational cost and simplify oversight, while benefiting from all day-to-day functions being under one roof (which aids communication)
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20 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies one additional case where a turnkey contractor was permitted to and does use an overflow subcontractor. All eight of these services were also reflected in the case examples.
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Summary 21 scheduling, dispatching, and distribution of trips, which can have a direct impact on both service quality and cost. A multicarrier procurement can generally increase competition, as they may be smaller.
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22 ADA Paratransit and Other Demand-Responsive Transportation Services in Small to Midsized Transit Agencies transit loads into that account a matching or higher subsidy (depending on the service or program)
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