Provision of Alternative Services by Transit Agencies: The Intersection of Regulation and Program (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter 2 - The Alternative Service Primer
Chapter 2 - The Alternative Service Primer
Pages 15-22
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From page 15... ...
Because wheelchair-accessible service is necessary to meet ADA service equivalency requirements (more on this in Chapters 3 and 8) , if the primary providers do not have WAVs available, the transit agency will require the main providers to arrange for WAV service through a third party, or the transit agency may contract directly with a separate provider operating WAVs, such as a nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT)
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From page 16... ...
, the transit agencies in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Seattle, New York City, and Washington, DC, all reported providing alternative ser vices, and all said one of the goals was to reduce overall paratransit costs. As discussed, the "financial bet" a transit agency makes is that the total savings from the diverted trips are greater than the total subsidies associated with new trips generated by the alternative service (i.e., trips that would not otherwise have been made on the ADA paratransit service)
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From page 17... ...
Increasingly, ADA paratransit riders have the option of requesting ADA paratransit services and alternative services, not to mention accessing on-demand microtransit services and multimodal trip planning services, via an app. Smartphone apps also allow riders to track the real-time location of the vehicle they have been assigned to, both as the vehicle approaches and once they are on board.
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From page 18... ...
A transportation subsidy program is structured with the sponsoring transit agency subsidizing the cost of providing trips on an existing publicly available transportation service, such as taxi or TNC service, where that taxi company or TNC agrees to participate in the program under a contract or agreement. The rider typically pays a flat fare.
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From page 19... ...
Requesting Service through a Call/Control Center Some transit agencies direct their riders to call in requests to a call center staffed by employees of the transit agency, a call/control center manager under contract to the transit agency, or a broker. This is often the same centralized call/control center used for the transit agency's paratransit service, with the same staff who book paratransit trips.
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From page 20... ...
For customers who do not or who prefer to call, a call-in concierge option is provided by the transit agency or the service provider where requests can be put into the system through a portal. Many transit agencies provide this function through their ADA paratransit call center, whether staffed by transit agency or contractor employees.
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From page 21... ...
Alternatively, a transit agency could use just one TNC, but this option needs to include the provision of WAV service. As exemplified by the MBTA's on-demand alternative service in Boston, this can involve: • A TNC leasing WAVs to its drivers • A TNC subcontracting with a local NEMT provider operating WAVs in a nondedicated fashion • A TNC subcontracting with a national paratransit operations/management company, operat ing WAVs in a nondedicated fashion For smaller systems, there may only be one taxi company in town, or only one taxi company in town willing to participate in the program.
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From page 22... ...
For some transit agencies, the calculation process is more straightforward for at least some of the riders' trips. This is because the transit agency has designed its alternative service so the trip requests for both ADA paratransit and the alternative service are called into the same call center and processed by the same call takers.
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