Provision of Alternative Services by Transit Agencies: The Intersection of Regulation and Program (2023) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Chapter 3 - Planning and Designing an Alternative Service
Chapter 3 - Planning and Designing an Alternative Service
Pages 23-38
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 23... ...
No doubt providing an on-demand/same-day mobility option for paratransit riders will improve the level of service for these riders compared to ADA paratransit's next-day service. The anecdotal feedback from riders by way of the rider focus groups and other testimonies collected in the case studies evidence how alternative services have made a significant difference in the lives of ADA paratransit customers.
|
From page 24... ...
. The tool can then be used once an agency has real-world experience with the service and data on trips and costs, to estimate the impact on the overall budget for ADA paratransit.
|
From page 25... ...
• "Get involved with your rider advocacy groups early and often as you begin to think about these sorts of alternative services -- it's not a useful service if it's not something customers want." • "Have a firm idea of what you are trying to get out of the alternative service program and who you are trying to support by implementing a program of this type." • "An on-demand program will not work for all riders -- some need a higher level of care than these [alternative service] contractors can provide." Advice from surveyed transit agencies Ensure Policy Board Support Implementing an alternative service, especially if considering using TNCs, may be a very new undertaking for a transit agency.
|
From page 26... ...
Would requiring insurance coverage at the same level that you require for a contractor operat ing ADA paratransit service price out some of the prospective local transportation providers that might be options for providing an alternative service? Transit agencies have taken different approaches for insurance.
|
From page 27... ...
and can reduce overall and per-trip costs to the transit agency. However, riders will take more trips with the new service which could cancel out cost savings." Budget advice from surveyed transit agencies
|
From page 28... ...
If one of the objectives of your service is to help reduce the overall costs for ADA paratransit (or to provide more trips without increasing the budget) , it may be useful to estimate the extent of the new trip-making and the estimated cost of those new trips and compare that with the savings from the mode-shift trips taken on the alternative service but that would have been taken on the ADA paratransit service.
|
From page 29... ...
If your transit agency currently uses any contractors for nondedicated service to support the ADA paratransit service, perhaps one or more of these contractors might be considered options to also provide the alternative service. If so, be sure the provider has adequate capacity for both types of service, and ensure there are no incentives or disincentives in an agreement, such as the rate structure, that causes the provider to favor one type of service over the other.
|
From page 30... ...
3-8 Provision of Alternative Services by Transit Agencies: The Intersection of Regulation and Program customer may have to take and pay for a round trip to reach such an establishment. That said, if it's a location where errands are regularly made, adding one more to-do item would address that argument.
|
From page 31... ...
ADA paratransit. When a transit agency enters into an arrangement of some type with a private provider such as a TNC or taxi company to provide an alternative service, the "stand in the shoes" requirement does not apply when the transit Alternative service providers do agency only provides subsidies to the private provider to underwrite its riders' not "stand in the shoes" of a transit use of the private providers' service, such as those given to ADA paratransit agency.
|
From page 32... ...
. Service Equivalency Criteria Versus ADA Paratransit's Six Service Criteria Unlike the six service criteria that apply to ADA paratransit, the seven service equivalency criteria are not intended to frame service to be complementary to a transit agency's fixed-route service.
|
From page 33... ...
Given that communities of color are disproportionally low-income, each public transit agency has an obligation under Title VI to ensure that alternative methods of both payment and reservations are available." Foxx 2016 The FTA's Drug and Alcohol Testing Requirements Federal transit law requires transit agencies receiving funding through the FTA's urban and rural grant programs to comply with drug and alcohol testing of staff in safety-sensitive positions, including those operating, dispatching, and maintaining revenue service vehicles. Vehicle operators are the primary staff impacted by the regulations.
|
From page 34... ...
Or taxi service may provide dedicated ADA paratransit service for a transit agency, in which case it is reported in the third category, purchased trans portation -- general (PT)
|
From page 35... ...
This impacts productivity, which may increase the cost per ADA paratransit trip. One transit agency recommended looking for changes in riders' trip patterns, particularly unpredicted ones, with an alternative service that may impact the ADA paratransit service and the resulting cost-efficiency of the alternative service.
|
From page 36... ...
Service Policies The research found considerable variation on the policies transit agencies use to structure their alternative services; see Chapter 10 for a more complete discussion of service policy options. Service Area Should the service area for the alternative service mirror your ADA paratransit service area or extend beyond that?
|
From page 37... ...
Setting the days and hours the same as ADA paratransit is a straightforward approach and facilitates user information and marketing, in the same way as delineating the service area as the ADA paratransit service area does. If the days/hours are greater, riders have more opportunities for trips beyond those possible with ADA paratransit, but this increases the cost exposure for the transit agency unless other limits are imposed.
|
From page 38... ...
□ Consider ADA criteria as well as the roles and responsibilities in fulfilling service criteria between the transit agency and service partners. □ Consider Title VI and drug and alcohol testing requirements and their applicability to the alternative service.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.