BACKGROUND

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) created a requirement for complementary paratransit service for all public transit agencies that provide fixed-route service. Complementary paratransit service is intended to complement the fixed-route service and serve individuals who, because of their disabilities, are unable to use the fixed-route transit system. Complementary paratransit service is an "origin-to-destination" service, often provided with vans, minibuses, taxis, or a combination of such vehicles. The USDOT regulations implementing the ADA require that complementary paratransit service be "comparable" with the fixed-route transit service in terms of the basic level and quality of service. Public transit agencies began accepting requests for and granting "ADA paratransit eligibility" in 1992. Since that time, many approaches for determining eligibility have been developed.

There has been relatively little research on the demand for ADA complementary paratransit service. Most transit systems use historical trends or comparisons to peer systems to predict possible future changes in demand. As with other modes of transportation, developing an accurate understanding of demand for ADA complementary paratransit services will likely require ongoing research beyond what will be accomplished in this project.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop tools and an accompanying manual to improve ridership estimates for ADA complementary paratransit services. The results of this research should assist public transportation systems in planning and providing services in the near and long term that meet paratransit requirements of the ADA. (In keeping with the intent of the ADA law and regulations, the tool(s) developed by this project must be designed to predict demand for eligible trips. Although transit agencies may elect to provide service beyond that required by the ADA, the product of this project should be designed to predict only the demand required under law. For example, the tool(s) should consider only the population that travels within 3/4 of a mile of fixed routes. The tool(s) should consider only those persons who are truly eligible for service, and only those trips that these eligible individuals are unable to make by fixed-route service. Similarly, the tool(s) developed in this project must predict demand for complementary paratransit service that meets the level of service required. That is, the tool(s) must predict demand for service operated during the same hours as the fixed-route system and operated without capacity constraints.)

Status: The research report has been published as TCRP Report 119.   A continuation to this project was approved and funded in October of 2007 by the TOPS Committee.  This second phase of the project, TCRP B-28A, Improving ADA Complementary Paratransit Demand Estimation--Phase II: Regional Travel Demand Forecasting is complete..