PARATRANSIT DEMAND MANAGEMENT EVALUATION HANDBOOK

The complementary paratransit requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) brought into sharp focus a dilemma for public transit: how to limit the demand for paratransit services. The ADA and its companion ADA Paratransit Handbook envision a trip-by-trip determination of eligibility. That is, the transit agency would limit demand by determining whether persons with disabilities would be able to use fixed route service or not for each requested trip. The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) has decided that we don't know enough about how each individual's disability affects his or her ability to travel by fixed route transit. While it is possible to cite instances of disabilities whose effects are predictable, there are a wide range of other disabilities whose effects vary unpredictably. Since the passage of ADA, the AATA and many other transit operators have been exploring other alternatives to control the demand for paratransit service within the constraints of the ADA. Chapter One of this report describes the types of alternatives. Chapter Two provides assistance by describing methods to evaluate the current situation to provide the basis for the local decision and includes an assessment matrix for you to examine where you think the best potential lies. Chapter Three provides information on evaluation design strategies as well as specific information on surveys and focus groups as methodologies for gathering evaluation data. Chapter Four discusses the uses and limitations of the data from an evaluation, as well as their role in a continuing cycle of implementation and evaluation.