by Jesus Garcia
I have worked for the past seven years in the transportation industry. My current employer, LogistiCare, Inc. provides management services to government transit departments. We manage ADA (paratransit) contracts, Medicaid transportation services, as well as several HMO-funded private transportation contracts. My personal experiences as a daily user of paratransit services, along with my professional experiences as an administrator for LogistiCare lead me to share what I know about ADA transportation services, for I have experience in managing some of the most difficult situations that arise from providing transportation services to riders like me!
Why ADA Transportation?
The policy-makers who devised plans for ADA (also referred to as “paratransit”) services were responding to urban and suburban transportation systems that do not meet the needs of many people who are disabled.
Nearly all cities which have experienced rapid growth during the final half of the 20th century have struggled to cope with transportation grids that cannot carry ever increasing traffic loads, changes in population density and distribution, and amenities and service delivery systems that were designed long before the conditions that characterize modern urban life began to appear. Modern sprawling “cities” like Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami — where I live — are, for the most part, large agglomerations of suburbs with poorly defined or non-existent centers. When urban centers do exist, they are usually ringed by high-capacity highway systems, which have come into being to move large numbers of single occupancy vehicles. The single-occupancy vehicle is the master of modern urban development.
Although urban mayors and councils may pay lip service to mass transit and in many instances actually spent large sums of money on fixed-route buses, underground and elevated rail, and light rail systems, most commuters who live in outlying communities and travel in and around cities to work do not support mass transit, either by riding buses or trains, or with substantial proportions of their local tax dollars. At this time, and, in my opinion, for the foreseeable future, the single-occupancy vehicle — whether car, pick-up truck, or SUV — will continue to rule. The truth is that people who want, or need, to make use of fixed-route mass transit systems to get from place to place in our modern cities find that such systems do not exist at all, are very limited in the areas they cover, run at infrequent intervals, are unreliable, lack accessible pedestrian paths to pick-up locations, and are operated by drivers who refuse to provide the spoken information which blind riders need to access the systems. Recognizing that typical urban mass-transit systems are inadequate to meet the needs of people with disabilities, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) contains specific provisions regarding access to fixed-route transportation. ADA paratransit systems were conceived to allow people with disabilities to circumvent the problems presented by typical mass-transit systems, but many disabled people who attempt to use their local paratransit services find that the services do not meet their expectations.
What Are the Paratransit Rules?
To evaluate your local ADA transportation service, you will need to determine whether or not your own paratransit provider is meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here is a short summation of ADA rules governing paratransit: First, any local governmental entity which provides regular fixed-route bus service to a defined area must provide comparable ADA paratransit to certified riders within a defined three-fourths of a mile to 1.5-mile corridor of the bus service area. In “clearspeak” this means that if you are traveling within three-fourths of a mile from a bus stop on both the pick-up trip and return trip and cannot use a fixed-route vehicle, then the transit authority must provide you with a paratransit trip.
Please note that this regulation says nothing about whether you live within three-fourths of a mile from a bus stop, it only talks about whether your trip takes place within such a corridor. If you live in a house that is not within the specified distance of fixed-route transit, or if there is no fixed-route transit system serving your community, you cannot expect there to be a paratransit service that can assist you.
The other crucial element of criteria for eligibility which is defined in the ADA regulations concerns lack of access to a fixed-route vehicle. “Lack of access” means, in the opinion of most industry administrators, that a person will be eligible for a paratransit ride if he or she cannot: (a) Board the fixed-route vehicle; (b) locate the bus or rail stop; (c) navigate to his/her final destination after exiting the vehicle; (d) obtain sufficient information to decide when and where to exit the vehicle in order to arrive at the final destination; or (e) that the rider is mentally or physically incapable of negotiating the fixed-route system.
Although this list contains universally accepted criteria for ADA transit eligibility certification, I must tell you that your local jurisdiction may have determined other criteria, and that these criteria may go far beyond those listed above. Many of these locally defined criteria are not written in stone and it may be very worthwhile for you to become educated about the procedures your transit agency utilizes to certify riders for paratransit eligibility. Certification is one area where, I believe, many local transit authorities may be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Another area of questionable practices exists for many local providers who attempt to limit paratransit trips. The rules which govern ADA transportation state that no trip limits can be imposed, and that no questions about the purpose of a trip may be asked. These regulations mean that a reservation operator is not allowed to ask you, “Why are you taking this trip?” or “Why are you going to that location?” Your paratransit provider, the reservations agent, and the local transit authority may not make determinations regarding the relative importance of your trips. Thus, whether you are going for a medical treatment, or simply out to dinner, the purpose of your paratransit travel cannot be questioned, and one trip cannot be assigned a higher relative priority than another.
Your Paratransit Driver is Not Your Companion!
I want to point out that ADA paratransit is not an escort or an attendant care service. ADA paratransit was meant to be and should always be considered only a transportation service. Just as you would not expect your bus driver or train conductor to bring your groceries into your home, walk you to a doctor’s office or pick you up from your restaurant table, you should not expect your ADA paratransit driver to perform any of these tasks. I feel the need to point out this simple truth because, over the years, I have seen and heard many riders state in meetings or in written complaints that my driver would not help me with my bags, walk me to a location, or come inside to find me. These services do not fall within the job descriptions of paratransit drivers. Riders who need these kinds of services should be traveling with companions or personal care attendants.
Companions and Personal Care Attendants
There are two categories which describe the people who may accompany eligible riders on paratransit trips: The most common fellow rider is a “companion,” who can be anyone you choose, a husband or wife, a friend or a child. Under ADA rules, the system is required to permit a rider at least one companion who will pay an equivalent fare.
A personal care attendant (PCA) is the second kind of fellow traveler which ADA rules address. A PCA is a person, usually a nurse or other trained medical professional, who has been designated by a rider to provide specific care. This personal care can include a variety of disability-related tasks, such as taking the rider to his or her final destination — for example guiding a visually impaired person through an airport or large office building — or monitoring an oxygen regulator.
Paratransit drivers are not responsible for monitoring life-saving devices; their responsibility is to drive. If riders require the services of PCAs, it is their responsibility to find appropriate professionals to perform the necessary tasks. Personal care attendants ride in paratransit vehicles at no charge.
Local Variability of ADA Transit Services
Every local transit administration seems to have its own particular set of paratransit rules and priorities. There is also a great deal of variability in the sums of money local communities are willing to spend to fund ADA transportation. The paratransit systems can vary considerably in scope of service and individualized regulations, from locality to locality. Obviously I am not capable of writing about all the different systems throughout the country. However, a number of systems that are familiar to me, as a frequent rider, and a professional working in the industry, are illustrative of the differences that can occur from one jurisdiction to another.
For example, in Miami-Dade County and Broward County, which are the two systems that I ride on a regular basis, one must make a reservation between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the day preceding a desired trip. Thus paratransit riders are obliged to plan their lives in advance — or find other transportation options. Both of these systems are door-to-door services. Drivers meet riders at the main doors of their buildings. If riders wish to be picked up from large buildings like office complexes, paratransit drivers meet them in their lobbies or other public areas.
On the other hand, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area paratransit system, which I ride with some frequency, has a different set of criteria for picking up and delivering riders. Metro Access patrons are guaranteed only curb-to-curb service. Thus, riders in this system must wait for vehicles at the curb.
I need to make one more comment. That is that systems can change over time. What was true when you visited a particular city a few months ago may have changed dramatically when you return to that jurisdiction tomorrow. During the 1999 ACB national convention in Los Angeles, for example, the paratransit system accepted same-day reservations of those ACB members whose eligibility in other parts of the United States allowed them to call for paratransit service in L.A. I was recently told, however, that the L.A. system no longer accepts same-day reservations.
What If Your System Isn’t Following the Rules?
Now that you know some of the rules and have a feel for the kinds of service that ADA paratransit systems are providing across the country, you may have come to the conclusion that your local paratransit service provider is violating ADA guidelines. What can you do?
You can file a complaint! Because remedies under the Americans with Disabilities Act are accomplished through the process of filing complaints, the disabled community in a local jurisdiction where services are in obvious violation of the ADA must go through the process of filing formal complaints.
Squeaky Wheels
Sometimes service is poor, not because a service provider is violating the specific ADA guidelines, but because the jurisdiction just doesn’t spend enough money or provide the kind of monitoring and oversight to maintain adequate service. In this case, your chapter or advocacy group should consider spending a greater portion of time and resources to lobby local politicians to increase funding. Remember, the number of paratransit riders is never going to be a substantial proportion of any community’s population. However, if you focus the pressure you exert, the results you realize may be well worth the effort.
It may be worthwhile, for example, to remind local politicians that the voting rolls contain not only the ADA transportation riders, but also their friends and family members — who may remember, and resent, all the times they have had to rescue paratransit clients whose rides never came!
Most if not all local governments manage ADA paratransit services through the agencies that administer the transit services. These transit authorities usually sponsor ongoing meetings of citizens’ advisory panels or oversight committees to monitor the contract process and to oversee the operation of their paratransit systems. It is worthwhile to have yourself or someone with knowledge and interest in transportation issues appointed to such a body. Pressure transit management to negotiate favorable contracts that emphasize rider interests. Remember the squeaky wheel does get the grease and the more involved the riders become the harder it is to ignore them.
A Final Word
Although I work in the transportation delivery system, and although I consider myself to be pretty well informed about my rights and responsibilities as an eligible ADA paratransit rider, I am not a lawyer, and my advice should be considered only informal advice! If your local chapter is thinking of bringing complaints or legal action against your local transportation entity, I strongly recommend you seek expert legal advice. Of course, I will be pleased to talk with you about your specific paratransit concerns, and to offer whatever advice and share whatever expertise I have managed to gain. If you wish, please contact me at the e-mail address listed below. I can offer advice or contact information for people who can assist you in more formal ways. Contact me at garcia@gate.net.