Metro Magazine

MAY 2013

Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904

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PARATRANSIT assembling a group of adult day health care facility directors. "Often times these individuals are sufering from Alzheimer's, dementia or other profound disabilities that may require a service beyond what ACCESS is intended to provide, but they were using it because it was what was available to them, and certainly, the least expensive of their options for their population," says Wiemiller. Realizing it would be cheaper for everybody involved for the adult day health care centers to provide their own specialized transportation services and provide an operating subsidy, OCTA began partnering with the groups in Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. It currently has cooperative agreements with nine adult day health care facilities. Another strategy that came from OCTA's growth management efort was to take a look at alternatives for ACCESS customers. From that, the same-day taxi program was born, which ofers ACCESS-eligible customers an opportunity to take a subsidized taxi trip at any time they wish with no reservations required — typically ACCESS services requires 24-hour notice and has a 30-minute pickup window. Orange County Transportation Authority Trough the program, customers paid a low fat rate, which was recently raised to $3.60, plus the cost of the trip if it exceeded three miles with OCTA subsidizing the taxi companies for the rest on a sliding scale. Following a comprehensive transit system study in 2010-2011, which saw opportunity for further fnancial savings by moving more trips of ACCESS, the same-day taxi program was recently expanded, with OCTA currently running a pilot project that extends its subsidy to cover trips to fve miles instead of three miles. "When we did an informal survey of our current same-day taxi customers, we found that about 75 percent of their trips would have been taken on ACCESS, if they wouldn't have taken them by taxi," explains Wiemiller. "Also, when examining the data and comparing their same-day taxi and ACCESS bookings, we could see, clearly, that when their trip exceeded three miles, they would simply bounce over to ACCESS for their trips." Wiemiller explains OCTA has seen a signifcant increase in same-day taxi trips since the pilot project began and plans on surveying customers to see if they are using the service for longer trips they would have typically taken on ACCESS. "If we see the kind of results we hope to see, it will no longer be a pilot project but become part of our program from here on out," she says. 42 < mETRO mAGAZINE MAY 2013 Since its inception in FY2006, OCTA's partnership with adult day health care facilities has provided more than 800,000 trips and saved the agency $14.5 million. Meanwhile, the same-day taxi program provided 32,600 trips in FY2012, saving OCTA $1.2 million last year alone. From FY2006 to FY2012, OCTA's same-day taxi program has provided 128,000 trips and saved the agency $3.5 million, according to Wiemiller. In addition to that financial savings, Wiemiller adds that OCTA has also maintained a high level of customer service. "As agencies are planning these programs, it is important to still maintain high customer satisfaction and keep the end-user in mind," she says. "Eighty-eight percent of our customers are satisfed with our ACCESS services, with the majority highly satisfed. So even with the new plans we have put into place, we have still been able to maintain a high satisfaction to our customers, and in some instances, ofer services that are actually much improved because they better suit their needs." TRIMET Portland, Ore. Recognizing a need to provide transportation services to the elderly and disabled even before passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, TriMet partnered with the private nonprofit group Ride Connection more than 25 years ago. "You have to have the same shared mission and values," says Olivia Clark, executive director, public afairs, at TriMet about the partnership. "For all of us, it started with fnding ways to provide additional transit services to older adults and people with disabilities. Something that was more adaptable and more accessible than just traditional public transportation." Ride Connection works in coordination with more than 30 community partners to provide customer-focused, safe and reliable transportation options for individuals who require paratransit-type service in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. "Our LIFT [paratransit service] costs were growing in the low double digits, but as we implemented new programs in partnership with Ride Connection, cost growth became fat, beginning about four or fve years ago," says Claire Potter, director, budget, fnancial analysis and grants, for TriMet. "Our partnership has been hugely successful for TriMet, because of the low cost, no cost programs. Ride Connection is able to be a more efective provider for elderly and people with disabilities in many ways as they are in tune with the community and its needs." Ride Connection provides a plethora of services to its customer base, 80% of which is ADA-service eligible, including travel training, door-to-door service, community shuttles, shared vehicle programs, and mileage reimbursement for a friends-and-family-type volunteer program. "We have contracts with 30-plus organizations, and depending on how and where they are serving and what the need is, it could be an operational contract, a vehicle contract or a shared vehicle agreement for smaller organization that may not need to have a full-time accessible vehicle," says Julie Wilcke, chief operating metro-magazine.com

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