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Partnerships, Trip Subsidies Help Transit Curb Paratransit Costs While saving money is the primary driver, agency eforts are resulting in providing communities with better, more customer-focused services. BY ALEX ROMAN, Managing Editor 36 < mETRO mAGAZINE MAY 2013 w ith the demand and costs to provide paratransit services continuing to escalate, many transit agencies have found ways to help curb costs, including partnering with private nonproft groups and adult day health care facilities as well as subsidizing taxi trips. By forging these partnerships, which often flourish because of their shared vision to provide transportation options to the elderly and people with disabilities, transit agencies are not only saving money and taking rides of their own paratransit services but also providing those communities with better, more customer-focused services. The financial savings, in turn, is also saving trans- portation agencies from having to make the ever unpopular decision to make cuts to their fxed-route services. METRO Magazine spoke to several transit agencies about the successes they have found through paratransit service partnering and subsidizing and the positive impact those practices have had in the areas they serve. KING COUNTY METRO TRANSIT Seattle, Wash. King County Metro's Community Access Transportation (CAT) program began as a demo project in 1997 and slowly grew over the years to expand mobility options for people with disabilities and seniors by developing partnerships with metro-magazine.com