During the two decades that DART has been providing paratransit services for riders who cannot access the fixed route system, there have been lots of changes, tweaks, grumblings and successes. But now DART planners are looking at an entirely different approach to providing the service.
DART currently is offering a “supply driven” model. DART decides how many vehicles and drivers are needed with an eye on what it can afford. The “supply” of rides is determined by budget, estimated hours and availability of vehicles. That then dictates how many hours of rides are offered.
The new plan under consideration is “customer driven”. DART will hire a transportation management company who will coordinate ride request with independent transportation providers with whom they have contracts. It would work something like this; a certified paratransit rider calls the reservation number and requests a ride much as it is currently done. The transportation management’s software searches through the independent providers for a match. A rider could be matched with someone who also accepts work form an established taxi company for example.
DART is quick to point out that this will be nothing like the brief and troubled attempt several years ago to work with cab companies. We will address the differences in a later communication.
There are obvious financial advantages for DART in the new plan, but there are huge potential benefits for riders as well as it will dramatically increase the pool of potential drivers. As the need for rides increases then the management company will increase the number of trip requests to as many independent transportation providers as are needed to satisfy customer demand.
Just think, in a few years we might not be just looking at “same day” reservations, but trip request within a few hours of the time a ride is needed. This change in how DART delivers paratransit services is still in the early planning stages and nothing is definite at this point. One thing that DART will always retain is customer service and eligibility determination.
The Arc of Dallas will keep posting updates as the planning unfolds.
This would be a tremendous advantage for my son. My two concerns are that 1) the same safety standards for approving drivers needs to be maintained so that my cognitively challenged son can still ride safely and 2) The costs need to stay somewhat in line with the current programs. I love the direction!
ReplyDeleteI hope they make a lot of changes. Our experience with DART paratransit has been horrible. I am an advocate of public transit and certainly transit for disabled people. So, I genuinely hope they make some drastic improvements. Of course part of the difficultly for my family is we do not live in a DART member city so we have to get on and off DART paratransit at locations in DART member cities, which makes the scheduling an even bigger mess. Our City has its own transportation for disabled people, but the nightmare of connecting from one to the other is not worth it. So, until things are better we will drive our son to places that we were hoping and tried to use DART paratransit.
ReplyDeleteIt is an advantage to have some means of public transportation for the special population although no system will ever be perfect. My hope is that the fares will remain affordable and the service level will not be degraded.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input! Keep checking back - we'll put up current information as it becomes available.
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