Business Logistics 420 Public Transportation Spring 2001

1
Business Logistics 420Public TransportationSprin
g 2001

• Lectures 13 14
• Policy Issues I Transits Role in Meeting the
  Mobility Needs of Transportation Disadvantaged
  Persons

2
Lecture Objectives

• Identify the mobility needs of the transportation
  disadvantaged and compare to transit service
  options
• Explain the evolution of national policy with
  respect to transportation for disabled persons
• Discuss the details of the Americans with
  Disabilities Act as it applies to transit

3
The Transportation Disadvantaged

• Transportation disadvantaged persons are those
  individuals that are unable to drive or cannot
  afford to own and operate a motor vehicle
• Includes
• low income individuals
• elderly, especially the frail elderly
• persons with physical and/or mental disabilities

4
Transportation Needs of the Transportation
Disadvantaged

• Low income needs
• need money to purchase and operate a motor
  vehicle or low cost transit service
• transit needs to serve work and other trips,
  special problem -- the reverse commute
• Low income solutions
• low fare transit
• user-side subsidies
• better service -- especially to suburbs

5
Welfare To Work and Transportation

• 1996 Welfare to Work Federal Law requires able
  bodied persons to get jobs or more training or
  loose benefits after two years
• Most welfare recipients do not have vehicles
• Most welfare recipients are in the center city
  and most jobs are in the suburbs
• Much debate about the best way to provide
  mobility -- more transit services or provide cars

6
Transportation Needs of the Transportation
Disadvantaged

• Elderly Mobility Needs
• may not need public transportation or other
  non-auto mode until 85 years
• door-to-door transit service and good coverage
  more important than speed
• cost may not be an issue
• Elderly Transit Mobility Solutions
• demand responsive transit (door-to-door)
• volunteer network of drivers (ex. ITN)

7
Transportation Needs of the Transportation
Disadvantaged

• Physical or Mental Disability Needs
• Need to distinguish type of disability to
  determine best solution
• Driving is often not a choice due to disability
• Physical condition/stamina or mental ability to
  navigate transit system may prevent use of
  transit without an aide

8
Transportation Needs of the Transportation
Disadvantaged

• Physical or Mental Disability (Continued)
• Possible Solutions
• Travel Training to use transit services
• Door-to-door paratransit
• Grants and training for specially equipped
  vehicles
• Accessible fixed-route transit
• Other aids for hearing or visually impaired
  individuals

9
Brief History of Transit and Accessibility Debate

• First federal policy stated in 1970 Amend-ment to
  Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964
• "Hereby declared to be national policy that
  elderly and handicapped persons have the same
  right as other persons to utilize mass transit
  facilities and services....special efforts must
  be made to assure availability of these
  services."

10
Brief History of Transit and Accessibility Debate
(Continued)

• Major legislation Section 504 of the
  Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• "No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in
  the U.S...... shall, solely by reason of his
  handicap, be excluded from the benefits of, or
  subjected to discrimination under any program or
  activity receiving federal financial assistance.

11
Section 504 Implementation

• USDOT guidelines implementing Section 504 caused
  debates, lawsuits, etc throughout the 1970s and
  were finally overturned by the courts.
• Final regulations reissued in the early 1980s
  though Reagan Administration objected but
  Congress insisted

12
Section 504 Implementation

• Final regulations offered federally funded
  transit systems two choices (each publicly funded
  transit system had to do one or the other)
• Make all vehicles/stations accessible to persons
  in wheelchairs
• Offer alternate, comparable door-to-door
  paratransit service.

13
Section 504 Implementation Choices

• Accessible Fixed Route Services

14
Section 504 Implementation Choices

• Comparable Paratransit Service

15
Section 504 Implementation

• Comparability defined in terms of the following
  attributes
• Eligibility
• Response Time (within 24 hours of request)
• No trip purpose limitations
• Fares (same as fixed route)
• Hours and days of service
• Service area (trips within 1/4 mile of bus
  routes/rail stations)

16
Experience with Section 504

• Transit industry resisted Section 504 regulations
  on basis of cost -- especially to old rail
  systems such as New York City
• Industry argued against full accessibility as not
  being cost-effective
• Persons with disabilities made civil rights claim
  that separate is not equal when considering
  separate paratransit service offerings

17
Experience with Section 504

• Most transit systems chose to implement
  paratransit services rather than make fixed route
  services accessible
• Some systems did both -- Pittsburgh, for example
• Many resisted and took little action --
  Philadelphia, for example

18
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

• The major piece of legislation now governs
  transportation for disabled persons is the United
  States and applies to both public and private
  transportation services
• Civil Rights Legislation that applies to
  transportation, employment, accommodations for
  all, not just federally funded programs

19
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

• Definition of Disability
• A physical or mental impairment that
  substantially limits one or more of the major
  life activities of such individual, a record of
  such an impairment, or being regarded being
  regarded as having such an impairment.

20
What ADA Means to Public Transit

• Buses purchased after August 26, 1990 must be
  accessible to individuals with disabilities
• Transit systems must provide comparable
  paratransit services who cannot use fixed route
  services unless an undue burden would result.

21
What ADA Means to Public Transit

• New paratransit vehicles must be accessible
  unless a system can demonstrate that disabled
  individuals have the same access to the
  paratransit system as persons without
  disabilities.
• New rail vehicles ordered after August 26, 1990
  must be accessible.
• Existing rail systems must have one accessible
  car per train by July 26, 1995.

22
What ADA Means to Public Transit

• New rail stations must be accessible.
• Existing "key" stations must be accessible by
  July 26, 1993 unless an extension is granted for
  20 years.
• AMTRAK stations must be accessible by July 26,
  2010

23
Rail and other Modes to be Accessible
24
What ADA Means to Private Transportation Providers

• Intercity buses ordered after July 26, 1996 must
  be accessible.
• Operators of public accommodations that provide
  transportation, e.g., hotels, car rental
  agencies, must provide equivalent accessible
  services

25
Comparability for Paratransit Services under ADA

• Persons who cannot access fixed-route services
  are eligible
• Response Time (within 24 hours of request)
• No trip purpose limitations
• Fares (no more than 2 x fixed route fare)
• Hours and days of service must be same as fixed
  route service
• Service area (trips within 3/4 mile of bus
  routes/rail stations)

26
ADA is Not Just About Accessible Vehicles

• Accessible Customer Information
• Braille
• TDD
• Announce stops on bus/train
• Tactile warning edges at stations
• Alternate media for important information, e.g.
  public hearings

27
Key Differences Between 504 and ADA

• Section 504 only applied to federally funded
  activities
• Section 504 debate focused on cost/benefit of
  accessibility options
• ADA is a civil rights law -- cost not a relevant
  issue
• ADA applies to all -- government funded and
  private

28
Study Questions

• Identify three key categories of transportation
  disadvantaged persons
• What are the transportation needs of each group
  and what are some of the transportation solutions
  that have been proposed and/or implemented?
• Which solutions do you think are the best/most
  appropriate?
• Briefly trace the history of federal policy with
  respect to providing public transportation to
  individuals with disabilities.

29
Study Questions (Continued)

• According to the CTAA article "Squeezing the Soul
  Out of ADA, what has been the experience with ADA
  implementation? What major problems remain to be
  resolved?
• What are the key differences between Section 504
  and ADA regulations regarding paratransit and
  accessible fixed-route services.

30
Study Questions (Continued)

• How is comparability defined for paratransit
  services under the ADA regulations?
• Review the operating concept of Portland Maines
  Independent Transportation Network In and
  evaluate its approach to meeting the needs of the
  transportation disadvantaged