Paratransit is an essential cog within any agency’s operation, as transit modes continue to expand paratransit passengers options, as well. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) recently announced a new model of implementation to its paratransit offerings.
Tammy Haenftling, assistant vice president, Paratransit Management Services, DART, explained that DART works with MV Transportation and will continue to do so with the new pilot.
“They will do scheduling and dispatch, but they won’t operate any service. We’re going to broker our services through MV Transportation. We will continue on with them, but they will be a broker only, they will do
reservations, scheduling and dispatch, but they won’t operate any service. What we asked was the prime contractor bring sub-contractors on to the platform and we are operating though this contract paratransit, microtransit and a program we call microtransit assistance program,” Haenftling said.
She added that ride booking will be essentially through the same software with additional benefits for riders. “We want to provide a more spontaneous flexible service for all of our riders, not just our ADA paras. What we’ve been able to do during our current Lyft program, we want to provide the same flexibility and availability.”
Alternating how passengers travel
Donnie Thompson, assistant vice president, DART said that the agency determined that there was a demand for an expanded range of services.
“ADA paratransit riders have traditionally not been able to be as spontaneous in their travel as our traditional riders,” said Thompson. “We wanted to afford them the same opportunities, so, we felt like, if we offered the service, it could be something that they’d like to have and so, it was really trying to meet the customer’s needs.”
Thompson said that DART changed its paratransit models.
“We started paying our providers by the trip as opposed to the revenue hour. In doing so, we were paying for services only as we needed them and only as they actually needed them as opposed to vehicles operated,” he said.
“When a request for a trip comes in, we have lots of different options to fulfill that request,” said Jeff Womack, chief marketing officer, MV Transportation, Inc. “We have the ability to use a TNC partner, like Lyft. We can dispatch a TNC, we have some taxi partners that we use and we will have a number of different dedicated providers, as well, with the traditional both ambulatory and unambulatory care – so the dedicated vehicles with wheelchair lifts for example.”
For riders, while service options have been increased, DART is still offering paratransit services at the same cost that it previously did. With the expanded service, the technology that riders use to utilize paratransit services is also expanding.
“Every rider will have a customer profile in this software, which will be Routematch. We will have all of their trip information from how they contact their provider. They will all schedule their trips through calling or through the GoPass app or though the web. What we intend is for ADA paratransit riders trips [to] be scheduled on efficiency,” said Haenftling.
“DART is really going to be revolutionizing the way that mobility management services are provided. In their case, they’re going to be combining or integrating several different forms of transportation together into, what we like to call, a family of services,” explained Rob Bryans, regional vice president, Routmatch. “We’re providing a technology platform which allows them to glue together various transportation services that they have. Being able to have their riders leverage all of the different resources that are available to deliver the services in a spontaneous way.”
More options for ease of travel
The new program gives DART more flexibility.
“It frees up a lot of the dedicated fleet and all of the resources that go to support that. It also gives them a lot more options to support their ridership. You have more options to personalize and tailor. Traditionally, in many cities, you may have a cut away vehicle taking one, maybe two, passengers to their drop off. You have a big cut away vehicle with passengers going from one mile to 20 miles, and that may or may not be a non-ambulatory passenger,” said Womack. “In the future, you’ll have the possibility to put an ambulatory passenger in a rideshare vehicle, you might be able to put them in a taxi and so you have a smaller vehicle that is more tailored to the needs of the particular passenger. The end goal would be to move from a 24-hour notice to an even same day reservation, which is the ultimate goal.”
MV Transportation needed to ensure that there was a software platform in place that would benefit the operation, which is what they found in Routematch.
“What we’re doing is, we’re having to go in and make sure that we had the right partnerships. Ultimately, we had to understand what service level that DART wanted to operate with and then we needed to establish the right partnerships. We needed to make sure that we had those service level agreements understood and accepted,” said Womack.
The addition of ride-share programs
DART also provides riders with the option to ride with Lyft. Lyft has a number of paratransit partnerships across the country - offering riders an on-demand choice.
“The ‘rider-choice’ programs provide an alternative on-demand transportation option to paratransit program participants. Via survey and testimonials gathered by our agency partners, these new On-Demand programs with Lyft have dramatically improved access to healthcare, employment and social events for paratransit riders,” said Lauren Alexander, policy communications manager, Lyft.
Lyft’s decision to branch into paratransit stems from the company’s goal to increase accessibility. Lyft has a number of additional partnerships that work to promote greater independence for riders. Lyft partners with the National Down Syndrome Society, the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of the Deaf. Lyft has also released Lyft Amp, which is now available throughout the country, it helps the company continue its commitment to the deaf and hard of hearing community. Lyft Amp allows for drivers to have pre-ride texting sercvice that alerts the passenger and allows for in-car communication as well as notifies drivers of new requests.
“Lyft is committed to working with our agency partners to reduce transportation access barriers and decouple the right to mobility from auto ownership. Through these rider-choice programs, participants have noted that the expanded transportation access provided to them by Lyft has completely transformed their quality of life, helping them stay active and independent,” said Alexander. “The positive results and immense impact of these programs on people’s lives have encouraged us to expand our partnership work with other agencies in this space.”
When Lyft joined the partnership with DART and MV, the company provided information, including educational information and an overview, for those that would be using their services. Riders are also given an alternative method of requesting a ride if necessary.
“Riders are able to request rides that are subsidized by the agency. To specifically address the needs of people who don’t have access to smartphones and those who may not feel comfortable using one, Lyft developed its Concierge platform that allows agencies and organizations to request rides on behalf of others. Rides can be requested in real time or scheduled up to a week in advance on both the App and Concierge,” said Alexander.
Continuing the program
The service continues to expand. Womack explained that as the program rolled out there were adjustments that needed to be made.
“The challenges are what you expect, changing the model, it’s just the disruption of bringing in new partners and making sure that you’re vetting them out and that you’re allied on the services levels and the expectations and that you have the right training and quality of service that you have ensured into the model. From a technology standpoint, we’re bringing in a whole new model, so it has to serve the needs of the users. It also has to seamlessly work with MV in the role of dispatching and customer service,” said Womack. “Lastly, and most importantly, you have change management with your passengers. It’s a demographic of users who the transportation is very important to them, it’s emotional and life-impacting activity, so any time there is a change or disruption, even ideally perceived as being for their benefit, as well as the provider, it’s really difficult. You have to communicate, you have to work with the passenger advocacy groups to make sure that they are part of the process and that they’re helping making sure that everyone and every process is reviewed and that it is communicated clearly.”
Womack added that MV supports a number of paratransit customers and there are a number of agencies that are interested in the program with DART.
“ [Agencies] have a lot of the same issues, the expansion of constrained budgets and the expansion of their service area and their ridership is increasing as the ridership ages. All of that, coupled with the technology evolving, all of that is an exciting combination. I think that DART is on the leading edge with this model. We believe it will be a really good case point for this model,” said Womack.
“What we’re looking to do is provide them with better customer service overall. Shorter ride times, more courteous drivers, we are going to have a rating system sort of like Uber and Lyft do. So, all of our riders will have the ability to rate their drivers and rate their trips,” said Haenftling.
