SUMMARY
Operational and Service Factors When Integrating or Consolidating ADA Paratransit and On-Demand Services
Transit agencies and other transportation-providing organizations sometimes use commingling (also spelled comingling or co-mingling) as a way to serve trips originating from different programs or rider groups together in the same demand response transportation (DRT) vehicles. Commingling trips together in vehicles helps increase the efficiency of DRT service by grouping passengers travelling to nearby locations. The advent of on-demand microtransit technology platforms and service models in the DRT space has increased the potential of commingling applications, with software platforms automatically allowing for differences in service parameters between types of trips in service eligibility and scheduling decisions. In particular, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) complementary paratransit trips have critical compliance requirements that must be met by the delivery service provider even if the effects upon general public microtransit service customers are negative (e.g., longer travel times, trip request denials). Other types of coordinated paratransit trips [such as non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) trips through the Medicaid program or sponsored trips for military veterans] have service delivery requirements that must be met to satisfy the contract or funding agreement.
For the transit agency, commingling is appealing due to the efficiencies gained in service delivery. Increased numbers of shared rides translate to higher productivity (more trips per revenue hour) and better cost efficiency (lower costs per passenger trip). Microtransit service has furthered these opportunities to create efficiencies in service scheduling and matching trips to vehicles. Some transit agencies with microtransit service use a single software platform for both paratransit and general public trips; others use separate platforms that automatically integrate the two services. Many transit agencies that commingle paratransit and general public trips use prescheduled paratransit trips as the base of service demand, then allow the general public to schedule on-demand trips into any remaining service capacity. The integrations or consolidations of paratransit and general public services in microtransit have thus far been accomplished through a variety of service designs, in-house and contracted business models, and parameters and accommodations for customers. In all cases, software platforms must be able to meet the parameters of each trip type (such as the confirmed scheduled pick-up window with an ADA paratransit customer) and track data for each specific trip as needed for performance measurement and reporting. Some transit providers with integrated or consolidated services have struggled with handling high levels of demand for trips due to the serviceʼs improved convenience or expanded geographic availability; this can limit the microtransit serviceʼs ability to accommodate same-day trip requests due to lack of remaining seating capacity. Additionally, giving paratransit customers the ability to schedule same-day trips can drive up the number of total trip requests.
This synthesis provides information on current state of the practice in integrating or consolidating paratransit trips—including ADA paratransit or other types of coordinated or sponsored paratransit—and general public trips together in on-demand microtransit service.
The synthesis results are drawn from the experience of transit agencies and transportation-providing municipalities in commingling paratransit and general public transit trips in their microtransit service. Documented findings include benefits experienced by the agency and customers along with challenges and lessons learned from the integration or consolidation of services. This report includes agency examples of service designs and parameters implemented to commingle trips in microtransit, communication tools and procedures used with customers, and decision-making points in commingling and software automation. The report focuses on how these service examples consider customer accommodations, prioritizations, and assurance of ADA compliance for the paratransit trips that are commingled in microtransit service. The report does not provide a comparison of the features and capabilities of different software products available for use in microtransit technology platforms.
The synthesis study was conducted in three phases: (1) a literature review and industry scan of existing research, reports, and publicly available information on commingling in DRT; (2) a targeted online survey for transit agencies and other organizations with on-demand microtransit services either confirmed or suspected to have commingled trips; and (3) case examples of agencies with such services with notable practices for detailed exploration. The survey questionnaire and case example topics guided the responses and further discussion from transit agencies and other organizations on how they approach integrating or consolidating different services in microtransit and the outcomes experienced thus far. This report includes information on the results and analysis from each of these study tasks.
Literature Review
The literature review and industry scan found that most integrated or consolidated services schedule ADA or coordinated paratransit trips in microtransit vehicles first, then serve on-demand trip requests from the general public; this order of scheduling enables the agency to prioritize paratransit trips in service delivery and avoid denials of service to paratransit customers. As a result of optimizing vehicle use, scheduled trips may get matched to a different vehicle than the originally matched vehicle. Microtransit software platforms are built to accommodate different parameters between service types, including zone sizes, service times, stop locations, dwell/waiting times, and several others. Software platforms can often track notes and accommodation needs of paratransit customers, providing this information to the driver at the point of service delivery. The review found little published information on integration or consolidation results beyond some industry case studies with numbers for trip and cost improvements. In addition, no information was available on how well microtransit is able to meet ADA compliance requirements for paratransit service.
Survey Questionnaire and Case Examples
The study team developed a survey questionnaire that was emailed to 55 transit agencies or other local government entities with microtransit services, of which 26 responded. The survey respondents provided information on their service designs, results, and lessons learned from integrating or consolidating paratransit and general public services in microtransit. Following an analysis of the survey results, five agencies agreed to participate further in the synthesis research as case examples:
- Airdrie Transit by City of Airdrie (Airdrie, AB)
- Town of Great Barrington (Great Barrington, MA)
- Butler County Regional Transit Authority (Hamilton, OH)
- Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District, aka TriMet (Portland, OR)
- Citibus by City of Lubbock (Lubbock, TX)
Lessons Learned
The information provided from the industry scan and survey respondents provided valuable insights into successful integrations or consolidations of services along with lessons learned in commingling microtransit trips. Some of the key findings and lessons learned include the following:
- Prioritizing prescheduled paratransit trips in service scheduling is important for compliance purposes but may hinder leftover capacity for general public trips, particularly if the general public service design is too expansive to begin with.
- Uniformity in service parameters (such as consistent pick-up scheduling windows and service hours) can simplify and make the service easier to understand for customers and provider staff alike.
- Designated vehicles or non-dedicated service providers can be used to match requests for trips of longer travel distances or with particular customer accommodation needs, rather than including such trips in commingled trip vehicles.
- Additional minutes in dwell/wait times for paratransit trips can be valuable for customers but can delay vehicle runs if the parameter settings do not properly account for real-world service delivery time.
- Helping paratransit customers understand how microtransit service works and the technology resources available to book and manage trips is helpful both for providing customer comfort in commingled trips and increasing customersʼ mobility options; in particular, customers can be empowered to book a general public trip with the same accommodations they would receive as a paratransit customer.
From this synthesis project, the study team determined further research suggestions and resources that may be helpful for transportation organizations in considering use of commingled trips in microtransit service and more effectively implementing integrations or consolidations of paratransit and general public services in DRT. These identified needs include objective resources for comparing microtransit software platforms, study of commingled tripsʼ adherence to ADA compliance requirements, detailed tools and reports for performance measurement and data reporting, and integration of fare payment systems with microtransit software platforms. Furthermore, as larger metropolitan transit authoritiesʼ piloting of commingled ADA paratransit trips in microtransit service becomes more commonplace, new research about such services will be valuable for greater industry understanding.
