Accessible Raleigh Transportation: A Paratransit System Using Trip-by-Trip Eligibility Determination and Two-Tiered,User-Side Subsidy

Abstract

Accessible Raleigh Transportation (ART), a local, ordinance-based, complementary paratransit service, provides subsidized service for those unable to drive because of a disability and those unable to ride a bus. ART relies on Raleigh’s open-door taxicab licensing policy established by city ordinance. No contract is required to manage the program or operate the service. ART has successfully provided paratransit service for more than 10 years in a fast-growing, highly suburbanized city of 280,000. ART’s Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit element, Tier II, adheres strictly to trip-by-trip eligibility using a functional screening tool. The use of eligibility determination and the user-side subsidy points to a new direction for public transportation.

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References

U.S. Department of Transportation. Transportation for Individuals with Disabilities, 49 C.F.R., Parts 27, 37, and 38. Federal Register, Vol. 131, No. 173, Sept. 6, 1991, pp. 45584–45778.

Code of the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, Part 12, Chapter 2, Article B, Vehicles for Hire, rev., July 1, 2000.

Paratransit Tables for 1997. Community Transit Magazine, July/Aug. 1999, p. 52.

FTA Tightens Its Interpretation of Trip Denial Rules Under ADA. Transit Access Report, Vol. 9, No. 3, March 10, 2000, pp. 1, 2.