Across the U.S., paratransit ridership is still far below pre-COVID levels, but thanks in part to improving service in the MTA’s Access-a-Ride program, customers have returned in force, with surveys showing higher-than-ever rates of customer satisfaction. Total trips on Access-A-Ride through the first five months of 2023 increased by more than 630,000 (or 26%), compared to the same period in 2022.
To meet demand and further improve service, the MTA is expanding its premium e-hail on-demand service. The flexibility and spontaneity the program provides can be expensive, so the MTA says it is working on “financially sustainable” options.
Some experts say the original on-demand pilot was not implemented responsibly – for customers or taxpayers. In addition to being exclusive to a small group of riders, it lacked a clear structure and didn’t collect actionable data, making it impossible to expand. Only 6% of riders used 50% of the budget at an annual cost of $98,000 each – far exceeding the program’s intent and the definition of “public transportation.” E-hail was never meant to fully replace standard paratransit service, the MTA says. It was, instead, meant to supplement service to accommodate last minute changes, interruptions, or spontaneous and unplanned trips.
In Phase 1, a small portion of participants used it as a total replacement, which led to financial challenges, the MTA says. E-hail Phase 2, which started in August, tripled the number of participants from 1,200 to 3,600, with new participants being randomly selected. To accommodate the expected increase in service requests, the MTA added new on-demand providers and seeks to better understand available data to improve flexibility and create a system that exceeds federal requirements.
According to the MTA, on-time performance (OTP) across all providers now consistently exceeds 94%, up from 85% in 2021. Now, the agency is tightening the time frame used to measure OTP – from the national standard of 30 minutes to a more user-friendly 20 minutes, while carrying more people than ever.
Source: The Daily News
