Regional Transportation Authority
Transit Working Group
Monday, March 23, 2009 2:00 PM
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Paratransit Service Plan Overview
• Sun Van (Van Tran) represents 81% of all public paratransit service provided
• Pima Transit – Handicar representing 16%
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Overall Recommendations
• RTA should act as the Mobility Management Entity and contract
separately for the call center/scheduling/dispatching services with Sun Van.
• All vehicles in the system should be equipped with Mobile Data
Computers (MDC’s).
• The ADA service area would continue to include an area ¾ of a mile
around existing fixed route service and the non-ADA service area would include the current expanded service area as well as Rita Ranch and defined urban areas.
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Mobility Management Entity
• Responsible for coordinating the provision of publicly funded
paratransit services in Pima County.
• Intent is to manage transportation services for persons with
disabilities, older adults, and individuals with low incomes.
• Vision of mobility management is one call – one point of contact to
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Overall Recommendations (Cont.)
• Development of a zone-based fare structure for non-ADA service.
• Standardization of the economy fare across the service area and
make it 50 percent of the applicable fare for the ride.
• All fares should be paid and accounted for through the use of prepaid
electronic faring.
• Investigate the possibility of implementing pre-paid electronic faring
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options
• Option 1 – Maintain Current Design with Regional Service Policies
• Option 2 – Centralization of Sun Van and Pima County Services
• Option 3 – Centralization of Sun Van, Pima Transit and Coyote Run
Service
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options (Cont.)
• Option 1 – Maintain Current Design with Regional Service Policies
Sun Van, Pima Transit and Coyote Run would continue to provide public paratransit service with this option
Standardize Service Policies across region
The service areas would remain unchanged
All operating functions, reservations, scheduling and dispatching would remain decentralized
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options (Cont.)
• Option 2 – Centralization of Sun Van and Pima County Services
Consultant team recommended option.
Option 2 would centralize the core functions of Sun Van and Pima Transit.
Reservations, scheduling and dispatching would be centralized under one entity.
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options (Cont.)
• Option 2 continued – Centralization of Sun Van and Pima County
Services
Handicar would continue to hire and supervise drivers and other necessary support staff.
Service policies of the two systems would be standardized.
The arbitrary boundaries created by having separate systems would be eliminated and greater efficiency in the use of the existing fleet realized.
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options (Cont.)
• Option 3 – Centralization of Sun Van, Pima Transit and Coyote Run
Service
The core functions of Sun Van, Pima Transit and Coyote Run would be centralized in this option.
Reservations, scheduling and dispatching would be centralized under one entity.
Sun Van, given their investment in, and utilization of PASS scheduling software, should be the entity responsible for the core functions of
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Recommendations:
Paratransit Service Design Options (Cont.)
• Option 4a – Centralization of Core Functions and Service Provision
Variation of Option 3 (centralization of core functions of reservations, scheduling, and dispatch by one regional carrier).
The Mobility Management Entity would contract full range of services. (including reservations to provision of service).
Under this option, the fare for service is based upon zone of origin and zone of destination.
• Option 4b – Centralization of Core Functions and Service Provision
excluding senior services in Oro Valley
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Recommendations:
Preferred Paratransit Service Design – Option 2
• Service would be provided by Sun Van and Handicar
Sun Van responsibilities, relative to call center operations, would include: reservations, scheduling, and dispatching
Handicar responsibilities – hiring and supervising drivers, vehicle
maintenance, receiving and daily operations from call center and window dispatching of drivers
• Recommendation - RTA should contract Sun Van and Handicar for
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Recommendations: Customer Service
• The RTA is the logical Mobility Management Entity.
• The Mobility Management Entity should also be the focal point for
dissemination of information (marketing, communication with the public regarding the service, liaison to elected officials and
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Recommendations: Eligibility
• Current ADA paratransit eligibility determination process appears to be
working well.
• ADA paratransit eligibility should continue to be administered by the
Tucson Regional ADA Paratransit Eligibility Office.
• In the future, it may be desirable to distinguish between true “ADA”
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Recommendations: Reservations and Dispatch
• Recommended maximum seven days for advance trip reservation.
• Trip requests to be taken as late as the day before service.
• Negotiable pick-up times. For ADA trips the negotiation should
comply with the ADA allowed window of 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after the requested time.
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Recommendations: Other Service Policies
• No Strand and a Return Trip Cancel Policy should be developed for
the coordinated system and Coyote Run.
• Standardize minimum driver requirements
Minimum 21 years of age
Valid Arizona drivers license
No moving violations within the last 39 months
Fluent in English
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