At the January 2019 meeting of the TRB Paratransit Committee in Washington DC, TRB staff made known that TRB was going to be launching its Centennial Website, and was looking for volunteers to write for the website a Centennial Paper for the Paratransit Committee. I volunteered KFH’s Buffy Ellis, a past–and very effective–chair of the committee. Buffy accepted but corralled me to help co-author the paper. Ian Detmore of PennDOT and Patrick Scalise of NYU also contributed to the paper. The published paper, entitled TRB’s Paratransit Committee: A Forum for Mobility Innovation Since 1974, can be found here.
Recently, I was asked to present on new DRT performance metrics, one of two presentations I gave at TRB’s International Conference on Demand Responsive and Innovative Transportation Services in Baltimore. (These presentations can be found on our What’s New Tab). As they say, timing is everything, and in this case, the FTA had just issued proposed revisions to NTD DRT reporting the week before, asking for comments. Here’s the link to the Federal Notice where the proposed revisions are stated and from there you can provide a comment. https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FTA_FRDOC_0001-0840. I took this opportunity to heart, and submitted the following comments....
This is a long overdue rant, meant to jump-start a conversation about why better and standardized paratransit metrics are needed. And I choose to use productivity as an example, because it has the most flagrant issues. Consider the inappropriateness of comparing the productivity of an ADA paratransit service, with its sporadic trip patterns vs. the productivity of a coordinated service with significant percentages of senior and/or human service agency trips going to fewer destinations. But it happens all the time. A respected organization in Massachusetts actually compared the productivity and cost per trip of The RIDE, The MBTA’s ADA Paratransit...
In 2017, colleague William High and I, while both were still at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, completed TCRP Synthesis 135, a landmark research effort comparing ADA paratransit service models. Transit agencies with ADA complementary paratransit obligations have a choice of the type of service model design they implement. Historically, ADA paratransit service model designs have evolved organically, with small changes implemented to address specific needs. However, as ADA paratransit demand has continued to grow, there is increasing pressure on transit agencies to be cost efficient as possible, while maintaining service quality standards. As a result, some transit agencies have been questioning...
I’m starting a blog. Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “What?! Will Rodman blogging? What have you done with him?” But it is me, and you’ll really know it’s me because of the name for the blog I have chosen. “Will’s Pub” as in a Public House where “All are welcome!” Perfect, eh? So, let’s hoist our proverbial pint glasses and get going.
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