CHAPTER 2

The Alternative Service Primer

Start at the Beginning

The term “alternative service” refers to a transit-agency-subsidized on-demand or same-day mobility option offered by the transit agency to its ADA paratransit riders as an alternative to next-day ADA paratransit.

Most alternative services use taxis and/or TNCs as their primary providers. Because wheelchair-accessible service is necessary to meet ADA service equivalency requirements (more on this in Chapters 3 and 8), if the primary providers do not have WAVs available, the transit agency will require the main providers to arrange for WAV service through a third party, or the transit agency may contract directly with a separate provider operating WAVs, such as a nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) company. Figure 2-1 depicts a rider using TNC service for her alternative service trip.

Importantly, an alternative service must meet ADA requirements, including service equivalency, but it does not fall under the six service criteria governing ADA complementary paratransit. Therefore, it is a beyond-ADA service being made available to ADA paratransit customers. Trips served through the alternative service should not be considered a way for the sponsoring transit agency to meet its ADA paratransit obligation, even though the riders are ADA paratransit customers.

Moreover, it’s up to an eligible rider whether to use the alternative service for a particular trip. Using the alternative service does not impact the rider’s ADA paratransit eligibility or the rider’s right to continue to request trips on the ADA paratransit service.

Some alternative services have broader eligibility. Some transit agencies have, for example, extended eligibility for their alternative service program to other persons with disabilities (not just those who are ADA paratransit-eligible), to seniors, and to veterans. Broader rider eligibility does not disqualify the alternative service as such, as long as ADA paratransit customers are eligible.

Why Do Transit Agencies Implement Alternative Services?

There are two primary motives for implementing an alternative service:

1. To reduce transit agencies’ ADA paratransit costs by diverting demand
2. To provide an additional mobility option that exceeds the minimum requirements of ADA paratransit

An additional motive for transit agencies, as gleaned from the industry scan, is to improve the rider experience, a motive which appears to be linked to the use of TNCs for alternative services.

To Reduce the Cost of Providing ADA Paratransit Service

ADA paratransit customers may opt to use the alternative service to make a specific trip on demand instead of having to make a reservation on the ADA paratransit service the day before. For each such “diverted” trip, the transit agency reduces its costs. This is because the subsidy the transit agency pays per trip for the alternative service is generally much lower than the operating cost per trip on the transit agency’s ADA paratransit service. In fact, many transit agencies guarantee that there is cost reduction by capping the subsidy per trip at a ceiling that is (often significantly) lower than the ADA paratransit service’s operating cost per trip.

In Rodman and High (2017), the transit agencies in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Seattle, New York City, and Washington, DC, all reported providing alternative services, and all said one of the goals was to reduce overall paratransit costs. As discussed, the “financial bet” a transit agency makes is that the total savings from the diverted trips are greater than the total subsidies associated with new trips generated by the alternative service (i.e., trips that would not otherwise have been made on the ADA paratransit service).

In addition to—or as an alternative to—capping the per-trip subsidy significantly below the ADA paratransit operating cost per trip, some transit agencies hedge that financial bet by limiting the number of trips a rider can make on the alternative service.

From this study’s literature review, the research team learned that the transit agencies in Boston and Las Vegas limit the number of trips an eligible rider can make on the alternative service based on their history of trips on the ADA paratransit service. The concept is that a transit agency does not want to subsidize dozens of TNC rides (that the rider may already be making outside of the program) if the rider has made, for example, only one ADA paratransit trip in the course of a year. By limiting the number of rides accordingly, these transit agencies are limiting the number of new trips as defined above, and so can reduce their financial exposure.

To Give Riders Additional Mobility and Access

TCRP Report 124 notes that same-day taxi subsidy programs increase travel flexibility for riders (KFH Group, Inc. et al. 2008). For ADA paratransit riders, an alternative program offers immediate or at least same-day service versus next-day service. Also, while many alternative service programs allow trips only within the ADA paratransit service area (or within an extended area if premium service is also provided with the same service platform), there are some alternative services that allow an eligible rider to make a trip beyond the ADA paratransit or premium

service area, enabling riders to access destinations that otherwise would not be available on the ADA paratransit service. Figure 2-2 is an advertisement for Mountain Line’s alternative service, highlighting the program’s offering of options.

Where there are no such limits, transit agencies will cap the subsidy for the trip, and the fare overage (the amount that exceeds the subsidy cap) becomes the rider’s responsibility. Thus, an ADA paratransit rider can use the alternative service to make a longer trip but only if the fare overage is affordable.

In addition, some alternative services offer service on days or at times beyond the service hours of the ADA paratransit program. While these allowances enhance rider mobility, they negatively impact the likelihood of reducing overall costs for ADA paratransit, as these are new trips that would not have been taken on the ADA paratransit service.

To Enhance the Rider Experience

TNC apps and new technologies have had a significant effect on how riders can access public transit services. Increasingly, ADA paratransit riders have the option of requesting ADA paratransit services and alternative services, not to mention accessing on-demand microtransit services and multimodal trip planning services, via an app.

Smartphone apps also allow riders to track the real-time location of the vehicle they have been assigned to, both as the vehicle approaches and once they are on board. Many such apps also allow riders to pay their fare through the app. For people with visual disabilities, many of these apps have voice options, and with cashless transactions, using these apps circumvents questions of improper change made by drivers (Committee for Review of Innovative Urban Mobility Services 2016).

Curtis et al. (2019) note most alternative services tend to provide exclusive rides, which is certainly an attractive feature for most ADA paratransit riders, as they do not have the longer trip times that come with a shared-ride service. However, some transit agencies, in order to drive down the cost per trip, offer shared-ride options on their alternative service. For example, Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has introduced an alternative service option for shared trips via UberPool. With this option, riders can share the vehicle with other (general public) riders for half the fare.

An Alternative Service’s Basic Characteristic: It’s a Subsidy Program

Alternative services are often described as taxi-based and/or TNC-based subsidy programs. A transportation subsidy program is structured with the sponsoring transit agency subsidizing the cost of providing trips on an existing publicly available transportation service, such as taxi or TNC service, where that taxi company or TNC agrees to participate in the program under a contract or agreement.

The rider typically pays a flat fare. By policy, that fare can be equivalent to the ADA paratransit fare, but it doesn’t have to be; it could be higher to reflect the premium service, or lower to attract riders. The transportation provider’s cost for serving a trip is usually determined by the taxi meter or the TNC app.

The share of the trip cost paid for by the transit agency is called the subsidy. To reduce financial exposure, the transit agency may cap the subsidy per trip, especially if the program permits longer trips. In such cases, the rider pays the overage of the trip cost in cash or by debit/credit card.

The transit agency’s subsidy can be applied in various ways: from the user’s side or the provider’s side. With a user-side subsidy, the transit agency can load a sum onto a rider’s fare card or fare card account. From there, all financial transactions are between the rider and the transportation provider.

With a provider-side or supply-side subsidy, the transit agency can sell a book of trip tickets/vouchers or a book of scrip tickets to a rider at a discount, and the rider then pays for the trip with these tickets or scrips. Or the rider just pays a fare in cash or with a debit/credit card. More recently, the transit agency may give eligible riders a fare debit card that is unique to a particular service or program, where a transit agency will load its subsidy onto the card based on how much the rider loads or the amount the transit agency is willing to subsidize. Figure 2-3 shows a voucher formerly used for Mountain Line’s alternative service.

After the trips have been served, the taxi company or TNC (the provider) bills the transit agency for the cost (or cost difference), submitting the evidence as needed (e.g., signed vouchers, collected tickets) that the trip was taken. In some alternative service programs, the transit agency payment to the service provider is based on the meter or app-derived fare. And in some programs, the transit agency and service provider have agreed upon a flat rate per trip.

Transit agencies have used other ways besides or in addition to subsidy capping to reduce financial exposure. These include limiting the number of trips a rider can take (e.g., per day, per month), limiting the service area (thereby limiting trip length and therefore trip cost), or limiting the subsidy per month where the subsidy is given directly to the rider.

Tips for drivers is another consideration. Riders are responsible for tips, should they choose to give any and if they are permitted. Because tipping is not common, and because transit agencies wish to encourage taxi drivers to serve the trips (as independent contractors, these drivers can refuse to take a dispatched trip), some transit agencies have built in the tip amount by agreeing

to pay the taxi company a flat subsidy, with the requirement that a certain portion be distributed to the taxi drivers as lost tips.

How Are Trips Requested and Dispatched?

There are generally three ways alternative service trips are requested and dispatched.

Requesting Service Directly from a Taxi Provider

For taxi-based alternative services, one of the more common ways to structure trip requesting and dispatching has been to direct eligible customers to request service directly from the service provider (of choice). This might have the rider calling in an on-demand request to the taxi provider; some taxi companies also now have apps for requesting service. Once the request is booked, the taxi dispatchers either dispatch the trip by radio or use an automated dispatching system to dispatch the ride to a particular driver/vehicle.

Some alternative services that use taxis also allow street hailing or going to a taxi stand; this works where all taxis in a community are required to participate in the program. This general design works where there is at least one taxi provider that provides WAV service. If riders have service-day issues (e.g., where’s my ride?), those calls go to the taxi company.

Requesting Service through a Call/Control Center

Some transit agencies direct their riders to call in requests to a call center staffed by employees of the transit agency, a call/control center manager under contract to the transit agency, or a broker. This is often the same centralized call/control center used for the transit agency’s paratransit service, with the same staff who book paratransit trips. This model is used by a transit agency when it needs to have more direct control over (1) the number of requests taken (for budgetary purposes) and/or (2) the number of requests from an individual in cases where there

are individual or program-wide trip limits. An additional reason for this approach is to give the transit agency more rider-specific data, which can be used to estimate overall paratransit cost reduction. In this approach, riders call the call center to request service and once they clear the trip limit hurdle (if any) their requests are forwarded to their provider of choice.

Requesting Service through a TNC App

Some transit agencies that use TNCs for their alternative service, either solely or in combination with taxis or other providers, allow app or web booking. This approach requires that riders have a smartphone or a computer or tablet with access to the Internet. For customers who do not or who prefer to call, a call-in concierge option is provided by the transit agency or the service provider where requests can be put into the system through a portal.

Many transit agencies provide this function through their ADA paratransit call center, whether staffed by transit agency or contractor employees. In other locations, the TNCs participating in the alternative service use local or national (or international) staff to field such calls. The system can be set up to check on trips or service area/service hour limits.

Where apps are used, some systems have been configured such that riders select a TNC app and the transit agency’s alternative service program is a selection in that app. In other systems, there is a separate app dedicated to the program, often with white label branding (i.e., the app is branded as a transit agency app but is really the TNC app). Figure 2-4 is a screen shot for an Uber trip.

Once the trip requests have been cleared for service and based on the particulars of the rider’s trip and mobility needs, the TNC’s dispatching algorithms automatically match the trip to a driver

and vehicle. Where advance reservations are allowed, the request sits in the holding area until it is time to be dispatched. Most TNC systems dispatch trips automatically based on dynamic optimization algorithms, with the optimization process running continuously throughout the service day.

How Is the Service Delivery Structure Designed?

Alternative service programs provide transportation in different ways, most frequently delivered by taxis and/or TNCs. Some alternative service programs use livery carriers while others may use private NEMT providers or paratransit management/operations contractors operating WAVs. The common approaches to service delivery are described here.

One Transportation Provider

This service design typically uses a taxi company, particularly one with WAVs. Alternatively, a transit agency could use just one TNC, but this option needs to include the provision of WAV service. As exemplified by the MBTA’s on-demand alternative service in Boston, this can involve:

• A TNC leasing WAVs to its drivers
• A TNC subcontracting with a local NEMT provider operating WAVs in a nondedicated fashion
• A TNC subcontracting with a national paratransit operations/management company, operating WAVs in a nondedicated fashion

For smaller systems, there may only be one taxi company in town, or only one taxi company in town willing to participate in the program. In this case, this option requires the taxi company to adhere to the FTA’s drug and alcohol testing requirements for its drivers as there is no user choice; more on this topic in Chapters 3 and 8.

Multiple Transportation Providers

Generally, the more providers involved, the more supply there is for the riders, which usually translates to lower response times and an increased chance of a rider getting a trip request served when desired. And unlike some ADA paratransit services that use multiple carriers to serve different zones, multiple alternative service providers generally serve throughout the area in competition with each other.

Many alternative service programs use more than one provider to give riders a choice. User choice may not only promote higher levels of service quality through competition, it also means the FTA’s taxicab exception applies, so providers are not required to adhere to the FTA’s drug and alcohol testing requirements. Figure 2-5 advertises Tri Delta Transit’s alternative service that uses three providers.

Reporting and Data Sharing

One of the major challenges of alternative services, whether they use taxis and/or TNCs, has been getting adequate and accurate information to monitor the performance of the service providers. Such information is also needed to ensure compliance with ADA regulations regarding service equivalency and may be needed for reporting purposes.

Taxis, especially those that have worked with transit agencies before, usually understand transit agencies’ reporting needs and have generally been compliant. In some cases, transit agencies’ fare card systems (and their GPS capabilities), in conjunction with taxis, augment the limited data available to the taxi company (and relieves them of this responsibility).

There is no argument that TNCs generally collect all the data needed for transit agencies’ needs. However, in the past, TNCs have been reluctant to provide certain information to the transit agency sponsoring the alternative service (under the premise of protecting the customer privacy). More recently, TNCs have realized that the data needs associated with transporting ADA paratransit customers (including on alternative services) are more complex than microtransit services and have begun to be more forthcoming with data.

With these real or perceived privacy issues in mind, some transit agencies have also begun to use opt-in agreements riders must sign to register for the alternative service. In the agreements, riders agree to allow the TNCs to share the data associated with each trip.

And, as discussed in Chapter 8, NTD reporting for most alternative services is limited as the services are not shared-ride. The result is that the NTD data needs for alternative services are somewhat moot.

Otherwise, one of the key data reporting needs for a transit agency is to compare the average (and longest) response times for on-demand trips requiring a WAV to the average (and longest) response times for trips that do not. These data will tell a transit agency whether the response times are reasonable or not and whether service equivalency has been achieved.

How Is the Impact on Overall Cost Calculated?

Data are also needed to estimate paratransit cost reduction if this is one of the transit agency’s goals for the alternative service. A transit agency must first be able to estimate whether a particular trip taken on the alternative service would probably have been taken on the ADA paratransit service if the alternative service did not exist. The next step is to differentiate those trips from new trips that would likely have not been made on the ADA paratransit service.

To make this calculation, some transit agencies compare an individual’s forecast ridership on ADA paratransit (based on past ridership) and actual ADA paratransit ridership with the alternative service available for a specific time period, and then compare that difference in ADA paratransit ridership with the actual ridership on the alternative service. In this way, diverted and new trips can be estimated. From there, the operating cost per trip for the ADA paratransit and the subsidy per trip for the alternative service can be applied to those two numbers to calculate the extent of cost reduction or increase. This will be the general method reflected in the Excel-based data tool created for this research project and presented in Chapter 6.

For some transit agencies, the calculation process is more straightforward for at least some of the riders’ trips. This is because the transit agency has designed its alternative service so the trip requests for both ADA paratransit and the alternative service are called into the same call center and processed by the same call takers. If a rider calling to book an ADA paratransit trip ends up preferring to use the alternative service instead (and without the call taker “steering” the rider in that direction), the call takers note the switch to the alternative service option as a diverted trip.