APPENDIX A
Request for Information
TCRP Project J-11/Task 42: Transportation Services for People with Disabilities and Older Adults during a Pandemic and Other Emergencies: Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic
—Information Request
Q1 Project Background
This research project is investigating how transit agencies and other transportation-providing organizations adapted their services during the COVID-19 pandemic and how those changes impacted people with disabilities and older adults. The research objective of this TCRP project is to provide public transportation providers, local government agencies, and stakeholders with useful tools and information to maintain services for persons with disabilities and older adults in emergency situations.
Transportation modes of concern for this project include all forms of transit and related services, such as fixed-route transit (bus and rail), ADA paratransit, dial-a-ride or microtransit service, services through taxis and/or TNCs, volunteer driver programs, and other temporary services (such as meal/goods delivery programs, medical transportation, trips to COVID-19 testing or vaccinations). The research project will result in a final report and playbook resources on emergency management in public transportation.
Request for Information
The research team from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, under contract to the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB), seeks information about your organization’s experience with operating transportation services for people with disabilities and older adults during emergencies, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can support the research in any of the following three ways:
- Provide brief summaries to open response questions about your organization’s emergency management or COVID-19-related efforts in the following topical areas: service adjustments, operations, partnerships, communication, workforce impacts, pandemic response performance, or other related information.
- Share any relevant documents prepared by your organization (if available) to give the research team insights on your agency efforts.
- Schedule an optional meeting with the research team to share information by phone/web call.
The research team won’t share any information you provide for this information request without your permission. You can contact either of the following research team members to schedule a conversation or to learn more about the project:
- Researcher name, researcher email, researcher phone number
- Researcher name, researcher email, researcher phone number
We appreciate your time and any information you can provide! Please proceed to the next section to provide information about efforts at your organization and share/upload documents (at the end of the following pages).
Q2 The questions below request information on the changes your organization made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on services for people with disabilities and older adults. Please also upload available relevant documents on the following page.
Service Adjustments — What changes were made to your existing services used by people with disabilities or older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic? For example, changes to the service area, days and hours of service, service capacity (number of riders per vehicle), route changes/suspensions, work planning, eligibility requirements and intake processes, etc.
Q3 Operational Adjustments — Did your organization introduce any COVID-specific temporary emergency services for people with disabilities and older adults (e.g., food delivery, medical transportation, vaccination and testing access, new subsidized ride-hail services such as taxi, Uber, or Lyft)? Please explain.
Q4 Partnerships — Did your organization form any new (formal or informal) partnerships or utilize existing partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic to help persons with disabilities and older adults travel or obtain goods and services? If so, please describe those partnerships or agreements.
Q5 Communication (External) — How did your organization communicate with persons with disabilities and older adults throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, to inform them of changes in services or policies? What methods did your organization and/or partners use for this communication (and which were effective)? How did your organization receive feedback and input from your customers (and how did you respond)?
Q6 Workforce Impacts — How was your organization’s workforce impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., issues with driver health and safety, short-staffing, fulfilling service demand)? Please describe actions taken to operate your services and fulfill ADA requirements during the pandemic (such as adjusting work hours and locations, transportation to work for employees, filling vacant positions, adjusting/expanding position roles, changing team structures, etc.).
Q7 Pandemic Response Performance — Has your organization undertaken after-action reports, performance assessments, or used other means to monitor service or satisfaction levels to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic? Has your organization previously done scenario planning or considered scenario planning for future major service disruptions? Have any of these efforts addressed people with disabilities and older adults? If so, please discuss the actions taken.
Q8 Please provide any additional information you’d like to share relevant to efforts to manage your transportation program during the COVID-19 emergency. For instance, what measures or actions were effective in meeting service demand and mobility needs, in particular for people with disabilities and older adults? Please also highlight any enduring changes for the organization as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic experience.
Q9 Does your organization have any documents that you think might be useful for us to review? Please feel free to share via email or available hyperlinks.
