Transit Agency Practices in Interacting with People Who Are Homeless (2016) / Chapter Skim
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10 CHAPTER THREE SURVEY RESULTS: TRANSIT AGENCY INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE HOMELESS INTRODUCTION This is the first of two chapters that present the results of a survey of transit agencies regarding their interactions with people who are homeless. The survey solicited information on policies, actions implemented and their effects, challenges, lessons learned, and guidance for other agencies.
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11 tion that affects their transit system daily. Table 4 shows that many respondents had difficulty making this estimation.
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12 echo the dual approach that emerged as an ongoing theme throughout the literature review: transit agencies pursue partnerships with social service agencies while enforcing laws and agency rules. "Other" responses include distribution of discounted passes through social service or nonprofit agencies, a "three-end-of-line" policy that requires an additional fare after reaching the end of the line three times, a focus on prevention of disruptive behavior, and an awareness that, while enforcement is necessary, enforcement alone cannot solve the problems associated with homelessness.
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13 Sixty percent of respondents indicated that responsibilities are shared among multiple parties. Among the 40% that reported that one group has the lead role, transit police were named most often.
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14 in Table 17. Social service agencies are units of local government, nonprofit agencies are nongovernmental organizations, and private-sector agencies are businesses or business groups such as chambers of commerce or downtown associations.
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15 friendly atmosphere for relaxed, informal one-on-one conversations. Transit and city police in Salt Lake City serve coffee and hand out donuts to people who are homeless.
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16 We run a public service that does not question the customer's purpose of travel. If they can pay the fare they can ride.
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17 to customer reactions were much more likely to be rated as challenges than issues surrounding agency interactions with people who are homeless (shown in Table 21)
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18 TABLE 26 AGENCY STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME MAJOR CHALLENGES REGARDING CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS Strategy No. Agencies Responding % Agencies Responding Enforcement/police presence 11 29 Collaborations with police and/or social service agencies 9 24 Training of operators/supervisors to defuse situation 7 18 Streamlined complaint process plus immediate response 5 13 Public education 4 11 Nothing specific 4 11 Media support 2 5 Other 5 13 Total Agencies Responding 38 100 Source: Survey results.
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19 to enforcement alone. Two agencies mentioned partnerships with homeless coalitions in their cities and noted that the coalitions' approach was more thorough and achieved more permanent results than simply calling the police.
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