[real-eyes] Fw: [Missouri-l] [Missouri Chat] Fw: [HeartlandGDU] Unacceptabledenial of access with guide dog to paratransit in KC, January 11
- From: "Terrie Arnold" <tanderson3@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <First-Steps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:59:34 -0600
----- Original Message -----
From: ROBYN WALLEN
To: chat@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: PapaSchnelle@xxxxxxxxxxx ; chat@xxxxxxxxxxx ; Missouri-l@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 8:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Missouri-l] [Missouri Chat] Fw: [HeartlandGDU] Unacceptabledenial
of access with guide dog to paratransit in KC, January 11
I am sending some information to the list to be of help this is from the DOT.
Primer on Paratransit
The ADA requires public entities operating fixed route transportation systems
to provide comparable complementary paratransit services to people with
disabilities.
Essentially, complementary paratransit serves a core area of 0.75 mile-wide
corridors on each side of a fixed route. Outside the core area, 1.5 mile-wide
corridors are permitted. If a paratransit-eligible individual lives in an
isolated area, he or she is responsible for reaching the nearest paratransit
service pickup point.
Trips can be booked for the following day - 24-hour notice is not required -
and reservations can be made up to 14 days in advance. Trips may be booked
during a transit agency's administrative offices hours of operation, or by
leaving a telephone message after hours. Standing appointments or subscription
service for regular trips, going to and from work, for example, may also be
arranged. However, subscription service cannot constitute more than 50 percent
of paratransit trips scheduled at a given time. Waiting lists for paratransit
are prohibited, except for subscription service.
Providers can negotiate pick up times, but trips must begin no later than one
hour before or after the person's desired departure time at either end of the
trip. Operators must provide service within this window - even when the
individual making the reservation agrees to another time period.
Transit agencies cannot limit the number of trips a person schedules during a
given time period, and cannot place restrictions or set priorities on a trip's
purpose. To reserve a trip, the only information needed is...
DOT Guidance
DOT is charged with enforcing the paratransit provisions of ADA. Over the
years, DOT and its Federal Transit Agency (FTA) have issued guidance on some of
the more confusing aspects of the regulations.
In December 1998, Philadelphia attorney Stephen Gold asked Patrick W. Reilly,
FTA's chief counsel, if a transit provider violates the ADA's complementary
paratransit regulations if it lacks the capacity to provide paratransit service
on a regular basis...
a.. so that 100 percent of eligible individuals can obtain a reservation for
a ride (within the one-hour window on either side of a trip) if they request a
ride on the previous day; and
b.. to 100 percent of the eligible individuals who request service during
peak hours.
In his March response, Reilly determined that a transit provider violates the
ADA if it does not have the capacity to service 100 percent of the demand at
all times. Reilly further noted that dealing with swings in demand for service
is the responsibility of the provider.
"However, if a transit agency has not adequately dealt with this issue, and the
transit agency denies ADA complementary paratransit service to a qualified
individual with a disability because it does not have the capacity to respond
to demand, the denial of ADA complementary paratransit service is
discrimination within section 202 of the ADA," wrote Reilly.
In other words, if the denial is the result of inclement weather or some other
force outside the transit agency's control, it is not a violation of the ADA.
If the denial is the result of a transit agency decision, for example, a lack
of vehicles, it is a violation of the ADA.
Gold also asked whether the inability to provide round-trip reservations, and
whether providing trips outside the one-hour window on either side of a trip -
even when an individual accepts the ride - constitute trip denials.
"To guarantee an outbound trip while denying the ADA paratransit individual
return service...would constitute a trip denial...," responded Reilly. He also
concluded, "The individual's acceptance of an alternative time slot does not
change the character of the discriminatory act." Reilly noted transit agencies
must document their inability to schedule trips within the one-hour window on
either side of a trip because it may indicate a capacity constraint problem
which violates the law.
SEPTA's chief operating officer, Cheryl Y. Spicer, disputed Reilly's March
response, and wrote to FTA Administrator Gordon J. Linton in July 1999, asking
if a public entity violates DOT regulations if it does not provide a
paratransit ride to each and every eligible ADA paratransit patron who requests
one. Spicer asserted that unless there were a "substantial number" of denials
the law was not violated.
In April, 1996, Linton had responded to a similar request for guidance from the
Chicago Regional Transportation Authority. Linton concluded that DOT's ADA
regulations do not require that all trips be served in order for an operator to
be in full compliance, "neither does it provide a number or percentage of trip
denials that is considered to be acceptable." Instead, Linton suggested, " In
considering the relationship between service capacity and trip denials, it is
probably more useful to focus on the number and nature of trip denials rather
than the percentage of demand met."
In his December 28, 1999 response to Spicer, Reilly wrote that any operational
pattern or practice that significantly limits the availability of service to
eligible people violates the ADA. This includes, but is not limited to
substantial numbers of...
a.. significantly untimely pickups for initial or return trips;
b.. trip denials or missed trips; and
c.. trips with excessive trip lengths.
He also reiterated his earlier guidance to Gold. "...those matters, which the
transit agency controls, such as decisions on resources for paratransit
services, must be designed to meet the demand by all eligible riders, rather
than some subset of total demand."
He also noted that the term "substantial number" used in the regulations does
not allow transit agencies to make operational decisions to serve less than all
eligible riders. Because fixed route systems do not operate like this,
paratransit systems should not either, Reilly stated. Since demand on fixed
route systems is met by acquiring additional vehicles, placing larger vehicles
on certain routes, better scheduling, contracting for additional service, and
anticipating future demand, Reilly concluded that these solutions should be
applied to meet increased demand for paratransit service as well.
Reilly's guidance has produced some positive results according to Gold. He
asserts people now use the contents of Reilly's two letters to "badger"
paratransit providers to comply with the law.
Paratransit Resources
Federal Transit Administration
ADA Toll-Free Technical Assistance Line
(888) 446-4511 (voice)
(800) 877-8339 (TTY)
www.fta.dot.gov
This is just some basic reading material but if you go to the FTA website you
can get more info. I am willing to work with anyone and we can too file a
complaint thru MCB if it comes to that.
Robyn
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