AG 2015 12 14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Coborrus County Transit System Finol Report — September 2015 officially becoming a seven days /week transportation provider. This puts a heavy burden on scheduling drivers and vehicles, and most of the Sunday service is provided by TJs Taxi. Furthermore, CK Rider Transit has just completed a short range five -year plan (TDP) that calls for the addition of 1,362 revenue -hours of frequency improvement between the periods of 2017 -2021. As this does not expand the network, it only has a minor impact on CCTS /ADA service; but the attractiveness of higher frequency service could attract additional ADA trip demand. The new TDP also shows new CK Rider Transit service proposed along four new corridors that will definitely add to the ADA paratransit demand. Each of the four new services will have a 3/ mile ADA buffer within which the ADA policies apply. Those corridors are: • South Concord with three stops through south of Corban Avenue • Western Concord growth areas along Poplar Tent Road • Kannapolis - new routes for northwest and Kannapolis Parkway • Regional service to Rowan County and Mecklenburg County Under Department of Transportation (DOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations at 49 C.F.R. Section 37.131(b)(2), a complementary paratransit entity may negotiate pickup times with an ADA paratransit eligible individual, up to one hour before or after the individual's desired departure time. In the event an individual accepts and takes a trip negotiated to begin more than one hour before or after his or her desired departure time, the transit operator must still record a denial based on its inability to provide the trip within the timeframe specified under DOT ADA regulations. According to the Manager at CK Rider Transit, a recent ADA audit pointed out that ADA bookings cannot be scheduled by pick -up time alone; they must also consider the appointment time. Not using the appointment time when scheduling trips, and requiring that rider's state a desired pickup time instead, has been found to pose significant difficulties for riders. Moreover, if it results in very early pickups or very early or late drop -offs, it can be an illegal capacity constraint This finding is an example of how unexpected policies have been imposed on COTS. The tight scheduling required for meeting a pick -up time along with the shorter ADA wait time window, combined with the limited profit that CCTS has been realizing, has caused CCTS to rethink the contract arrangement. Recommendation: Request an updated ADA plan from CK Rider, which should be reviewed and approved by the Mobility Development Specialist. Any new ADA contract between CCTS and CK Rider Transit needs to clarify ADA policies that are different from the existing CCTS policies. All indications are that CK Rider will no longer use CCTS to 2 The authors of the FfA Topic Guidc Scrics on ADA Transportation arc Marilyn Goldcn, Policy Analyst, Disability Rights Education & Dcfcnsc Fund (DREDF) and Russcll Thatchcr, Scnior Transportation Planncr, TranSystcros Corporation. Attachment number 1 \n F -3 Page 129