[nfbwatlk] ALERT re proposed change to DOT ADA regulation on ADA paratransit fares: Comments Due Sept 21

[Nightingale, Noel]

From: Olson, Toby (ESD) [mailto:TOlson2 at ESD.WA.GOV]
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2015 10:03 AM
To: GCDE-INFO at LISTSERV.WA.GOV
Subject: FW: ALERT re proposed change to DOT ADA regulation on ADA paratransit fares: Comments Due Sept 21

The US Department of Transportation is considering a proposal to allow paratransit providers to charge more than 2x the cost of fixed route. Disability organizations are urged to comment.

From: Marilyn Golden [mailto:mgolden at dredf.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 5:00 PM
To: Marilyn Golden
Subject: ALERT re proposed change to DOT ADA regulation on ADA paratransit fares


Alert!

Comments are needed on U.S. Department of Transportation

proposed rule regarding ADA paratransit fares

Comments due Sept. 21, 2015



Access Services Inc. (ASI), the ADA paratransit provider in Los Angeles County, has petitioned the U.S. Department of Transportation to revise the DOT ADA regulation to allow for a “coordinated” or two-tier fare structure.

The current DOT ADA regulation requires that the ADA paratransit fare shall not exceed twice the fare that would be charged to an individual paying full fare for a similar trip on the fixed route system. ASI wishes to structure fares that, in some cases, exceed that amount, calculated through averaging of fares. (See more information at the link below.)

DREDF strongly urges comments that ask DOT to deny the petition.

Comments must be received by September 21, 2015.

Submit comments via the Federal Register Portal at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/08/20/2015-20467/transportation-for-individuals-with-disabilities-service-criteria-for-complementary-paratransit (or in other ways described at this link.) All comments must include the docket number for this rulemaking: DOT-OST-2015-0075.

Below is an initial draft of the DREDF comments, and they are also attached. Disability community commenters are welcome to model your comments based on ours.



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Draft Comments, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)

DOT-OST-2015-0075


We urge DOT to deny the petition to allow

Coordinated Fares for ADA Paratransit



US DOT should deny this petition. This is a very poor reason for even considering a change to the DOT ADA regulation.

1. ADA Paratransit Fares Already Much Too High

ADA paratransit fares are already far too high. The current DOT ADA regulation, which requires that ADA paratransit fare not exceed two times the full fixed route bus and/or train fare, should be scrupulously maintained.

Ever since the first DOT ADA rulemaking in 1991, the disability community has supported a position that the ADA paratransit fare should be no higher than the full fixed route fare itself—that is, it should equal the fixed route fare, not exceed it. At that early stage in the development of the ADA, no one anticipated that bus fares would ever rise to the level they are today, nearly 25 years later. In fact, DOT officials have themselves stated that, had they been able to predict how high bus fares would rise, they would not have allowed ADA paratransit fares to be pegged as high as twice the fixed route fare.

There is anecdotal evidence that there are low-income people with disabilities riding three bus routes to work (utilizing free transfers), sacrificing their health in the process, because the ADA paratransit rides that they are legitimately eligible for would be an unaffordable luxury for them. The DOT ADA regulation should not be changed in a way that contributes to this unacceptable situation.

DOT must remember that the ADA is a civil rights law. It has been difficult to understand, since the original ADA rulemaking in 1991, how DOT could justify charging twice the full fixed route fare when ADA paratransit was supposed to be an equivalent service for people with disabilities who could not used the fixed route service. There should certainly be no change to fare rules that aggravate this already problematic situation.

2. The Situation in Los Angeles County Is Easily Resolvable Through Other Means

Regarding the specific situation in Los Angeles County, what Access Services Inc. (ASI), the ADA paratransit provider in L.A. County, is calling for, is, in fact, unnecessary. ADA paratransit fares only need to be corrected for a few routes. The problem can be fixed in a relatively easy and straightforward manner. There is existing, readily available technology that can be easily used to calculate fares, even in a complex environment. Another transit agency, New Jersey Transit, links to its fixed route trip planner to calculate fares throughout the entire state, which is likely even more complex than L.A. County.

Moreover, the ADA doesn’t require ASI to increase any fares, but rather, simply to lower fares where they exceed the limit of twice the full fixed route fare. Yet people with disabilities in L.A. County are being led to believe that unless the petition from ASI is granted, many fares “must go up.” Is ASI engaging in scare tactics in the disability community to garner support towards the goal of granting its petition?

3. This Situation Is Inappropriate and Unripe for Rulemaking

The situation in Los Angeles County is not typical, but rather, a very unusual exception. If DOT chooses to amend the ADA rule based on this unusual situation, and if the new provision is not written very narrowly and very expertly, then other transit agencies, and even ASI itself in the future, could use the new rule in a way that betters their financial situation at an unfair cost to riders. And it is not clear that a narrow provision on this complex phenomenon is something that experts in the field today know yet how to write.

We urge DOT to deny this petition!




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