Gleaning the Evidence: Needs and Preferences of the Aging Population

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes a study of ADA paratransit services that does more than list the many challenges. In ADA Paratransit Services: Demand Has Increased, but Little is Known about Compliance, there is a litany of woes - increased ridership for service that is expensive to provide, ride shedding (organizations or agencies that once did certain kinds of trips no longer do so), and increased fuel and labor costs. The gap between fares and costs per trip are huge for ADA paratransit. 

Some of the report focuses on the:

[t]ypes of actions agencies are taking include coordinating efforts among various service providers, transitioning passengers from ADA paratransit to fixed-route service, improving the accessibility of fixed-route service, ensuring more accurate eligibility determinations, realigning paratransit service with minimum ADA paratransit requirements, and improving technology for scheduling and dispatch.

What is wonderful about the report is the depth of coverage of the strategies transit systems are employing and the issues over which transit systems have no control, but which have huge consequences. Travel training is discussed as one of the strategies that both improves service for individuals and helps reduce expenses.

[MAX rapid bus in Kansas City, MO.]

My Dog Is Old and He Loves His New Doggy Bed - So Much for Cliches

Also examining the problem of a population that has higher-than-average mobility problems is the report Meeting Transportation Needs in an Aging-Friendly Community from the AARP Livable Communities project. It assumes that like the cliche, older people are unable to adopt new habits. It argues that older people do not give up their cars easily and that when they do, it is only to sit as a passenger in someone else's car. However true those conclusions may be for current seniors and while the report concedes that the quality of public transportation in a given area has much to do with travel habits, even the travel habits of seniors, the data is not examined for the differences between today's boomers and their elders; nor does it examine the increasing popularity of transit, biking and walking.

Another, also recent, AARP publication, Impact of Boomers on U.S. Travel, 1969-2009, takes a somewhat different perspective, acknowledging the dynamic role of the boomer generation and finding in the evidence an uptick since 1995 in boomer use of transit. So one must ask - and this report does - whether, just as this generation transformed what it meant to be politically involved, how to form and navigate long-term relationships, and even the way we view generations, they will now transform what it means to be a senior citizen and how people who are older get around.

[Fountain near Plaza area of Kansas City, MO. The MAX runs right by here.]

The 1969-2009 study aptly points out that no matter the travel habits of this large cohort, they will be making medical trips in record numbers (though, with the recession, the number of total medical trips has leveled). The study also astutely observes that even if boomers will be exhibiting different travel behavior than their predecessors, where they live will influence their mobility options and habits. Raised on Leave it to Beaver and the Brady Bunch, this is primarily a suburban generation.

Many baby boomers have lived their entire lives in the suburbs—born and raised there, raised their children there, and most will age in place there. The place where people live as they age is critical to the kind of support networks and mobility options available to them at home.

Traveling Generation

The study shows that boomers are travelers, more mobile than both their elders and subsequent generations. This is partly due to women's participation in the workforce and a generation in which women's driving habits resembled those of men. As a generation, they drove their children to more activities and included record numbers of active, traveling, individuals without children.

Now, boomers are leading in other respects. "As the baby boomer cohort ages, retired couples and single-person households are growing faster than households with children." Likewise, multi-generational households have become more common as children move back home after college and as many boomers take care of their parents and aging relatives, though, the study points out, these phenomena represent a small percentage of the population and do not appear to have altered travel numbers or statistics.

Other Shifts with Children Grown

Now that most boomers no longer have young children or teenagers at home, there has been a downward trend in "maintenance trips," those necessary to sustain a household and transport people to regularly scheduled events, such as grocery shopping, daycare and after-school activities.

Vehicle travel for the baby boomers increased greatly in the 1980s and early 1990s, and then started to decline after 1995. The trends in transit use show a steady increase in the number of transit trips per person as the Baby Boom Generation ages, and a noticeable increase in 2009. Note that transit use by all ages increased during the 2008–2009 NHTS data collection period, as the economic recession was beginning and gas prices first spiked up to four dollars a gallon.

Like the aforementioned AARP report, this study shows that the primary mode of travel for boomers has been and continues to be the automobile. What neither publication discusses is the higher divorce rate and common situation of adult family members living at great distances from one another, which have the potential to significantly change the experience of old age from dependence primarily on a family network to dependence on a network of friends and community services, public and private. While most boomers will probably continue to age in the suburban communities in which they have lived for years "policymakers are carefully watching whether the baby boomers who chose to move will consider transportation issues in making their decision."

[A quiet, mid-day Union Station in Kansas City, MO.]

The study concludes with recommendations for greater coordination in medical transportation, safety education and technology for drivers, and innovative alternative transportation options on the spectrum between the single occupancy vehicle and conventional transit. In terms of how this generation perceives itself, "[t]echnologies and services will need to be for everyone, without the stigma of being for older people."

What Works Well for those in the Middle

With attention going to new urbanist projects in large cities and the challenges for transit and alternative transportation in rural areas, attention is not as frequently paid to the needs and challenges of our nation's medium-size cities. Reconnecting America's new report, Midsize Cities on the Move, is a welcome addition that discusses BRT, rapid bus, streetcars and their related street infrastructure in the context of smaller cities and satellite cities. Who championed the projects, the partnerships that pushed and now maintain them, and where the funding came from is discussed in detail.

Presentation Opportunity

Transportation is an important issue to the community of people with disabilities. The National Council on Independent Living is inviting proposals for presentations at its annual conference, to be held in Washington, DC n July 24-27, 2013. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 8, 2013. More details are available at http://e2.ma/click/njlsd/bmj3ad/zwn4y.

ADA Paratransit: Driver Satisfaction

A quality workforce in almost any field requires experience and incorporation of employee opinions about how to do the job well. TCRP Report 142: Vehicle Operator Recruitment, Retention, and Performance in ADA Complementary Paratransit Operations lists pay, workable schedules, the support of dispatchers and management, and installed GPS systems as high on the list of what paratransit drivers are looking for.

In many ways, the report simply lays out common sense management practices that keep keep employees happy, with specific examples and suggestions for the particular field of paratransit services.

A common theme in systems that were identified to have stable workforces was that there was a good overall work environment. Vehicle operators from these systems reported that the organization was like a “family” and that they enjoyed the people they worked with. They indicated that the organization had a real interest in its employees and looked out for their interest.

Happy Birthday

Such recognition as celebrating employee birthdays, having comfortable and attractive facilities for drivers, and bonuses for good performance were cited as important to drivers. However, the low pay was recognized as a key factor in high turnover, which "for private paratransit contractors average 30% per year and range as high as 80% per year."

The report notes that low wages can result in higher costs due to the reduced productivity that results from high turnover. The report has a good discussion of the benefits of better driver pay. A detailed study appears about halfway through the report that measures the productivity benefits of driver experience in two systems.

The report also discusses the gap between pay for fixed-route drivers and their paratransit counterparts. "Wages for ADA paratransit vehicle operators were found to be lower than for fixed-route operators. Fringe benefits for ADA paratransit operators were also found to be minimal, especially for services operated by private contractors."

Flexible Transit Service

TCRP Report 140: A Guide for Planning and Operating Flexible Public Transportation Services, a product of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, gets into the weeds on what constitutes a non-fixed route, flexible transit service, why communities and regions choose them, the relative costs and how they operate either on their own or as supplements to traditional fixed route and ADA paratransit service.

Warning: The report I am recommending is dull, sometimes painfully so. However, the case studies are informative and cover a wide variety of types of communities.

The authors noted their surprise that so many communities have flexible fixed-route service, ranging from service very similar to a traditional route to service almost indistinguishable from demand-response ADA paratransit. When reading the case studies, many of which featured flexible service in places that have chosen not to have conventional transit service and mandatory complementary ADA paratransit service, I started to wonder about the future of conventional transit in rural and cash-strapped communities.

Those interviewed for the report were frank that flexible service is for transportation-challenged people and that those served better not be too concerned about timing and being prompt. Explicitly stated were cautionary notes that this type of service is not ideal for commuters and students, who need to be somewhere on time pretty much each day.

What I found intriguing were the case studies, the tales of places trying to provide transportation that is very different from quality transit-rich urban rapid transit. Getting people out of cars was clearly not the goal. There are some tales of lack of community resources and others of filling in gaps in regions that have traditional transit, but also include far flung communities or where there are transportation needs at hours of low demand.

The report, though dull, paints a picture worth looking at.

Livability and Accessibility

I admit to being early on the smart growth bandwagon and happy to see the concept morph into the more-inclusive livability/sustainability collaboration that is the inter-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, among the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From what I hear, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are also coordinating with the partnership at various levels.

The current manual of funding sources among the partnership agencies is Leveraging the Partnership: DOT, HUD, and EPA Programs for Sustainable Communities. Many of the sources can be used for transit and other mobility options, including designing a street scape that improves access to buses, vanpool meeting areas, trains and biking facilities.

Since our technical assistance centers have been involved with livability since before the term was invented, many of us are educating our constituencies about livability resources that will bring and enhance transit service and transportation options to communities across the country.

Upcoming Livability-Related Events Among the TA Centers

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): Livability 101 Pre-conference on July 25, 2010, right before the Legislative Summit in Louisville, Ky. The Transportation Committee will be concentrating as well on high-speed rail, the link between transportation and health, biking and rural road safety.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA): Forming Partnerships with Transit for human service providers, disability community advocates and private transportation providers – online from Aug. 2 to Sept. 10, 2010.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA): State Public Transit Partnerships Conference on Aug. 3-6, 2010 in Seattle will have a livability session.

Access and Universal Design

Livability encompasses availability of transportation options beyond the automobile. To include everyone in the benefits of livable community initiatives raises issues of universal design, rural access and specialized transportation. The following resources and events address those issues and their links to economic development,equitable access for transportation-challenged populations, and costs.

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) continues to assist the transit community to make people with disabilities welcome. A handy Transit Operator’s Pocket Guide informs drivers of their ADA responsibilities and etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities.

ESPA: Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers - online from July 19 to Sept. 24, 2010.

Taxi, Limousine, and Paratransit Association (TLPA) releases Assessing the Full Cost of Implementing An Accessible Taxicab Program. The report discusses how the taxi industry works in terms of the practical obstacles and costs of providing accessibility where the additional costs fall on mostly small businesses and independent contractors.

Rural Accessibility

For rural transportation and economic development resources, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has a Rural Transportation Clearinghouse. Among the resources available are descriptions of how rural planning organizations operate in different states.

National Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Conference on October 24-27, 2010, in Burlington, Vt. Conference sessions will include accessibility, rural transit policy and planning, alternative fuels, regional systems, networks and coalitions, and tribal transportation.

ADA Takes the Ferry

Finally, with a picture of the Staten Island Ferry, the Secretary of Transportation blogs today about extending ADA protection to maritime vessels, including public ferry service. In fastlane.dot.gov, Secretary LaHood "encourage[s] everyone to visit www.regulations.gov and get their two cents in on the important questions" outstanding about this ADA extension.

Resources and Events Useful to the Disability Community

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) continues to assist the transit community to make people with disabilities welcome. A handy Transit Operator’s Pocket Guide informs drivers of their ADA responsibilities and etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities.

ESPA events coming up:
Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers - online from July 19to Sept. 24, 2010.
Forming Partnerships with Transit for human service providers, disability community advocates and private transportation providers – online from Aug. 2 to Sept. 10, 2010.

Send your transportation TA news to Sheryl Gross-Glaser at grossglaser@ctaa.org.