New York City, Greater Washington DC, and Chicago are served by the three largest public transit systems in the United States. To bring some perspective to the issue of paratransit fares I thought that it would be enlightening and revealing to compare how our local greater Washington WMATA paratransit fares and alternative paratransit services stack up against New York’s MTA and Chicago’s RTA transit systems.
In order to conduct the evaluation, I have devised a rating scale called the Paratransit Fare Comparison Index (PFCI) a composite weighted average of the Fare Discretion Index (FDI) and the Alternative Fare Index (AFI).
The FDI assigns a rating to the Discretionary Judgement exercised by the various transit agencies shown when setting paratransit fares. Specifically, the discretion rating reflects the maximum fare that a given agency can charge under the law versus what they actually charge and assigns a value to it. It is a kind of humanitarian compassion rating of the agency on disability policy focused on paratransit fares.
The AFI reviews the pros and cons of a given alternative paratransit service provided by each agency and assigns a weighted value to free fares and other factors included in the pros and gives penalties for the cons.
Both the AFI and FDI ratings are then calculated with a 60-40 weighted average slanted towards alternative paratransit services since they potentially represent a future model for paratransit service. The resulting composite index is the PFCI. A rating of 10 indicates that the transit agency exercises maximum discretion and forbearance in the setting of ADA paratransit fares for riders (free fares) and provides superior free fare alternative transportation service solutions.
What does the Law say on ADA Paratransit Fares?
Department of Transportation (DOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations at 49 C.F.R. Section 37.121 require paratransit fares to be comparable to the fare for a trip between the same points on the regular fixed route transit system. “Comparable” is defined in DOT ADA regulations at 49 C.F.R. Section 37.131(c) as not more than twice the fare that would be charged to an individual paying full fare for a trip of similar length, at a similar time of day, on the entity’s fixed route system, exclusive of discounts.
Allow me to digress here a little.
I consider this law to be state sanctioned financial abuse of the disabled. Essentially, this FTA ADA regulation clause says that transit systems in the U.S. can legally inflict twice the regular fare on disabled riders without consequence, and we in the disabled community must accept that. The extra fare is essentially a disability paratransit punitive tax. In other words, a tax to punish disabled people who use paratransit. If I wanted to be sinical, I would say, as a disabled person, this tax must be good for me because Department of Transportation FTA who wrote this regulation, says so, and they are government, and they are here to help me.
A Fair Paratransit Fare Comparison
So, the senior management of the MTA, RTA, and our own WMATA looked at the very same regulations to decide how much they should charge disabled riders to use ADA paratransit service, many of whom live on limited fixed incomes. Following is a summary of what they decided:
New York’s MTA decided that even though the law allows them to charge disabled passengers up to $5.50 for their service they chose to charge their paratransit riders the same as all MTA bus and rail passengers: $2.75. They also provided free paratransit fares during the virus emergency.
Score: +9.5/10
Chicago’s RTA, with their $2.50 regular fare they could legally charge disabled riders $5.00, but they chose to charge 75¢ more than the regular fare: $3.25. Also, like NYC MTA, they also provided pandemic free fares.
Score: 8.5/10
WMATA, using all of the “humanitarian compassionate benevolence” that it can muster, clobbered the Washington Metro disabled customers with a whopping 180% increase in 2011 which equated to a $7.00 paratransit fare. They eventually saw the error of their ways and finally decided to throw us a 50¢ bone giveback. WMATA then further compounded this outrage in the middle of the virus emergency by not providing paratransit riders with free fares like MTA and RTA did, while Metro was raking in billions in federal CARES government bailout funding during the pandemic. And just when you thought it could not get any worse, Metro suspended the lower cost flexible Abilities Ride service like a thief in the night to keep the stretch limo priced Metro low grade cargo van service contractors busy and did not even let disabled riders know prior to the suspension. This put WMATA at the bottom of the barrel, Could it possibly get any lower than this? Oh yes, it could. Metro actually found a way to go under the barrel. Last year WMATA finally admitted that they were overcharging disabled riders. How do you accurately express this kind of corporate decision-making depravity? Novel words will have to be crafted to effectively capture the gravity of the financial persecution that has been let loose upon disabled people by WMATA MetroAccess.
Should disabled people be thankful of the DOT/FTA for their ADA paratransit 1 is similar to 2 comparable fare regulation? After all, they are the government, and they are here to help us. I think not.
By the way, if 1 is similar to two does it logically follow that 1 is also similar to zero?
Score: 0/10.
Comparing Paratransit Alternative Services and Fares
Over the past several years public transit entities have been introducing alternative programs for paratransit riders. These alternatives are much needed because the traditional ADA paratransit service model is clunky, inefficient, rigid, and extraordinarily expensive. There are some who believe that the old ADA paratransit model is among the walking dead. Most disabled riders put up with it. WMATA would never say this out loud, but it is clear in their policies that they would prefer disabled people not use it. Evidence, look at document page 9 or Acrobat Reader page 12 of the George Mason Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) Report from June of 2014. I will be doing an exposé on that report in a future post because it blows wide open the kind of controversial analysis that influences WMATA’s harmful policy making against disabled paratransit riders.
So, let’s see how the three systems compare on alternative services:
New York MTA Access-A-Ride E-Hail Alternative Service
New York City MTA Access-A-Ride (AAR) technically has two alternative paratransit services: E-Hail and Taxi Authorization. The Taxi Authorization will not be discussed here since it is more of a reimbursement option rather than an alternative program.
The E-Hail service provides the paratransit customer with an app that enables the rider to call taxi services in the program when they are ready to ride on the same day of travel. No reservations with the AAR paratransit call center is required.
The Pros
- Call-on-demand same-day taxi service is available. +3/3
- No interaction with the ADA paratransit reservation agent is required at any time. +2/2
- There are No shared rides. +2/2
- Fares are the same as fixed route service. +2/3
The Cons
- Ride haling services like Uber and Lyft are not available with E-Hail. -0.3
- Registering for the program is restricted. -0.3
Score: 8.4/10
The Chicago RTA/Pace TAP Program
The Chicago Taxi Access Program (TAP) provides disabled RTA paratransit riders a same-day taxi-on-demand service. Customers who use TAP are not required to contact the RTA call center agent to book a ride. All the customer has to do is call a taxi at the day and time when they are ready for the trip. The ride is free up to $30.00. Eight rides a day are permitted.
The Pros
- Call-on-demand same-day taxi service is available. +3/3
- No interaction with the ADA paratransit reservation agent is required on the day of travel. +2/2
- No shared rides. +2/2
- It is a free fare service up to $30.00 +2/3
The Cons
- Passengers must pay the full difference for rides exceeding $30.00 plus Chicago fees. -0.3
- Ride haling services like Uber and Lyft are not available through the TAP program. -0.3
- Registration for the program by paratransit riders is restricted. -0.3
Score: 8.1/10
Greater DC WMATA MetroAccess Abilities Ride 2.0 Program
Abilities Ride 2.0 is an ADA paratransit revised alternative program provided by WMATA MetroAccess. The program currently provides free rides to all disabled MetroAccess customers who sign up for the service using taxi and ride haling services. However, signing up for the service only means that MetroAccess will decide when and where you will be awarded with a free trip after you have made your reservation, 24 hours in advance. So, some days you will get a free trip and other days you may have to pay $6.50. The selection of which riders get the free trips is determined by an Excel Macro.
The Pros
- Call-when-ready taxi and ride-hailing service is available. +3/3
- No interaction with the ADA paratransit reservation agent is generally required on the day of travel. +2/2
- There are no shared rides. +2/2
- It is a free fare service. +3/3
The Cons
- Trips can only be booked at least 24 hours in advanced. -0.3
- Riders are sometimes required to contact the paratransit call center on the day of travel if their reserved trips were booked with Abilities Ride but were not assigned to a carrier. -0.3
- The process of deciding who gets the free rides once you are registered for the program is not 100% objective like the New York Taxi Authorization and the Chicago TAP alternative programs. Abilities Ride unnecessarily leaves itself open to favoritism and unconscious bias since Metro management can override the random ride selection Excel Macro for any purpose that they determine to be important without explanation. -0.3
- The customer cannot effectively budget for transportation because the free trip is not guaranteed even after signing up to receive the service and booking a trip. -0.3
Score: 8.8/10
Paratransit Fare Index Results:
| City | Transit | FDI | AFI | PFI |
| New York | MTA | 9.50 | 8.4 | 8.84 |
| Chicago | RTA | 8.50 | 8.1 | 8.26 |
| Greater DC | WMATA | 0.00 | 8.8 | 5.28 |
Summary
From my comparative analysis the picture is clear. The New York City MTA paratransit service ranks the best in paratransit fares based on the PFCI composite weighted rating scale of the three largest transit systems in the country because their ADA paratransit pricing can be considered reasonable and balanced because they do not charge disabled riders extra for paratransit service, and their E-Hail alternative program provides disabled riders a significant amount of flexibility and independence even though they do not have free fares.
The Chicago RTA is a close second and has adopted a paratransit fare policy that is not as low as New York but is 50% lower than Metro. RTA’s TAP program is remarkably similar to the MTA E-Hail service in terms of same-day reservations with the added benefit of being free up to $30. Same-day reservation is extremely valuable because of the convenience and flexibility that it affords riders. The 24-hour ADA paratransit reservation policy puts the disabled in a transportation straitjacket that makes it impossible to cope with last minute life changes. Fixed route riders do not have this problem.
Suffice it to say WMATA got the lowest score because not only did they increase their fares from $2.50 to $7.00 in one year, to add insult to injury, they have been overcharging the disabled for about 10 years and have not compensated us, just to name a few of our troubles with Metro’s paratransit ADA fare policy. These issues have been brought to the attention of Metro, and there are attempts being made by management to fix the problem. However, an independent forensic audit of the service has not been completed to determine the severity of the overcharges and compensate riders accordingly. This problem cannot be considered as corrected until this is done.
The WMATA $6.50 fare still stands as the highest fare among the top three transit agencies in the U.S. and is 58% higher than the MTA even though DC has a cost of living that is 19% lower than New York City.
However, I see hope for a better day at WMATA given that they scored the highest on the Alternative Fare Index rating. I predict that the 30-year-old traditional ADA paratransit “safety net” service is a relic of the past and will eventually be scaled back and perhaps mercifully be allowed to die a natural death. Here is why. Paratransit in its traditional 24-hour reservation model is hated and despised by me and the vast majority of the disabled people I know for all kinds of reasons. Many riders endure it because there is no alternative that works for them, and something is better than nothing. Also, the old ADA paratransit service is super expensive and financially unsustainable by Metro and government funders of the service.
It is actually less expensive to hire black stretch limo service to transport disabled riders rather than the current ramshackle poorly designed ADA cargo van and matchbox sedan service provided by the WMATA MetroAccess contractors. That alone should be enough to shut it down and rebuild from the ground up. WMATA says that it has to be this expensive because it is a safety net service for the disabled. You see, as the joke goes, WMATA has a MetroAccess sacred pledge. It goes something like, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays MetroAccess from transporting their disabled paratransit riders on time.” Maintaining that pledge is extremely expensive. All I have to say to that joke is that I am still waiting for my MetroAccess ride to pick me up to go get my first covid shot on a beautiful bright sunny April afternoon in 2021. You see, the joke is on us disabled riders. I have countless stories like this to tell and I am just one of thousands of paratransit riders. Need I say more?
WMATA’s alternative Abilities Ride service is highly favored among disabled riders who use it. I currently use the service and I can personally testify that it comes close to the promise land of paratransit transportation for the disabled as I define it. The funders of paratransit will like it too because of the approximately 83% plus savings that can be realized. I repeat, the 83% plus savings that can be realized.
It is very seldom in government funded programs that the vastly less expensive variation of the service that is totally free, better quality, and loved by the public turns out to be staggeringly less expensive. I dare say it never happens. I appeal to the local funders of Metro and the Department of Transportation, FTA, you are the government, can you help us herein DC get our Abilities Ride service as permanent and official WMATA policy for the riders who can use it? Other than the free paratransit ride benefit, there are lots and lots of my taxpayer dollars that you can save.