Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Managing
Paratransit Efficiencies
Workshop for CalACT Fall 2015 Conference
Rohnert Park, CA
October 21, 2015
Roy Glauthier
George Sparks
1
Workshop Objectives
To provide participants with an understanding of the:
 Impacts of Environment, Service Design, and Policies on
paratransit efficiency;
 The extent to which these may be changed or managed;
and
 The unintended consequences of focusing solely on
efficiency in paratransit operations.
2
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Managing
Paratransit Efficiencies
Workshop for CalACT Fall 2015 Conference
Rohnert Park, CA
October 21, 2015
Roy Glauthier
George Sparks
3
Efficiency Vs. Effectiveness
Efficiency = Doing Things Right
Effectiveness = Doing the Right
Things
4
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Measuring Service Effectiveness
Effectiveness=
Is your agency
delivering the transit/
paratransit services that
your target clients
want?
5
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Measuring Service Effectiveness
Effectiveness=
Is your agency
delivering the transit/
paratransit services that
your target clients
want?
6
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Measures:
 Passengers carried
 Complaints or Satisfaction
levels
 Ridership by client type,
frequency of use, trip
type…
Measuring Service Efficiency
Efficiency =
Comparative
Measure of
Inputs
Versus
Units of Output
7
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Measuring Service Efficiency
Efficiency =
Comparative
Measure of
Inputs
Versus
Units of Output
8
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Potential Measures:
 Cost per Vehicle Mile
 Cost per Vehicle Hour
 Cost per Passenger
 Passengers per Hour
Measuring Service Efficiency
Efficiency =
Comparative
Measure of
Inputs
Versus
Units of Output
9
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Potential Measures:
 Cost per Vehicle Mile
 Cost per Vehicle Hour
 Cost per Passenger
 Passengers per Hour
Measuring Service Efficiency
Efficiency =
Comparative
Measure of
Inputs
Versus
Units of Output
10
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Potential Measures:
 Cost per Vehicle Mile
 Cost per Vehicle Hour
 Cost per Passenger
 Passengers per Hour
Measuring Service Efficiency
Efficiency =
Comparative
Measure of
Inputs
Versus
Units of Output
11
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Potential Measures:
 Cost per Vehicle Mile
 Cost per Vehicle Hour
 Cost per Passenger
 Passengers per Hour
Passengers Per Hour
“Passengers” =
 One-way Trips ?
 Round Trips ?
 Booked Trips ?
 Unduplicated Clients?
“Hours” =
 Total Hours ?
 Maintenance/Servicing
 Training
 Revenue Hours ?
 Garage to Garage
 1st pick-up to last drop-off
 1st pick-up to last drop-off out
of service after 15 minutes of
dead time
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
PU1
DO1
Garage
PU2
DO2
TOUR
Depart Garage
10:00 am
Pick-Up One [PU1]
10:15
Drop Off 1 [DO1]
10:30
[Standby]
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Pick-Up Two [PU2]
11:00
Drop Off Two [DO2]
11:30
Return to Garage
12:00
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
PU1
DO1
Garage
PU2
DO2
TOUR
Depart Garage
10:00 am
Pick-Up One [PU1]
10:15
Drop Off 1 [DO1]
10:30
[Standby]
Pick-Up Two [PU2]
11:00
Drop Off Two [DO2]
11:30
Return to Garage
12:00
Productivity
Hours
Total Trips Productivity
Garage-to-Garage
2.0
2
1.0
1st PU to Last DO
1.25
2
1.6
1.0
2
2.0
1st PU to Last DO
w/out of service after
15 minutes
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Paratransit = Unlinked Passenger Trips
ProductivityVehicle Revenue Hours
 Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT) The number of passengers who board public

transportation vehicles. Passengers are counted each time they board vehicles no
matter how many vehicles they use to travel from their origin to their destination.
Vehicle Revenue Hours (VRH) The hours that vehicles are scheduled to or actually
travel while in revenue service.
Vehicle revenue hours include:
Layover / recovery time
But exclude:
Deadhead
Fueling
Operator training
Vehicle maintenance testing, and
School bus and charter services.
[Source: NTD Glossary]
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Definition of Vehicle Revenue Hour for
Paratransit Services
Vehicle Revenue Hour (VRH): For paratransit service, a vehicle
revenue hour shall be defined as any sixty-minute increment of time,
or portion thereof, that a vehicle is actively transporting passengers
(proceeding to pick up after already beginning revenue service or
having a revenue passenger on the vehicle) within the established
hours of service. Revenue vehicle hours, for all services, shall
exclude any meal breaks, service breaks, fueling time, mechanical
breakdowns and time a vehicle is down due to an accident.
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Factors Affecting Productivity
Opportunity for
Management Change
17
 Environmental Factors
--
Service Design
--
Moderate
Policies/Procedures --
Significant
 Politics
--
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Minimal
??
Environmental Factors
 Size of Service Area
 Population Size & Composition
 Distribution of Population within Area
 Road Network/Traffic Conditions
 Distribution of Origins/Destinations
 Weather
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Paratransit Service Design
 Type of Service:
 ADA Complementary Paratransit
 Immediate Response v. Advance Reservation
 Service Area
 Clientele
o General Public
o Senior and Disabled [How defined?]
o ADA Paratransit Eligible
o Special Needs/Agency Trips
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Policies & Procedures
 Door-to-Door v. Curb-to-Curb v. Origin-to-Destination
 Scheduling or Pick-Up Window
 Wait Time
 Ride Time
 Cancellations
 No-Shows and Late Cancels
 Reservations
o How far in advance?
o Trip Negotiations
o # of requests on one call
o Subscription Trips
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Politics
 Clientele -- Who must be served?
 Service Area
 Allocation of services among agency partners
 Equity of service availability (i.e. no limitations, lesser
service levels to certain areas, etc.)
 Fare levels (no premiums for special service or, conversely,
holding fares unreasonably low)
 Special treatment clients
 Unwillingness to make hard decisions and enforce policies
21
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Strategies to Increase Productivity
Design Opportunities
Reservations/Scheduling/Dispatch
Policies & Procedures
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Design Opportunities
to Increase Productivity
• Clientele:
o ADA Paratransit Eligible [only]
o Seniors and Disabled
o General Public
o Agency Trips
• Areawide v. Limited
o ADA: Strict ¾ mile boundaries
o Medical trips outside boundaries, how far? Individual trips?
• All Destinations or Feeder/Zonal
o Require transfers to FR for long trips
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Design Opportunities
to Increase Productivity
• Demand Responsive Subareas with Connectors
o Widely separated communities
o Distant or specialty medical facilities
• Vehicle Selection
o Nature of streets and geography
o Expected trip types – local, freq on/offs, or long distance
o Incidence of school trips, wheelchair passengers, packages
o Uniform fleet or variety of sizes & layouts
• ADA: Premium Same-Day Service
• Management & Operations
o In-House v. Contracted?
o Dedicated Fleet v. Taxis v. Mixed
o Agency contracts, other subsidy arrangements
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Reservations/Scheduling/Dispatch
Strategies to Increase Productivity
• R/S Process: Manual,
Computer-Assisted or
Computerized?
• Dynamic v. Prescheduled
• Shared Ride
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Shared Riding
1 hour
20 minute trips
3.0 Passengers per Hour
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Shared Riding
1 hour
20 minute trips
3.0 Passengers per Hour
5.0 Passengers per Hour
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Shared Riding
1 hour
Factors Affecting Shared-Riding:
 Vehicle Capacity
 Policy on Shared-Riding
 Adequacy of arrival-time window
3.0 Passengers per Hour
 Flexible response-time policy
 Reasonable demand volume
 Trained drivers and passengers
 Scheduling system with spacial awareness of
trip patterns
5.0 Passengers per Hour
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Reservations/Scheduling/Dispatch
Strategies to Increase Productivity
• R/S Process: Manual,
Computer-Assisted or
Computerized?
• Dynamic v. Prescheduled
• Shared Ride
• Group Trips
• Stand-by List
• Call-Aheads
• Taxicab Backup
• “Will Call” Returns
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
• Dialysis Returns
• Full-time/Part-time Staffing
• Driver Shift Scheduling
Vehicle Scheduling
Get About Service Capacity v. Passengers
Number of Vehicles in Service
Sample Day: 12/3/09
16
50
14
45
40
12
35
10
30
8
25
6
20
15
4
10
2
5
0
0
Time of Day
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
# Vehicles
Passenger Trips
Policies & Procedures
To Increase Productivity
 Eliminate/Minimize Slow-Downs
o Establish and enforce late cancellation, no-show policies
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Sample No-Show Late Cancellation Policies
 Greensboro Transit Authority [NC]
1. Sanctions will apply when a rider reaches or exceeds in one month the penalty
points shown on the table below.
Total Trips Scheduled Per Month.
Trips Canceled More than 2 Hours Before
Scheduled Pick-Up Time Are Not Counted
1–12 one-way trips (up to 6 round trips/mo)
13 – 25 one-way trips (up to 3 round trips/ wk)
26 – 40 one-way trips (up to 5 round trips/ wk)
41 – 60 one-way trips (up to 1 round trip/ day)
61+ one-way trips (more than 1 round trip/ day)
Penalty Points Threshold per Month
for Sanctions to Apply
3
4
6
8
10
 OCTA Access
Warnings, Penalties and Appeals Process A customer may be suspended if the number of noshows or late cancellations received during any single month exceeds 10% of their overall scheduled
monthly trips OR the number of no-shows or late cancellations exceeds five (5) during any single
month. A warning letter may be initiated after receiving the third no-show or late cancellation to
remind the customer of the policy and inform him/her that his/her ACCESS privileges may be
suspended.
34
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Policies & Procedures
To Increase Productivity
 Eliminate/Minimize Slow-Downs
o Establish and enforce late cancellation, no-show policies
o Delineate operator assistance & package policies
35
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Sample Package Policies
 Greensboro Transit Authority [NC]
Carry-On Items Policy:
Riders on GTA and SCAT services are limited to bringing on-board no more than four regular
shopping bags or other small packages or parcels. They must be able to carry their carry-on items
safely onto and off of the GTA or SCAT vehicle as well as safely control these items during vehicle
operations. Packages or parcels may not obstruct the aisle, interfere with the operation of the
passenger lift, or prevent seats from being used by other passengers.
 OCTA Access
Packages – Customers are limited to two packages the size of a grocery bag, and may use small
shopping carts to transport their items. Drivers are not required to assist customers with
packages or shopping carts.
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Policies & Procedures
To Increase Productivity
 Eliminate/Minimize Slow-Downs
o Establish and enforce late cancellation, no-show policies
o Delineate operator assistance & package policies
o Define service policies:
-- Curb-to-Curb, Door-to-Door
-- Response Policy for Immediate Requests
-- Pick-Up Window
--Wait Time
-- Ride Time
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Sample Policies
 Greensboro Transit Authority [NC]
Curb-to-Curb Service: SCAT paratransit service in which, on both the origin and
destination end of the trip, the driver gets out of the vehicle and assists the passenger
between the vehicle and a sidewalk or other safe waiting area no more than 15 feet from the
vehicle.
Door-to-Door Service: SCAT paratransit service in which the driver gets out of the vehicle
and meets/escorts the passenger from or to the door threshold of a residence, building or
main lobby of a public building. This could occur at the trip’s origin and/or destination.
Door service is available by request. Door service cannot be provided for those individuals
whose pick-up or drop-off locations would cause the driver to lose sight of the vehicle or
where the assistance by the driver may harm the individual, the driver or both. An exception
may be made for dialysis centers upon approval by dispatch. Drivers may never enter a
rider’s residence.
38
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Sample Service Policies
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Agency
Service Type
Reservations
Wait Time
Pick-Up Window
Orange County Transportation
Authority
ADA
Advance – up to 3 days
5 minutes
+30 minutes
Greensboro Transit Authority
[NC]
ADA
Advance – up to 7 days
5 minutes
+/- 15 minutes
City of Rosemead
Senior + Disabled
Advance – up to 14 days
3 minutes
+/- 15 minutes
Pomona Valley Transp
Authority – Get About
Senior + Disabled
Advance – up to 1 day
5 minutes
+ 15 minutes
PVTA – Claremont Dial-A-Ride
General Public
Immediate Request
3 minutes
Vehicle arrival 30-45
minutes from request
Fresno Handy Ride
ADA
Advance – up to 2 days
5 minutes
-5/+ 30 minutes
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Sample Policies
 Fresno, Handy Ride
Will Call Pick-Up:
Will-Call service is a “call when ready service”: Will calls are restricted to medical
trip purposes. The number of will calls accommodated each day would be limited to a
maximum number determined by Handy Ride supervisors and dispatchers, based on
the number that they feel Handy Ride can accommodate without negatively impacting
the scheduled service. Will call ceilings will be approved by FAX. Will calls will be
accommodated within 90 minutes of a request
40
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Policies & Procedures
To Increase Productivity
 Eliminate/Minimize Slow-Downs


41
o Establish and enforce late cancellation, no-show policies
o Delineate operator assistance & package policies
o Clarify service policies
Minimize Inefficient Trips
o Direct sponsored trips to nearest facility
o Fully utilize ADA trip negotiation authority
o Group similar trip O/D, especially non-ADA long trips
Create Incentives Toward Productivity
o Group fare policy
o Off-peak fares
o Define/adopt operator incentives
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Productivity Trade-Offs
Emphasis on productivity can affect:
 Ride Time
 On-Time Performance
 Operator Assistance
 Complaints
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Productivity Trade-Offs
Over-emphasis on productivity can affect:
 Ride Time
 On-Time Performance
 Operator Assistance
 Complaints
= Unintended Consequences
43
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Productivity
44
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Service Monitoring
Performance Standards
Passenger Trips per Vehicle Service Hour
Wait Time and Wait Time Deviation [demand response services]
On-Time Performance
Ride Time [average and distribution]
Phone System: Avg Hold Time, Max Hold Time, Holds over 3,5, 10 min
Complaints
Road Calls
Accidents
45
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Conflicting Standards
Pass/VSH v.
[productivity]
 Wait Time v.
46
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
On-Time Performance
Ride Time
Operator Courtesy/Assistance
Complaints
Ride Time
Incentives and Penalties
 Can be effective if used judiciously and balanced.
 Penalties cannot be arbitrary – should represent the most
realistic forecast possible of what the actual damages are
likely to be.
 If one-sided or unrealistic, penalty costs will just be included
in contractor budgets.
 Recommend initial benchmarking and annual review to
ensure achievable service standards.
 Avoid two or more penalties of same performance issue.
47
Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Transit Service Standards
Performance Criteria
1. Service Productivity
Standard
Dial-A-Ride: 2.4 Passenger Trips per Revenue Vehicle
Hour
Community Bus: 13.0 Passenger Trips per Revenue
Vehicle Hour
Incentive
Penalty
Dial-A-Ride: $200 per month for each 0.1 above 2.5
trips.RVH
Dial-A-Ride: $200 per month for each 0.1 below 2.3 trips/RVH
Community Bus: $200 per month if avg 14.0 or higher
Community Bus: $200 per month if avg 12.5 or less
2. Dial-A-Ride On-Time Performance
3. Dial-A-Ride: Failure to wait a minimum of 3
minutes after on-time vehicle arrival.
4. Dial-A-Ride: Missed Trip
[Arrival at pick-up location more than 60 minutes
after the scheduled time or not at all]
95% or better
$200 for each month that performance is 97% or
higher
$200 for each month that performance is less than 95%.
Zero (0) occurrences
None
$100 per incident of failing to wait at least 3 minutes.
Zero (0) occurrences
None
$100 per incident
$200 for each month that at least 95% of all calls are
answered within 3 minutes
$100 per month if 70.1% to 80% of all calls answered in 3 min.; $200
if 70% or less answered in 3 min
As defined in SOW
None
$100 per day, per vehicle not clean
As defined in SOW
None
$100 per incident
As defined in SOW
None
$200 for each month that reporting is submitted late, incomplete. or
with incorrect data
No more than 3 per month
None
5. Telephone Hold Times
90% of all calls shall be answered in less than 3
minutes
100% of all calls shall be answered in 5 minutes or less
5. Vehicle Cleanliness
6. Driver Uniform
7. Monthly Management Report Submission
8. Customer Complaints
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
$100 for each verified complaint received over 3 in a month
Wrap-Up
Managing paratransit efficiency is a balancing act with
service quality.
Tradeoffs should be based on system priorities and
common sense.
Environments, clientele and systems are dynamic, so
expect change and rebalance as needed.
Educate policymakers and riders to interrelated nature
of efficiency and service quality.
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies
Maximizing Paratransit Efficiencies
Roy E. Glauthier
Transportation Planning and Policy
949-650-5956
rglauthier@aol.com
George L. Sparks
Pomona Valley Transportation Authority
909-596-7664
glspvta@gmail.com
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Managing Paratransit Efficiencies