Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation: Deviated Fixed Route and Demand Response Service: Creating Solutions in Rural and Small Urban Communities


ESPA Hosts Free Audio Conference

As part of Easter Seals Project ACTION’s Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation series, Project ACTION will conduct a teleconference highlighting examples of deviated fixed-route and demand response models that provide accessible transportation services in small urban and rural environments.

Two communities, Alger County, Michigan and Morgantown, West Virginia, will be profiled, and representatives of the local transit provider and disability community will give presentations. A central focus of the session will be the importance of a strong connection between transit and disability groups along with its impact on transportation services. The conference is intended for transportation providers, advocates, and people with disabilities interested in learning more about creating accessible transportation options.

The one-hour program will be held at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday February 16, 2011. Resources related to the presentation will be posted on this page one week prior to the event.

In order to give presenters an opportunity to learn about the interests of participants, everyone is invited to email their areas of interest and/or questions to espadistancelearning@easterseals.com one week prior to the conference. The presenters will review these comments and do their best to address these issues during the presentation. Please type “Deviated, Demand Response” in the subject line and make submissions no later than February 9.

Read the transcript (*.PDF).

Session Description

The presentation will address the following:

  • Features of effective deviated fixed-route and demand response systems
  • Ways to ensure these systems are accessible to riders with disabilities
  • The importance of collaboration between transit providers and the disability community in system design

Resources

Presenter Outlines

Background Materials

Mountain Line Transit Authority - Background information booklet (PDF), 2011
Provides an overview of the operations of Mountain Line, including system history and development as well as several metrics related to operations and an overview of the driver training process.

Easter Seals Project ACTION-produced resources

Transportation Services for People with Disabilities in Rural and Small Urban Communities (PDF). 2006
Identifies issues and presents innovative and effective solutions in meeting transportation needs of people with disabilities in rural and small urban areas.

TCRP Reports related to Deviated Fixed Route and Demand Response Systems

TCRP Report 136, Guidebook for Rural Demand-Response Transportation: Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance. 2009
This report explores the diversity of demand-response transportation (DRT) services and examines definitions of performance data and performance measures. The report also highlights the typology of rural DRT systems and includes examples of performance data from more than 20 representative rural systems.

TCRP Report 124, Guidebook for Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance of Demand-Response Transportation. 2008
The report is designed to help demand-response transportation (DRT) systems to measure, assess, and improve their performance. The report focuses on DRT in urban areas.

TCRP Report 95: Chapter 6, Demand-Responsive/ADA - Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes. 2004
Includes information for demand response services for the general public and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) services.

TCRP Report 95: Chapter 10, Bus Routing and Coverage, 2004
This report addresses traveler response to, and related impacts of, conventional bus transit alterations. Included are routing changes at both the individual route and system levels, new bus systems and system clousures, bus system expansion and retrenchment, increases and decreases in geographic coverage, and routing and coverage changes made together with fare changes.

TRP Synthesis 76, Integration of Paratransit and Fixed-Route Transit Services, 2008.
This publication highlights the experiences of transit agencies that have attempted to depart from the traditional binary model of separate fixed-route and paratransit services by seeking a variety of ways to integrate their services,

TRP Synthesis 53, Operational Experiences with Flexible Transit Services, 2004
This synthesis documents and summarizes tansit agency experiences with "flexible transit services," including all types of hybrid services that are not pure demand-responsive (including dial-a-ride and ADA paratransit) or fixed-route services, but that fall somewhere in between those traditional service models.

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How to participate

Sign up for this session before Monday, February 7. After you register, connection information will be provided in a confirmation email.

If you and other members of your organization wish to participate, we encourage you to register once and to use one phone line by inviting others to join you in the room. This will allow for maximum participation.

Meet the Presenters

David Bruffy is General Manager of the Mountain Line Transit Authority located in Morgantown, WV, situated about 90 minutes south of Pittsburgh, PA.  David worked for the City of Morgantown for 10-years in various capacities and finished his career there as Assistant City Manager before taking his current position as GM of Mountain Line Transit. 

In his 13 years with Mountain Line, David has seen ridership increase 400% and has tripled the transit workforce to more than 65 employees. Ridership among people with disabilities has increased from 10,000 annual rides at its complimentary paratransit service peak, to 24,888 rides in the past 12 months. Mountain Line has been using a deviated fixed route service for the last 10 years.

Mr. Bruffy recently joined the board of the Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living.

Rochelle Cotey has served as the Executive Director of ALTRAN, the Alger County, Michigan public transportation system since its inception in 1976. She has overseen the system’s growth from a single bus serving only seniors to a community-supported, regionally connected service utilizing fourteen vehicles to provide over 100,000 passenger trips annually.

Ms. Cotey has a long history of community involvement, serving also as the director of the Alger County Commission on Aging. Ms. Cotey also serves on the boards of the Michigan Public Transportation Association, the Community Transportation Association of America, and the Alger Marquette Medical Access Coalition.

Emily Markle is a Peer Advocate at the Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living, with a focus on promoting transportation options in the community.

Debbie Cain works at the West Virginia University Center for Excellence in Disabilities, and serves as President of the Vandalia Chapter of Mountain State Council of the Blind. Ms Cain is a frequent user of Mountain Line Transit services.

This call will be transcribed. Approximately 45 days following the program a PDF and text file will be available on this page and Braille and audio CDs can be requested by contacting us at espadistancelearning@easterseals.com.

This conference is part of Easter Seals Project ACTION’s Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation Teleconference Series. We invite you to learn more about our learning opportunities by subscribing to Project ACTION’s online newsletter, Extra. Go to our home page. In the upper-right-hand corner you can subscribe by entering your email address.

If you have any questions regarding this event, contact Rik Opstelten at 800-659-6428 or espadistancelearning@easterseals.com.

Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

We're sorry, the deadline for registering for this event has passed.