Paratransit Service Analysis
Metropolitan Area Transit (MAT) currently goes beyond the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in serving the Fargo-Moorhead area. However, continuing to do so will be a challenge in the face of a growing metropolitan area and increasing costs.
 To best address the community's changing needs, MAT has contracted with SURTC to study the challenges and determine possible solutions, says Dave Ripplinger, SURTC researcher and coordinator of the project.
"MAT's demand-response service is being stretched," he says. "Management wants to determine the best balance between maintaining affordable service for as many clients as possible and charging what is necessary to keep the system viable while remaining in compliance with federal regulations."
MAT is the public busing system in Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota, as well as Moorhead and Dilworth, Minn. Currently, MAT provides uniform ADA compliant paratransit service to these cities. In addition, the service is provided to areas more than three-quarters of a mile from a fixed-route line not subject to federal ADA regulations.
Though it is not required to do so, MAT limits its charges to a flat fee equal to twice its fixed-route fare to riders who travel anywhere in the four cities. "We are helping MAT develop service zones as well as fare structures that will help it provide affordable, high quality service to its riders while remaining in compliance with ADA requirements," Ripplinger says.
Changes may include charging riders premium fares when traveling to or from locations outside the ADA-mandated service area. The higher prices would also serve as a signal to riders and other members of the community of the increased amount of resources necessary to provide service to border areas.
A copy of the report "Metropolitan Area Transit Paratransit Service Boundary Study" (DP-166) is available for download at www.surtc.org/research/reports.php.
 SURTC researchers are determining how transportation agencies can use Intelligent Transportation Systems to better coordinate their services.
In a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) study, SURTC researcher David Ripplinger is identifying the impacts of ITS technology on coordination efforts in Kearney, Neb., and suburban Detroit, Mich. SURTC researcher Del Peterson is examining the impacts on coordination efforts in North Dakota.
Reach Your Destination Easily, better known as RYDE, provides bordered transportation to the Kearney community. Despite its brief history, having been established in 2000, RYDE has seen tremendous growth in ridership, especially after the introduction of ITS technologies, Ripplinger notes.
"RYDE has benefited from the development and implementation of its own ITS architecture," he says. "This structure defined the technological components of RYDE's system and how each component interacts with another. Though the process was demanding, it proved to be an incredible planning and communication tool."
The Suburban Metropolitan Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), located in suburban Detroit, has long been an innovator in both coordination and ITS, Ripplinger says. SMART provides fixed-route and demand-response service to 74 communities in three counties. The agency has developed a centralized data management system allowing individuals or organizations to book rides on SMART vehicles using on-site terminals. This eliminates the need for phone calls and centrally-located scheduling staff.
The state of North Dakota has implemented NDinfo.org, a technology system providing the community with access to an online, statewide human service directory. It is essentially a one-stop shop of all the public transportation systems and providers in the entire state. The project is helpful to transit service providers, professionals and the public.
Users are able to search transportation schedules, hotel shuttles, vehicle rentals, taxis and trains. The long term goal is that users would be able to get information, plan and pay for a trip from a kiosk or PDA.
"The study will have two outcomes. The first is to assist the FTA in better understanding how it can direct future policy with regard to ITS dollars," Ripplinger notes. "The second is that researchers and transit professionals will see how ITS technology has been used and where it works and where it doesn't in terms of coordination."
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