Event Announcement, Easter Seals Project ACTION
Distance Learning Session

"On-Time Performance in ADA Paratransit"

Presented by: Marilyn Golden, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), Berkeley, Calif., with Russell Thatcher,TranSystems, Boston, Mass.
2 - 3:30 p.m. Eastern time
Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008

A transcript in PDF format is now available for this session. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view PDF files. Download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Marilyn Golden, policy analyst with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), and Russell Thatcher, senior transportation planner with TranSystems, discussed topics of on-time performance in paratransit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their presentations addressed the following:

• What are the ADA requirements pertaining to on-time performance in ADA paratransit?
  
• What determinations have been made by the Federal Transit Administration relating to on-time performance in ADA paratransit, in compliance reviews and administrative complaints?
  
• What are best practices in the transit industry related to on-time performance in ADA paratransit?

Topics included:

• How the ADA addresses on-time performance in paratransit
• Capacity constraints and how they relate to on-time performance
• The one-hour reservation window
• The importance of desired arrival or appointment time
• The on-time pick-up window
• Negotiated time versus scheduled time
• Trip length
• Factors outside the transit agency’s control
• Operational practices to enhance on-time performance

Resources for this presentation

To support participants' learning experience, two sets of materials and a transcript (PDF) of the actual program are available for review and/or download:

• An outline (PDF) about Americans with Disabilities Act Transportation provisions (Titles II and III)
• A list of additional helpful sources from DREDF
• A transcript (PDF) of the Aug. 7 program

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view PDF files. Download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

About the presenters

Marilyn Golden is a policy analyst at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), a national law and policy center dedicated to furthering disability civil rights. She has been closely involved with the Americans with Disabilities Act throughout all the stages of its proposal and passage and now during its implementation. Since the ADA’s passage, Golden has continued to play a key role in policy development on the federal level in the areas of transportation and architectural barriers. She has worked on many policy issues during and since the ADA’s passage to improve public transportation for people with disabilities. She has also authored or coordinated many ADA-related transportation papers and projects, and led numerous in-depth training programs on ADA transportation.

Russell Thatcher is a senior transportation planner with TranSystems, a transportation planning and consulting firm based in Boston, Mass. He has 30 years of experience in transit and paratransit planning, policy, and operations. He has particular expertise in ADA transportation requirements, fixed-route and ADA paratransit service planning and evaluation, ADA paratransit eligibility determination, and innovative services for individuals with disabilities. Thatcher is a co-author of FTA’s ADA Paratransit Handbook and author of FTA’s ADA Paratransit Eligibility Manual. He also worked with FTA’s Office of Civil Rights to develop an ADA Compliance Review Manual. Since 1996, he has conducted reviews of paratransit and fixed-route services in more than 45 cities.