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Meeting clients' needs for paratransit: An examination of agency preferences for remote scheduling and dispatch

The application of ITS to public transportation has spawned a renewed interest in paratransit, because APTS offer transit agencies the opportunity to better meet the ever-changing trip demands of the paratransit environment. Furthermore, advanced scheduling and dispatch (ASD) systems allow for remote scheduling and dispatch, which allows transit operators to offer intensive users of paratransit the ability to reserve trips through direct computer access to the transit agency's reservation and dispatch system. In the US, where the elderly and disabled populations represent a large fraction of paratransit users, social-service agencies catering to these populations stand as important intermediaries between transit operators and their riders and therefore are ideal users of the remote capabilities of ASD. Despite this clear link between such agencies and paratransit, no research exists on agency preferences for and attitudes toward ASD's remote capabilities. The current study begins to fill this gap. To do so, the authors conducted predominantly qualitative telephone interviews with representatives of 13 agencies in the Detroit metropolitan area who use the paratransit services offered by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation. Respondents, consisting of both agency directors and transportation coordinators, were asked to evaluate their current service, rate possible service changes incorporating ASD and remote capabilities, and to describe elements of their ideal paratransit systems, including trip reservation and dispatch operations. Among the key findings, agency representatives have indicated that their clients rely heavily on public transportation. They hope to see SMART efficiently and effectively provide transportation within Southeast Michigan to their clients. Agency representatives believe that a regional transportation system will provide such service and both ASD and automatic vehicle location (AVL) will provide the technology required to form a regional transportation system.