UTA executes an about-face on plans for paratransit

Officials from the Utah Transit Authority told a legislative interim committee Wednesday afternoon that previously announced changes to paratransit service are off the table and new plans are in works that will be easier on the disabled community's wallets.

The previous plans called for increasing paratransit fares from the current $2.50 per one-way trip to $4, and limiting service to people who live within three-quarters of a mile of a current public transit stop.

Wednesday afternoon, UTA attorney Bruce Jones told the Transportation Interim Committee that UTA is working on a plan to receive state and federal funding so that increases to paratransit shuttles will not be higher or more frequent than other fare increases.

Other ideas in the works are a statewide central dispatch center for disabled transportation services, so-called "deviated routes," taxis, and expanding service to disabled folks who live on the edges of Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties who currently do not qualify for public transit.

Barbara Toomer, secretary of the Disabled Rights Action Committee in Salt Lake City, said the plan will likely be embraced by the disabled community, which fought UTA's original plan.

"If they say no to the increase in fares, that's going to make a lot of (the disabled community) really happy," she said.

UTA is applying for a $300,000 federal grant to study the viability of a central dispatch center for disabled riders. Now, vans for senior living centers or activity centers may be picking up disabled passengers in the same neighborhoods and dropping them off in nearby locations. But there is no coordination between the different state and federal agencies and nonprofits that provide transportation, said Justin Jones, UTA manager of government relations. UTA wants to coordinate with organizations that have the vans.

UTA is also considering the idea of deviated routes, which Toomer said was a concept that started in Sweden in the mid-1980s. Buses have flexibility to turn off the main route and pick people up at their curbs. The deviations are arranged in advance. UTA would charge $1 for people who request deviated routes, and anyone would qualify. UTA has already experimented with deviated routes in Sandy.

"They use smaller buses because they go into the neighborhoods," Toomer said. "I think it's a marvelous idea."

Federal law requires UTA to serve disabled people who live within three-quarters of a mile of a bus route. UTA had previously grandfathered some 230 disabled people who live outside three-quarters of a mile but the original plan would have discontinued providing service to them.

"In this alternative, they would continue to serve beyond the three-quarter with a new service, route deviation," Justin Jones said.