Offers information from selected transit agencies about the operational practices used to provide Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit services and identifies factors perceived by transit personnel to have influenced the selection of service delivery methodology. It focuses on the state of the practice in paratransit contracting and service delivery methods to comply with ADA paratransit provisions.
The scope of this synthesis is to (1) search out useful information on the use of computer-aided scheduling and dispatch (CASD) in demand-responsive transit (DRT) services, (2) develop an amalgamation or compendium of the current knowledge and successful practices used in computerizing the functions necessary to efficiently and effectively operate such DRT services, and (3) report on measures used to resolve specific problems in planning and implementing CASD. The ultimate objective in compiling a considerable storehouse of information is to make this information available to the public transit community. Private and nonprofit organizations that are providing DRT services will similarly benefit from a review of these results.
"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 160: Paratransit Emergency Preparedness and Operations Handbook includes guidance, strategies, tools, and resources to help paratransit service providers plan and prepare for, respond to, and recover from a range of emergencies. The guidance has applicability to urban, suburban, rural, and tribal paratransit operating environments. The project that developed TCRP Report 160 also a PowerPoint presentation describing the entire project. A link to the HTML version of TCRP Report 160 will be available on this site by the second week of March 2013."--Pub. info.
In the interest of learning more about contracting as a method of transit service delivery, the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) called on the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to conduct a study of contracting by recipients of federal transit grants. TEA-21 called for an examination of the extent and practice of transit service contracting and its effects on operating costs, customer service, safety, and other aspects of service quality and quantity. To conduct the study, TRB convened a 12-member committee of experts in public transportation management, labor, economics, and public policy. In carrying out the study, the committee reviewed previous reports on transit service contracting; conducted its own nationwide survey of public transit systems and their general managers; and interviewed transit managers, labor union leaders, contractors, and members of transit policy boards. Resulting findings and conclusions are summarized in this report, along with additional insights and ideas for follow-on study. The contents are organized as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Public and Private Provision of Transit in the United States; (3) Conceptual Framework and Previous Studies on Contracting; (4) Transit Service Contracting in the United States: Extent and Practice; (5) Transit Contracting Experiences and Advice from General Managers; and (6) Summary and Assessment.
"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 455: Alternative Technical Concepts for Contract Delivery Methods Transportation documents various methods by which agencies have successfully implemented alternative technical concepts (ATCs) during the highway contracting process. The report identifies methods that promote transparency and fairness, while at the same time protecting the industry's right to confidentiality. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration defines an ATC as "a request by a proposer to modify a contract requirement, specifically for that proposer's use in gaining competitive benefit during the bidding or proposal process ... [and] must provide a solution that is equal to or better than the owner's base design requirements in the invitation for bid or request for proposal document."--Publisher's note.
TCRP Report 136: Guidebook for Rural Demand-Response Transportation: Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance will be of interest to rural public transportation systems that provide demand-response transit (DRT) services and to the communities they serve. The Guidebook is a resource to assist DRT systems to measure, assess, and improve their performance, focusing on DRT systems in rural areas.
Recent technological advances have made feasible new and improved approaches for organizing and delivering local passenger transportation. This book draws on a selection of papers presented at the International Paratransit Conference in Monterey in October 2014 to capture these exciting developments.
