Regional Paratransit Services: An Evaluation

The primary purpose of this paper is to evaluate a data collection method that is being used in a public transportation project in Barnstable County, Mass. An integral part of the method is the use of a serially numbered rider identification pass. Each person who uses the bus service acquires a pass in advance and completes a questionnaire regarding their socioeconomic characteristics and physical disabilities. When a passholder telephones to schedule a trip, the dispatcher records his or her pass number, pickup time, trip purpose, origin, and destination. As a result, socioeconomic and trip data are collected for 100% of all riders. These data may be used to: (1)Evaluate vehicle productivity and efficiency; (2)examine the impacts of local policy decisions; (3)assess the portion of a deficit to be paid by each town; (4)develop social service agency user charges and contractual agreements; (5)identify social service agency eligibles; and (6)describe user characteristics.