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As costs for Clinton County’s paratransit service escalate, the county is weighing replacing the service with a deviation service that will require patients to book appointments in advance.
PLATTSBURGH — Clinton County is considering eliminating their paratransit transport bus service and replacing it with an on-demand option that will see buses deviating from their regular routes in order to accommodate disabled passengers.
Clinton County Public Transit (CCPT) will hold a public hearing to discuss the proposed changes on Monday, June 5.
A stakeholder meeting with transportation providers and human service agencies will follow on June 6.
LOSING MONEY
At present, the wheelchair-accessible bus fleet provides transport for disabled passengers who cannot utilize the regular bus routes.
But the system is hemorrhaging money, said CCPT Planning Technician James Bosley, and the deficit is only expected to grow with projected equipment upgrades.
The net cost to the program was about $64,000 in 2016, a number that may double this year.
“Because demand is increasing, it looks like a $122,000 loss for 2017 the way thing are going,” Bosley told the Sun. “If demand continues to increase as it has been, that cost would continue to increase each year.”
The annual operating budget for the total transit system is $1.3 million annually.
Requests for paratransit trips have doubled over the last 18 months, Bosley said, and CCPT is unable to provide all of the trips being requested with their current resources.
The county must now either expand the service or explore alternatives.
The reasons for the uptick are tough to pinpoint, Bosley said, but is likely due to increased awareness due to promotional efforts.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires counties to cover paratransit service for eligible disabled citizens, which means the county will not completely eliminate the service.
But adding vehicles and operating costs to meet the increased demand would cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, in part, due to any equipment purchases made outside of the Federal Transit Administration’s capital assistance program.
While exact numbers aren’t peeled out for paratransit, “we have determined the demand-response service is more costly to operate with regular routes,” Bosley said.
ROUTE DEVIATION
The county’s solution is shifting to a system of “deviated routes,” or when passengers call ahead to arrange a pick-up.
A county-run analysis indicates that “most” of the trips currently being provided by paratransit could be provided by deviation, Bosley said.
CCPT would deviate from the regular routes up to three-quarters of a mile in order to pick up any passenger who requests the service in advance, as per federal regulations.
In the event of delays, CCPT can deploy a second bus to keep the route on schedule.
County Planning Director Rodney Brown said that system would entirely cover the city.
“If you take all of our routes, three-fourths of a mile includes all of the city,” Brown told county legislators last week. “There are no dead zones in the city.”
Bosley likened the potential shift to a more customized taxi service.
“This alternative to paratransit service would transport more passengers per run and would be a more efficient and therefore less costly way to meet the transportation needs of the community,” he said.
But Bosley admitted the deviation would be less convenient for some users due to transfers, which are currently not utilized since the existing system is “origin-to-destination.”
“In almost all cases, they can still get to where they want to go, but it may be a larger route, and they have to transfer buses,” Bosley said.
Brown said the county will build in 15 minutes to existing routes to account for two deviations per run.
“We believe it’s going to be far less costly this way,” he said. “It’s just going to be far less convenient.”
Brown said the average deviation clocks in at around seven minutes each.
“The bus will spend extra time elsewhere to keep on schedule,” he said.
Passengers must make requests the day before or up to two weeks in advance, and the deviation would carry an additional fare.
One hundred and eighty eight individuals used the service in 2016.
Brown estimates that paratransit destinations are 90 percent shopping, appointments and work. The rest are recreational.
Lawmakers appeared to be comfortable with the proposed changes after being briefed.
“We want to make sure that people can get to the doctor, get to work,” said Simon Conroy (Area 4). “It’s just going to take a little longer, that’s what it comes down to.”
NCCI OBJECTS
North Country Center for Independence Executive Director Robert Poulin disagrees with the proposed changes.
“We feel that this is bad for the whole bus system and bad for people with disabilities,” Poulin said in an email. “The changes will hit seniors who have medical conditions and only Medicare particularly hard as it will dramatically increase travel time to medical appointments.”
Past efforts by the county to use deviation systems resulted in delayed buses, Poulin said.
Lift assistance alone can take anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes per passenger, he said.
Patients risk being fined if they are late — and may even lose their doctor if the problem becomes habitual.
Poulin said the county can use a hybrid system that continues to utilize the buses in good working condition while also incorporating medical taxis into the system.
To safeguard against the concerns of fraud and abuse that are percolating in Essex County, Poulin said the county can contract with a trusted local provider.
“Eyes here on the ground, full control,” Poulin said. “They can do that.”
Poulin, who is legally blind, has firsthand experience with the system and is aware of its shortcomings.
“They need to go back to the basics of running paratransit exactly how they’re supposed to.”
NCCI will host a “save the bus system” event to raise awareness on June 2 at the Government Center from 2-5 p.m.
“We have to give (residents) proactive things they can do to combat this change.”
Brown acknowledged NCCI’s concerns and said he met with the nonprofit.
“They were not very happy with this,” he said. “They believe the inconvenience is harder on the disabled community than on those not in paratransit.”
But, he said: “There’s not a lot of alternatives.”
While the June 5 meeting will be designed to foster open discussion with the public, comments at the meeting on Tuesday will focus on discussion between stakeholder agencies on how to identify and meet transportation needs, officials said.
— Elizabeth Izzo contributed reporting from Plattsburgh
