Paratransit, Inc. was founded in 1978 as a 501(c)3 private-non-profit for the single purpose of providing transportation services. The organization is located in Sacramento County, CA and focuses on the human service community. In 1979 the California State Legislature enacted legislation that provided for the creation of Consolidated Transportation Service Agency (CTSA), which still exists today. CTSA’s are designated by the responsible regional planning agency. Paratransit, Inc. was the first such designated agency in California.
Sacramento County encompasses approximately 994-square miles in the middle of the 400-mile long Central Valley, which is California’s prime agricultural region. The region’s population is 1,445,000 and Sacramento is the second largest inland City.
Since its designation in 1981 as a CTSA, Paratransit, Inc. has taken a leadership role in partnering with local human service agencies. This has resulted in many human service agencies providing service that would have otherwise been shifted to the local transit American with Disabilities Act (ADA) complementary paratransit service. This has saved the transit district money and provides a more personalized quality service.
The services provided by Paratransit, Inc. in its human service coordination/mobility management role include interagency resource management, vehicle maintenance, travel training, one-stop call center, technical support, record keeping, loaner vehicles, scheduling, fueling, grant writing, and insurance.
Maintenance
Paratransit , Inc. initiated centralized maintenance in 1979. In 2008, 53 agencies purchased maintenance services from Paratransit, Inc. Fleet size varied from one to 56 vehicles. Some of the customers are human service agency partners, but other organizations take advantage of this service. This program provides skilled maintenance services as well as extended hours and other features to organizations that would never be able to provide these professional services because of the relative size of their organization.
Travel training
This service trains and teaches disabled, elderly, and low income individuals how to use the fixed route service, thus improving their mobility and lowering the cost of demand response service. Through its partnership with Area 4 Agency on Aging, Paratransit, Inc. was able to transition a substantial number of elderly individuals over the age of 60 to fixed route from CTSA nutrition and senior taxi programs. In addition the agency has trained hundreds of disabled individuals to ride fixed route transit services.
Support Services
Paratransit, Inc. also provides technical support to many social service agencies in the Sacramento region. These services include:
- Grant writing
- Specification review and preparation
- Central record keeping for maintenance inspections
- Loaner vehicles
- Fueling
- Insurance for small human service agencies
- Routing and scheduling for human service agencies
There are currently 12 human service agency partners. Each agency operates some vehicles that are provided directly by Paratransit, Inc. These are the CTSA vehicles listed in the Table. The Agency vehicles are those obtained by the agency through other means including 5310. The combination makes up their entire operating fleet.
Agency | Fleet Size | Drivers | Population Served | |
---|---|---|---|---|
CTSA | Agency | |||
Alta Regional Center1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Individuals with developmental disabilities |
Catholic Healthcare West | 1 | 0 | 1 | Nursing home clients, elderly |
Eskaton | 5 | 0 | 4 | Elderly |
Asian Community Center (ACC) | 3 | 8 | 552 | Clients 55+ years old, low income, cognitive/physical disabilities |
Developmental Disabilities Service Organization (DDSO) | 6 | 5 | N/A | Individuals with developmental disabilities |
Easter Seals | 3 | 8 | 13 | Disabled Individuals |
Elk Grove Adult Community Training | 1 | 10 | 5 | Adults with developmental disabilities |
Health for All | 4 | 9 | 10 | Elderly, disabled adults |
Greater Sacramento Urban League | 1 | 1 | 1 | Moderate to low income elderly |
Sutter Health | 7 | 15 | 18 | Frail elderly (average age 84) |
Robertson Adult Health | 3 | 1 | 4 | Elderly, disabled adults |
United Cerebral Palsy3 | 1 | 56 | 50 | Individuals with developmental disabilities |
Community Transit Agency | 1 | 0 | 1 | Developmental disabilities |
1Paratransit, Inc. provides buses and drivers for the Alta Regional Center
2ACC has a driver corps consisting of entirely volunteer drivers
3Paratransit Inc. provides office and parking for UCP fleet; UCP provides some ADA service under contract to Paratransit.
Paratransit, Inc. had a 2010 operating budget of $19,300,000 and provided over 785,000 trips. This is an average cost of $24.59 per trip. These figures include trips provided by the agency partners who provide the majority of the “subscription” or “standing order” trips which are less expensive because of the group nature of the trips. A study done by Paratransit in 2008 shows that ADA service provided 279,140 trips at an average cost of $43.52, while the CTSA service provided 414,471 trips at an average cost of $17.05. The combined average of $30.29 for that year is well below most California transit system ADA costs.
The funding is also very unique. The various funding resources include:
- Sacramento RT ADA service contract
- Local Measure A sales tax revenue allocated to the CTSA
- Transportation Development Act funds (state sales tax) from the State of California
- Donations
- Grants including 5310, 5316, & 5317
- Contracts for service and maintenance
- Private pay participant fees
- MediCal and Medicaid
Contact Information:
Phil McGuire, CEO
Innovative Paradigms, a Division of Paratransit, Inc.
philm@innovativeparadigms.com
(916) 868-6215
Interviewed By: James J. McLary
Interview Dates: October 5, 2010 and December 22, 2010
Date of This Report: 12/29/2010