By Erin McAuliff
This past year, the SFMTA’s paratransit programs safely provided close to half a million trips to older adults and people with disabilities around San Francisco. These services provide door-to-door transportation to people unable to independently use the Muni system. They include SF Access Paratransit, Group Van service, Shop-a-Round shuttles, the Essential Trip Card Program (ETC) and the Van Gogh Recreational program.
In addition to traditional van services, the SFMTA partners with the local taxi industry to provide cost-efficient and customer-friendly taxi options. Payment is accepted in every San Francisco taxi, including accessible ramp-equipped taxis, with the swipe of an SF Paratransit Taxi debit card.
Here are a few accomplishments staff at the SFMTA and Transdev (the contractor responsible for managing SF Paratransit services) have been working on behind the scenes to improve our service offerings and continue to fill transportation gaps experienced by older adults and people with disabilities:
- We bought 26 new paratransit vans with added safety features like audible right turn notifications to warn pedestrians and cyclists; automated safety technology that provides alerts to operators to avoid collisions; and DriveCam technology that records safety-related events. When we retired our older vehicles, we took the opportunity to transfer three retired vehicles to the San Francisco Fire Department to support the Community Paramedicine Street Crisis Response Team and one retired vehicle to the SFMTA Customer Service Center to serve as its first Mobile Sales Van, bringing SFMTA services to the local community.
- The Essential Trip Card program launched in April 2020 as a response to the pandemic. Since then, we have enrolled over 5,000 older adults and people with disabilities, providing over 160,000 taxi trips. In July, the program, and the SFMTA’s partnership with local non-profit Community Living Campaign, was featured as a case study for reducing isolation and improving health outcomes among older adults by the National Center for Mobility Management. Community Living Campaign provides full fare assistance to San Francisco paratransit riders in need.
- Last year, we officially launched SF Access Online to allow riders to schedule their SF Access van trips online. We also launched SF Paratransit Taxi Online, which allows riders, including ETC customers, to pay for their monthly taxi fare allotment and track trip activity online.
- San Francisco Paratransit Operations was part of the community emergency response team that organized and provided special services when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Paratransit operators trained by Emergency Management Services (EMS), teamed up with EMS staff to transport vulnerable people to COVID-19 testing, treatment and shelter locations. The work was only assigned to drivers who volunteered, even at the beginning of the pandemic, when no one fully understood the risks of the virus. At its height of demand, 27 full-time drivers were dedicated to this service.
- This past May, the SFMTA Board of Directors recognized the employees of SF Paratransit for all the work they have been doing, especially the work to innovate new programs that helped our passengers stay connected with essential services during the pandemic. The partnership with EMS also received the 2022 Innovative Practice Bronze Award from the National Association of City and County Health Officials.
- SFMTA staff have been hard at work preparing for the integration and pilot of Clipper 2.0. SF Paratransit will be the pilot agency to test out using the next generation of Clipper Cards, allowing riders to pay for a paratransit van trip with Clipper for the first time ever.
The SF Paratransit program also houses the Mobility Management Center, a one-stop-shop for older adults and people with disabilities to access transportation information, resources and referrals tailored to an individual’s needs. Mobility Management staff are available to answer individual questions by phone, email or in-person, or you can schedule an in-person or virtual group presentation for your organization.
San Francisco paratransit operations are funded by San Francisco’s half-cent transportation sales tax. As mentioned in our informational blog, in November voters will have an opportunity to decide whether to extend the sales tax for another 30 years and allocate 11% of the funds to paratransit. More information can be found in the Department of Elections’ Voter Guide under Proposition L or on the SFCTA Half-cent Sales Tax page.
San Francisco has proudly provided paratransit services since 1978, and we have never been more aware of how essential our programs are than during the past few years. We are so grateful for the work our paratransit staff has done and continues to do to serve older adults and people with disabilities in San Francisco.
Published October 15, 2022 at 03:38AM
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