Adapting the Swedish Service Route Model to Suburban Transit in the United States

Since the early implementation of the complementary paratransit provision of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) in 1990, transit operators in the United States have been challenged by the increasing demand for service and its low productivity relative to traditional accessible bus service. Over the same period, these agencies have been challenged by the cost of a demand for new conventional buses in low-density areas. During the 1980s, Sweden faced a similar challenge as demand for special transportation service (STS), a form of municipal paratransit serving older persons and people with disabilities whose mobility needs could not be accommodated through conventional public transit services, increased after becoming mandatory in 1979. The introduction of the Service Route, a scheduled bus service designed to serve persons who could not be served by conventional transit, resulted in lower costs per passenger, while offering a convenient alternative to STS for many older persons and persons with disabilities. This paper examines the application of the Swedish service route concept in the United States, offering a lower-cost alternative to conventional scheduled bus service for the general public and providing convenient connections to existing traditional bus and rail public transportation services. The specific cost and productivity impacts of two service route systems developed over the past decade in two U.S. suburban counties are presented. These systems provide a lower-cost alternative to the existing advance reservation service while expanding the availability of local bus options for the general public and for transportation disadvantaged populations.