Evaluating the service quality of para-transit systems: an exploratory study of the Toledo area regional transit authority

Though essential for the community, paratransit systems are more expensive to sustain than fixed-route based mass transit systems due to their customised, on-demand service requirements. Thus, it is common that many paratransit services in the USA lead to cost overruns. To bail out cost overruns for paratransit service providers, the public transit authority often subsidises the greater portions of paratransit services. In the era of budget shortfalls, the public transit authority is faced with the dilemma of controlling paratransit costs without deteriorating paratransit services. To better cope with such dilemma, this paper identifies a host of factors such as on-time door-to-door or curb-to-curb services, flexible pickup-/drop-off windows, handling of late-cancellations and no-shows, shared rides, short-notice services, peak-hour feeder services, and overnight service that influence the overall service quality of paratransit in the metropolitan Toledo area using the survey questionnaire.