No Time Like the Present: The Effects of On-Demand Trips for Paratransit Customers on Rider Mobility, Wellbeing, and Health

About a quarter of Americans with disabilities experience poverty. One contributing factor is a lack of physical mobility, which may limit access to health care, social relationships, and economic participation. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act requires public transit agencies to provide riders unable to use fixed-route transit with paratransit alternatives, paratransit users are generally required to book trips a day in advance, constraining flexibility. In this study, we will conduct a randomized controlled trial of King County Metro’s new Access On-Demand program, which allows paratransit users to book same-day trips. This is the first study to evaluate the effects of an on-demand transportation option on paratransit customers’ mobility, transportation security, health, and wellbeing. The research design, which will leverage administrative data complemented by surveys, is the product of a long collaboration between the research team and King County Metro and is informed by an non-experimental pilot.