Approve the City of Alameda Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for Fiscal Year 2024/2025
Recommendation to Approve the City of Alameda Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for Fiscal Year 2024/2025
To: Honorable President and Members of the Commission for People with Disabilities
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda transportation services for seniors and people with disabilities is a comprehensive paratransit program providing mobility management, travel training, and disaster preparedness. It administers two pilot programs: Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass program and the Alameda Independent Mobility (AIM) program, and reports to our funder, the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC). The Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass program currently serves over 820 low-income residents and has provided over 178,000 rides. The AIM program provides subsidized Uber/Lyft rides through a concierge service provided by Eden I&R to over 125 low-income residents who are fully enrolled in East Bay Paratransit. Recommendations for the fiscal year 2024/2025 include approval to continue the two pilot programs, and an increase in program management to handle the higher volume of contacts and community support.
Background
Alameda County Measure BB provides the City of Alameda (City) with a dedicated funding source for transportation programs serving people with disabilities and seniors. East Bay Paratransit (EBP) provides paratransit service for people who are unable to use AC Transit and BART’s fixed route services because of a disability or a disabling health condition, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As required by the funding agency - the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) - each jurisdiction must submit annually a paratransit program plan application to receive the local Measure BB funds for the next fiscal year, which is the purpose of this staff report.
Information about the City of Alameda transportation services for seniors and people with disabilities is available at AlamedaCA.gov/paratransit <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/paratransit>. Currently, the City of Alameda paratransit program includes the following locally-developed components to address the mobility challenges of older adults and people with disabilities:
Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass Program is in the second year of a three-year pilot program for low-income residents of the City of Alameda who are ages 65+ or are between the ages of 18 - 64 and have a certified disability.
Alameda Point Collaborative receives 167 subsidized Clipper BayPasses that allows for free transit on 23 public transit systems throughout the Bay Area.
AIM (Alameda Independent Mobility) just completed the second of a three-year pilot program offering curb-to-curb transportation network company (TNC) services through a third-party concierge service provider - Eden I&R, Inc. - for low-income City of Alameda residents who are East Bay Paratransit (EBP) members.
Travel Training provides community education in monthly Transportation 101 workshops, including trip planning and transit app training, as well as Hop on the Bus with Us providing introduction and experience taking public transportation.
Outreach includes customer service, creating and distributing materials and promotions, press releases, community outreach and presentations. Translate applications and support documents to facilitate participation of non-English speaking residents. Collaborate with the Alameda Fire Department to facilitate and implement a disaster preparedness database for people with disabilities and seniors.
Group Trips include monthly trips for Mastick Senior Center members. Leisure Club transportation for adults with developmental disabilities who meet twice a month, and an annual picnic for Skilled Nursing Facility residents (paused and has not resumed since COVID-19 pandemic).
Capital Program, including bus stop benches and improvements, ADA improvements in the public right of way.
Project Management by City staff to manage the program.
Discussion
City staff is recommending a total budget of $1,350,613 for the Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for fiscal year 2024-25, which is approximately $337,642 more than the current fiscal year because the use of reserve funds and the City’s program participation has grown.
FY 2023-24 STATUS SUMMARY
For the current fiscal year, the City has experienced a return to activities as public health restrictions have been lifted. The recent rise in RSV virus, the flu and rising number of COVID cases has not had a measurable impact on the Paratransit program. A status summary is as follows:
Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass Program
The Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass Program grew more than 140% between December 2022 and December 2023, both for unique riders and monthly rides as illustrated in Figure 1. As of December 2023, the City has issued over 820 free bus passes to low-income Alameda residents between the age of 18 and 64 with a certified disability, and seniors over the age of 65. These passholders have boarded buses more than 178,000 times since the program began in June 2022. In 2023, 142,000 rides were taken with an average of 390 boardings per day.
Program Cost
This program is based on a “pay as you go" model, with the City paying AC Transit per ride with the per-ride rate varying according to ridership levels. As of December 2023, the average cost per ride was $1.15, down 31% from $1.66 at the end of 2022.
Alameda Point Collaborative
In addition to the Free Bus Pass program, the City supports mobility needs for residents at the Alameda Point Collaborative, which is working to end homelessness by providing housing and services to create communities where formerly homeless families and individuals can flourish. Beginning in 2017, qualifying residents living in Alameda Point Collaborative’s 167 units received one free EasyPass per unit providing unlimited, free access to AC Transit. In FY24-25 residents will receive the new Clipper BayPass instead of the EasyPass for AC Transit. The new pass provides free rides on all regional transportation options, like ferries, BART, and MUNI, in addition to AC Transit. Since the BayPass costs almost double that of the EasyPass; the City’s paratransit program is subsidizing the program, paying the cost equivalent of the EasyPass, with the Alameda Point Collaborative covering the balance.
AIM (Alameda Independent Mobility)
In September 2021, the City Council approved the Transportation Network Company (TNC) concierge pilot program, Alameda Independent Mobility (AIM); and the pilot program launched in January 2022. Eden I&R serves as the concierge service for TNC companies, Uber/Lyft, to provide on-demand, curb-to-curb transportation services for low-income residents who are fully enrolled in East Bay Paratransit (EBP). In December 2023 the City completed the second year of this pilot program and the AIM program has seen steady growth. As of December 31, 2023, AIM has provided 1543 rides, with 1018 rides provided in 2023, almost double that of 525 rides taken in 2022. Similarly, the average number of rides have increased from 44 rides in 2022 to 85 rides in 2023. The AIM program provides each participant up to 5 rides per month, with the rider paying for the first four dollars of the ride and everything over twenty-five dollars. The average cost to the rider decreased from $4.51 in 2022 to $4.05 in 2023. The average cost of the ride to the AIM program decreased from $119 in 2022 to $58 in 2023. Table 1: Growth of AIM Program shows the growth between 2022 and 2023.
AIM riders use their rides to travel all over Alameda County, from Hayward to Berkeley, for recreation and social visits to medical calls and therapy. 27% of rides have a destination outside of Alameda, with 23% of rides originating outside of Alameda.
Program Costs
Eden I&R handles an average of 272 calls per month with an average of 94% of calls resulting in either booking a ride, a new participant completing their registration, answering questions about cost of rides, and special requests; 6% are abandoned calls. The City pays a portion of Eden I&R staff and operating costs averaging $3,500 per month. In June 2022 staff identified that the program was growing at a slower rate than anticipated, at this time staff renegotiated the percent of Eden I&R staff needed for the program administration, resulting in a 46% reduction in the average monthly costs from $6,500. This monthly fee is relatively stable so we anticipate that as the number of participants and rides continue to increase the price per ride will go down as this amount will be distributed among the higher quantity of rides booked.
Outreach
The outreach program includes distributing program materials, informational mailings, press releases, listings in the City Recreation Guides, promoting the annual survey, and assisting with the issuance of Clipper cards and EBP applications to seniors and people with disabilities. Staff led nine Transportation 101 workshops, and five Hop on the Bus with Us! travel training programs.
Staff collaborated with the Alameda Fire Department to create a questionnaire to facilitate and implement a disaster preparedness database for people with disabilities and seniors. Using the annual survey for Seniors and People with Disabilities, a beta group of Alameda residents who may need additional assistance in the event of a large-scale emergency was identified. Staff provided a beta group of people who expressed interest in the program to the fire department.
Group Trips
Mastick Senior Center resumed group trips in June 2022 and is running at full capacity. In FY 2223, Bus transportation was provided for eleven trips with a total of 426 round trip ridesIn 2023, the paratransit program provided 487 one-way trips to and from 24 meetings and 4 additional activities fpr the Leisure Club, a recreational program for adults with developmental disabilities.
Capital Program
In FY 2223, the City’s Measure BB paratransit reserve funds paid for twenty-two new benches at bus stops, the Otis Drive Improvement Project for access to/from bus stops including bus benches, enhanced sidewalks and curb ramps.
Project Management
This component covers City staff to support program development, administration, and compliance, including participation in Alameda CTC meetings. The program oversight ensures that the actions align with proposed and approved program. In August 2023, the staff hours were increased from 18 hours per week to 28 hours per week to manage the higher volume of contacts, and program management.
PROPOSED PROGRAM FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024/25
City staff is recommending a similar paratransit program as the current fiscal year. The two main programs - Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Passes and AIM - are both in the second year of three-year pilot programs as approved by City Council.
The fiscal year 2024-2025 Plan is being developed with input from key stakeholders and program participants by conducting a survey in November 2023 and by reaching out to four City Commissions in 2024: Commission on Persons with Disabilities (April 10), Recreation and Parks Commission (March 14), Transportation Commission (February 28) and Social Service Human Relations Board (March 28). Exhibit 1 provides a summary of the survey results.
Free AC Transit Bus Passes ($278,064, an increase of $42,064)
Program recommendations: Staff recommends that the program should continue supporting the Alameda Point Collaborative’s 167 units subsidizing the New Clipper BayPasses and continue with the three-year pilot for the Alameda Free AC Transit Bus Pass Program for low-income seniors and adults with certified disabilities living in Alameda.
Alameda Independent Mobility (AIM) ($125,000, no change)
Program recommendations: Staff recommends continuing the three-year pilot program working with Eden I&R to facilitate same-day trips for low-income residents who are enrolled in EBP, and to continue identifying reliable wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV) to add to this service.
Customer Service and Outreach ($11,200, a decrease of $5,000)
Program recommendations: Staff recommends a slightly lower outreach budget than the current fiscal year since less advertisement and printed materials are needed than were needed when we offered the Alameda Loop Shuttle.
Capital Program ($800,000, an increase of $225,000 from last year)
Program recommendations: Staff recommends utilizing funds for bus stop access and ADA improvements as part of major corridor updates being constructed starting in 2024 on Clement Avenue and Central Avenue.
Group Trips ($27,000, no change from last year)
Program recommendations: Staff recommends providing the same services for Group Trips.
Program Management ($97,091, an increase of $50,980):
Program recommendations: Fund part-time paratransit coordinator, group trip driver, part-time administrative support, percent of FTE department support staff, as well as on-call experts to conduct an organizational review of program.
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the City of Alameda transportation program plan for seniors and people with disabilities for fiscal year 2024/2025.
Respectfully submitted by,
Katherine Kaldis
Paratransit Coordinator
Lisa Foster
Acting Transportation Planning Manager
Exhibit
1. AlaCityParatransit staff report_FY24-25_Commission for People with Disabilities - March 2024
2. Summary - Survey for Seniors and People with Disabilities - November 2023
3. Summary - Open-ended Comments Submitted for the Survey for Seniors and People with
Disabilities - November 2023
4. 2023 City of Alameda Transportation Questionnaire Relating to Seniors and People with
Disabilities
5. Presentation