The first regional paratransit eligibility training in more than a decade was held this week in Oakland, bringing together transit agencies from across the Bay Area for a joint learning and professional development opportunity.
The all-day program — hosted by MTC and developed jointly by staff from Golden Gate Transit, Union City Transit, Napa Valley Transportation Authority, SamTrans, Santa Rosa CityBus, and County Connection — gave transit agency and contracted staff the opportunity to come together for training on how to better assess paratransit eligibility with an aim of promoting greater consistency, quality, and uniformity in determining paratransit eligibility. The audience for the training was staff who conduct ADA paratransit eligibility assessments, and their supervisors.
"The transit agencies’ goal for the training was to create more uniformity of ADA eligibility practices across the region, increase the quality of assessments, improve consistency, and enhance evaluator skills," said Drennen Shelton, Principal Transportation Planner at MTC, who helped coordinate the event.
The training — attended by about three dozen transit staff — fulfills a recommendation in the Bay Area Paratransit Eligibility Transformation Action Plan report.
In July 2021, MTC’s Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force approved a set of 27 actions — as the Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan — to guide the future of the Bay Area’s public transportation network as the region adjusted to new conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These accessibility initiatives are just one piece of the Transit Transformation Action Plan and focus on the transportation needs of people with disabilities, older adults and people with low incomes.
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