Among the most essential public transportation that exists is paratransit service for seniors and people with disabilities. Many of the most fragile in our community depend on paratransit rides from MetroLift, SMART, and others to pick them up at home and take them to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, work, and elsewhere because they physically can’t get to a bus stop. That service – which 1,000 Detroiters depend on each day – is threatened.
If nothing changes, starting January 1, Detroit will only be able to provide 1/3 of the paratransit rides Detroiters need, potentially leaving 700 people stranded each day.
Take Action: Contact Mayor Duggan’s office at 313-224-3400 and demand his legal and procurement teams help DDOT and Council come up with a solution so Detroiters with disabilities can maintain the mobility they need. They need a solution that doesn’t leave Detroiters stranded with no service or bad service.
How did this happen? In the aftermath of Detroit’s bankruptcy, Detroit leaders outsourced paratransit.
They signed a contract with TransDev to operate and manage the entire paratransit system – from deciding who can use it and scheduling the rides to evaluating whether the vans were in good enough shape and responding to complaints when things went bad. As you can imagine, this lacked any substantive accountability and service quality was poor. In addition, DDOT was paying the lowest amount per ride of anywhere in the country (to the best of our knowledge) – just $15 per ride. Unfortunately, since you get what you pay for, service was poor. Riders and their caregivers had to spend hours on hold trying to schedule rides, were stuck in unsafe vehicles, and riders were left at the wrong location. Despite constant complaints, things never got better.
When new DDOT Director Mikel Oglesby was brought on board in 2020, immediately after dealing with the crisis of the pandemic, he started figuring out how to improve paratransit. He researched what other agencies do and evaluated a wide range of options for managing and operating paratransit. He realized it wasn’t feasible to bring the entire paratransit operation within the City government, given the costs and long timescale of buying all new vehicles and hiring a big new workforce. But it’s also not acceptable to outsource the entire thing!
DDOT decided to take planning, scheduling, management, and customer service within DDOT.
So after meeting with riders, advocates, and others, DDOT decided to take a lot of the management inhouse and have them staffed by City employees directly accountable to the DDOT Director. They would still outsource the actual provision of rides to companies to pick up and drop off riders as scheduled.
The City Council also agreed to increase the budget to provide a more competitive payment per ride of $40 per ride. While this sounds like a lot, it is essential to have professionally trained staff provide curb-to-curb rides for people in wheelchairs and other of the most fragile among us.
The problem arose when the City’s Procurement Department put the Request for Proposals (RFP) out for bid, they only got two qualified proposals. Council quickly approved one of them – to People’s Express. But they’re only capable of providing about 300 rides per day, and even that will take some major expansion on their part.
The only other qualified proposal was from TransDev, the company that has been providing bad service to Detroiters for the past six years. In this proposal, TransDev would be more of a middle manager, with local subcontractors providing the rides and DDOT doing the scheduling, management, and customer service.
When the TransDev contract was presented to City Council, many riders and disability rights groups were outraged.
They demanded that TransDev not be given a contract at all, or at very least got a 2-3 year contract, not a full 5 year contract as the RFP offered. Riders are right to be concerned – we’ve heard for years and years promises that TransDev would improve and that the City would hold them accountable. But the DDOT Director said that wasn’t feasible.
After several weeks of delay, on the Detroit City Council’s last day in session for the year, the Council initially approved the contract 5-3. Then in the final minutes of Council’s session, Councilwoman Santiago-Ramero rescinded her yes vote and decided to oppose the contract. With a 4-4 tie (and Councilman Benson not in attendance), the contract was not approved.
That leaves the current crisis: The old TransDev contract ends on December 31. People’s Express will begin providing 300 rides per day to Detroiters. But the 700 additional Detroiters who need rides could be left stranded. This crisis must be resolved and fast.
Paratransit is not just morally important but is legally required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is literally a lifeline for people on dialysis and with other needs.
The Federal Transit Administration has advised city officials that, despite the City Council’s recess through the end of the year, they strongly recommend a special session to resolve paratransit “before failure to comply could impact DDOT’s eligibility for ongoing Federal funding.”
It is true that TransDev has done a bad job of providing paratransit in the past, so riders are right to be skeptical.
TRU does not have any legal expertise in contracts and has not been part of any negotiations between the City and TransDev.
It is essential that Mayor Duggan’s administration resolve this immediately.
The Detroit Procurement Department and Legal Department need to work with DDOT, City Council, TransDev, and riders to come up with a reasonable solutions.
Some Councilmembers are recommending a short extension of current TransDev contract until a new RFP can be put out and a new contract with another firm approved. Although unless something changes in the RFP, it is unclear whether other firms would choose to bid on it. It is also unclear whether TransDev would accept that.
It’s also been recommended that a 2-3 year contract would be better. I don’t know what’s legally possible and what TransDev would accept.
Regardless, a solution must be approved within a matter of days, not weeks or months.
Take Action: Demand Mayor Duggan’s administration keep paratransit operating!
Contact Mayor Duggan’s office at 313-224-3400 and demand his legal and procurement teams help DDOT and Council come up with a solution so Detroiters with disabilities can maintain the mobility they need. They need a solution that doesn’t leave Detroiters stranded with no service or bad service.