"Mass Transit Modernized - Para-Transit Desegregated" Introduction

I have produced and updated this program over a period of years with the very daring and bold goal of improving the public transportation industry.  Why do I believe I am able to do this?  Why did the Wright Brothers believe they could do what they had never done before?  Why does anyone seek to do something they have never done before?  Perhaps it is because they, like me, believe that they are not limited by what other people do not know how to do.


World record holders in sports and other areas hold these world records because they dared to do something that no one before them had succeeded in doing.  As it relates to the public transportation industry as a whole, and more specifically the Para-Transit industry, which is the name used in Federal Law to describe that part of public transportation that is tasked with the responsibility of providing service to the disabled, I believe we are past the time when someone needs to step up and attempt to do what hasn’t been done before.

An old but still popular saying goes like this.  “One definition of insanity is to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over again, each time expecting to achieve a different result.”  Well, I work in the Para-Transit part of public transportation, and have done so for nearly 10 years, (as of my writing of this edition).  I have seen and experienced many attempts to simply “tweak” some small change in how the service is provided with no real measurable improvements being realized.

Please allow me to use the balance of this introduction to speak more specifically to my reason for writing this program.

The goal of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was to begin a process of ending discrimination against the disabled.

Allow me to define discrimination as it relates to the disabled as any action, policy or behavior toward the disabled that results in the disabled not being treated in a manner that is comparably equal to or a “reasonable accommodation” of the disabled so as to help them achieve what the non-disabled passengers of public transportation currently have.

With this definition in place, I believe a case could be made to suggest that discriminatory practices and policies exist within the current para-transit industry, as operated by various para-transit service providers, even though they are actively seeking, to the best of their collective abilities, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act as administered by the Federal Transit Administration.

My program will help the para-transit industry move closer to its goal of providing non-discriminatory transportation services to the disabled.  It does this by desegregating and modernizing the two main parts of public transportation.  Namely, Fixed Route, and Para-Transit.

Federal Law requires publicly operated fixed route service providers to also provide para-transit services to the disabled within the same service area.  Because of this law, I have taken the position that the disabled should have the right to the same degree of freedom of movement through para-transit that the non-disabled have through fixed route services.

Under my program, both fixed-route and para-transit, as they are currently designed and operated, are ended in favor of a modernized and desegregated service that will improve overall service to passengers in a way that also lowers the average cost per passenger to the service provider.  Currently this is not the case.  This program will bring the para-transit industry closer to the point of providing equal transportation opportunities to both fixed route and para-transit services.

As it relates to this program, I am faced with the challenge of putting what I already see working into words.  When I say I already see this program working, it is as if I’m having a vision of the future.  In this vision I actually see my program working as if it were a fully detailed (3D) motion picture.  The challenge I face is in translating this fully detailed motion picture type of vision into written words that will make sense.  Nevertheless I have made the attempt to translate my vision into words and sentences.  For doing so is the only possible way by which to bring my program from vision to reality.

Have you ever been waiting at a curb-side bus stop only to have the bus just pass you by and not even stop to tell you the bus was full?  I work in public transportation and know that there is a rule that allows fixed route bus drivers to do that very thing.  Have you ever been riding on one bus and needing to get to a transit center so you could transfer to the next bus, only to have the bus you’re on be 60-seconds late, causing you to miss the bus you needed to transfer onto?  I have, and I had to wait almost a full hour for the next bus to get there.

One last example from fix-route service.  My wife decided to “save gas” and use public transportation to go between our home and a doctor appointment.  It normally takes between 25-30 minutes to drive between those two points.  Because of scheduling on the fix-route bus service, it was an hour and a half one way, three hours round trip.  She drove after that, and told me it was because she just didn’t have that much time to waist.

Did you know that passengers who use publically funded para-transit services (the disabled) are required “by law” to call in and schedule their next day’s trips at least no later than 5:00pm the day before, every trip and destination they need or simply may want to go to?  The reason for this part of the 2-decades plus old law is because, based on the very ancient technology they were limited to “back in the day” it was necessary to require that procedure so the schedulers and dispatchers could attempt to come up with “routes” that would get everyone picked up and delivered in some kind of reasonably on-time basis all the while attempting to comply with the requirements of federal law.

I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you the details.  Suffice it to say that it isn’t hard to find people working in various aspects of public transportation that, if you catch them where it feels safe to talk, they will tell you that there is a need for some kind of big change.

I was motivated to create my program as a result of my time working as a driver for a para-transit service provider.  During this time, I talked with and listened to passengers, my fellow drivers, and others working within the para-transit industry.  In all cases, there was an abundance of desire to help the disabled.  A problem which I could see, and which I desired to at least reduce in degree of intensity was what seemed to be a significant degree of conflict between the rights of the disabled and the rights of para-transit industry employees.

Throughout this document I will use the terms passenger and customer interchangeably.  Within the public transportation industry, passengers are the customers.  To accomplish the spirit and intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the customers of the para-transit industry need to be looked upon with the same respect as customers of any other industry.

Thank you for using your valuable time to read and ponder on my program.

Dave Kemper, Author and Program Creator.
Thank you for taking time to read my program.  Obviously, if I didn't believe in my own program, I would not have published it for others to read and ponder on.

An Opinion Article by Dave Kemper
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It has been said that: "One definition of insanity is to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over again, each time expecting to achieve a different result."
Therefore, we must either CHANGE the way we live, or we bind our future to our past as if with CHAINS.
"I do not consider myself to be better than anyone else.  But I do believe in exercising my right to not stay stupid."

David W. Kemper, Author
© Copyright 2014 by David William Kemper.  All right reserved
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