Transit Part 1: In-Route Change of Destination

The same dynamic flexibility that will allow any driver in the area to pick up any and all passengers that are ready to be picked up regardless of their destination, also allows passengers to change their mind about where they want to go within the service area covered by each public transportation service provider and be able to get there.


Under the current system, once a para-transit passenger is on the bus, they are told that they “must go to the destination that was pre-planned for.”  They are not allowed to change their mind.  Fixed route passengers, by comparison, are allowed to change their mind.  To accomplish this change, they simply need to transfer from the bus they are on, to a bus that will get them to their new destination.  This difference is just one example of why I feel that current law is requiring the disabled who depend on the para-transit part of public transportation to be treated differently than the rest of the system.

The current system has to tell them no.  My program allows the industry to start saying Yes.

Some of our passengers have a mentally oriented disability that does not allow them to make rational decisions for themselves.   Therefore one potential area of concern that exists is over the question of how to determine which of our passengers are rationally able to make decisions for their own lives and which ones need the aid of care provider.  There is a potentially simple solution to this concern.

With the cooperation of our customers and their care providers, we would implement a requirement that I believe already has a point of legal precedent under the law.  Currently, in order to get certain jobs, an employee must be able to pass a physical, such as a DOT physical.  Getting the physical does not provide the employer with any confidential medical information; it only certifies that they meet the minimum standards for the job.

In like manner, we would simply require that all passengers who want the ability to make in-route changes to their travel plans must provide a letter or form of some type (exact wording to be determined) wherein their own primary care provider (doctor) officially declares the passenger is alert, aware, and capable of making decisions about and for their own life in a rational manner.

Once the para-transit service provider has received and verified the letter to be genuine, the passenger’s reduced fare identification card would include a notation telling transit employees that the passenger is allowed to make decisions about their own lives in the same way those who are not disabled are able to do.   Passengers who do not carry a “reduced fare” identification card would automatically be treated as being able to make these kinds of in-route changes to their destination.

The passenger must carry that special ID card at all times.  Without it, they are not allowed reduced fare rides to make changes.  Drivers would have no way of knowing if they simply forgot and left it home or if it was taken away from them for medical reasons.  Even fixed route passengers, once they are desegregated into the same system, would be required to carry a passenger ID for reasons that will be explained in more detail later on.

This doctor verified certification provides the means by which transit service providers will know whether to allow the disabled passenger to make in-route changes or not while keeping the passengers medical information as private as is currently done in connection with DOT physicals and the like.

The doctor verification also protects the company in two ways.  One: the company no longer has to risk discriminating against passengers by assuming all are unable to decide for themselves; and, Two: the company does not assume the risk of making a medical decision about the competence or level of reasonable accommodation of each passenger.  The passenger either convinces his or her doctor to provide the letter (sign the form, etc.) or they don’t.

Within the currently segregated system, I believe a considerable amount of money is spent by transit providers who are only attempting to monitor and determine the actual level of disability of each passenger seeking to be given rides on the Para-transit part of the system.  By effectively desegregating the industry, the money currently spent on this task becomes available for providing improved customer service.

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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