Transit Part 4: Same Day Space Available Program Detailed

The goal of my program, simply stated, is to help disabled passengers come closer to realizing the same measure of spontaneous freedom of movement that we who drive ourselves or who use fixed route bus service currently enjoy.  For fixed-route passengers who already have spontaneous freedom of movement, my goal is to help them keep that same freedom while desegregating the two currently separate services into one service.  I believe this goal is in harmony with the spirit and intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.


Under the current passenger routing system, Para-transit passengers are required to plan virtually all their trips ahead and call at least one day in advance.  This part of my program will allow passengers much more freedom of movement and will also allow them to make last minute travel plans in a manner closer to what we who drive ourselves and those who currently use fixed route services are able to do.

Question: Does the term Space-Available really mean what it sounds like?

Answer: Close but not exactly.  If taken exactly as it sounds, it would suggest that if there is an empty seat on a bus and a passenger wants a space-available ride then there is room for the passenger.  But this cannot be the case, it cannot be quite that simple.

The reason why more than just the question of an empty seat needs to be taken into account is the fact that in order to provide the passengers with a reliable system of transportation that is focused on helping them to meet their transportation goals, then before we can add another passenger to an empty seat or an empty wheelchair location we need to look at the impact of the time needed to load and unload that “last minute” passenger will have on each bus.

Before continuing let me define some terms that are unique to this Same-Day Space-Available program.  These terms refer to different levels or degrees of importance assigned to passengers asking for space-available service.

Degrees of importance need to be assigned to show respect for the differing degrees of potential importance that passengers will be asking for Space-Available service.   Example: A passenger is taken to a scheduled doctor appointment and learns while there that they need to go see a specialist that same day.  Their reason for asking for Space-Available transport is more important than another passenger who simply makes a last minute decision to go eat at McDonalds rather than stay home and eat something they may be getting tired of.

High-Priority Space Available – This is the highest priority rating given to same-day space-available passengers.  This is reserved for medical or other urgent transportation requirements.  Passengers whose trips are assigned this level are given priority seating over all other space-available ratings except others who are also given a High-Priority rating.

Priority Space-Available – This is the next level of space-available rating.  It is assigned to passenger trips where there is a sense of urgency or same-day importance on the part of the passenger but the reason is not medical in nature.  It would also be assigned to the trips of passengers who call in the day before and say that they will need a ride to the grocery store somewhere between 10:00am and Noon.

These passengers don’t need an exact travel time, and they may change their mind and decide not to go the store.  But because they have shown the transit service provider the respect of telling us of the potential for that ride, we allow them to have a higher rating when they call. An example of this rating would be a passenger who calls up explaining that they need to return a book to the library the same day or they will receive a late penalty.

This is urgent for the passenger, especially if they are trying to live on a very limited fixed income.  However, it does not have the same potential degree of importance as a medical appointment.  Therefore it receives the next lower rating, a Priority rating.

Space-Available – this is the lowest rating that a passenger can receive.  This rating covers all same-day travel requests that do not justify a higher rating.  An example of this rating being used would be when a passenger using a power chair has been moving about town in his power chair when the weather turns bad.  He goes into a nearby business and calls for a ride from there to his home.  This would be a simple space-available request.

In most cases, no matter what the rating given to the space-available travel request, the passenger would be picked up and taken to the nearest Hub.  From there they would be routed through the system using the same space-available rating that they first received until they arrive at their requested destination.

Because of my Hub concept, no one bus would be taken out of its planned route far enough to have anything close to the kind of impact that doing this under the current routing concept would have.  Furthermore, any bus that actually picks up a space-available passenger would first be shown to have both the time and seating space available to do so without delay to the passengers already on the bus.

A passenger on space-available travel status who needs to travel an extended distance involving more than one bus and more than one Hub would be told ahead of time that they may be asked to wait at a Hub for a period of time before the next bus arrives that will have space-available room for them to ride on.  Local Area Buses are the ones that have the potential to be delayed by adding a Space Available passenger.  Transfer Buses are still simply going from one hub to another.

Passengers requesting any kind of same-day space-available travel service would be picked up and routed using the same in-hub and hub-to-hub routing concepts that are applied to passengers who schedule their rides ahead of time.  Another advantage of this Space-Available program is that under the current system, para-transit passengers have to try and schedule all their rides ahead of time, which generally means that they are going to schedule more rides than they need in order to insure that they have the opportunity to go where they need or simply want to go and take care of their business.  With the implementation of this part of my program, they no longer need to do that.  They can schedule ahead of time only those trips that are most important, such as getting to and from work, and use space available for the things that don’t require specific timing.



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
                   _________________________________

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
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