In March, UTA proposed a variety of changes to its paratransit service to the public. UTA held nine public meetings and received more than 300 comments on the issue. After careful review of the public comments and information received at the hearing UTA developed a new paratransit plan that will be presented to the UTA Board of Trustees at the July board meeting. UTA's board will vote on the new proposal at the Aug. 26 board meeting. Under the new proposal, UTA will be able to provide service to more people and to do it more cost effectively than in the past. No decision will be made or will become final until the August board meeting.

The original proposal called for the following:

• Increase paratransit fares to double the regular fare.
• Reduce service area to ADA required 3/4 mile service area.
• Eliminate all discounts on paratransit service.

The new proposal has been updated in the following ways:

• UTA will not increase the paratransit fare this year. While paratransit fare increases may happen in the future, they will take place when we increase fares for all riders. UTA will continue to work toward receiving the full paratransit fare as allowed by law under the ADA, which is double the regular fare, by partnering with the state and other agencies. UTA is dedicated to finding a more sustainable solution that maximizes resources and will allow the authority to seek additional federal funding to offset the high costs of this service.
• UTA will reduce the paratransit service area to the ADA required 3/4 mile in a phased approach between Sept 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. During the phased approach, UTA Paratransit will continue to serve all currently grandfathered paratransit eligible riders who live outside the service area until they can be provided with another UTA service or alternate transportation solution.
• UTA will discontinue the unlimited monthly pass and all other paratransit discounts. In its place a multi-use pass or punch card will be available as an alternative to paying a single cash fare for each boarding.

The new proposal does not solve UTA's budget concerns and UTA still faces a deficit of $18M this year. The long term solution to this problem will come from working with the state and other partners to seek additional federal transportation funding, pool resources, and coordinate services.

In addition to the new paratransit proposal UTA plans to implement community "flex" routes in many underserved areas that will provide service to the community including people with disabilities. This service will replace paratransit services in some of those areas as the 3/4 mile rule is phased in. This will allow UTA to provide a new service that will benefit the entire community as well as serve the needs of the disabled population in that area. UTA will also continue to offer paratransit eligible individuals a Freedom Access Pass, which allows them to ride free on the fixed route, route deviation and the rail system.

More information on the proposed paratransit changes is available at www.rideuta.com. Individuals who have questions about how they may be affected by the proposed changes are invited to call UTA Paratransit Customer Concerns at 801-287-5359 or 1-877-882-7272 outside Salt Lake County.

To view a Power Point presentation of the Proposed Changes to ADA Paratransit Services, click here.

To view the presentation as a PDF document, click here.