Andrea Lubin

Role of Public Transportation as Job Access Mode Lessons from Survey of People with Disabilities in New Jersey

Transportation barriers are often the reason for the discrepancy in the employment rate between people with disabilities and others, yet little information about the transportation barriers and the needs of people with disabilities who are searching for employment is available. The primary objective of this paper is to share valuable information from a unique survey of people with disabilities who were actively searching for employment in New Jersey. The paper examines the role of public transportation in providing job access to people with disabilities and provides information and insights on the availability, use, needs, barriers, and perceptions of the survey respondents about different public transit modes. The paper also discusses the implications for agencies that provide transportation for people with human services needs. Research shows that despite the frequent use of public transportation by job-seeking people with disabilities, many of them are dissatisfied with public transportation. Although satisfaction with vehicle equipment compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act seems high, many individuals are dissatisfied with the level of transit service and environmental barriers between homes and transit stations and stops. It can be inferred from the results that a multitude of strategies will be needed to address the travel needs and barriers of job-seeking people with disabilities in the state. In addition to providing assistance with transportation for people with human services needs and providing insights to vocational rehabilitation counselors, the study will serve as a means for laying the framework for more rigorous research on the transportation needs and barriers of people with disabilities.

TRANSPORTATION ISSUES OF ADULTS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM: FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Approximately 1.5 to 3.5 million Americans have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability characterized by social communication impairments, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests. In the coming decade, a half-million persons with ASD in the United States will enter adulthood. Information on the transportation needs and challenges facing this population is limited, which hinders the development of sound policies and strategies to meet those needs successfully. This paper presents the findings from a series of focus groups conducted in New Jersey with adults with ASD and their parents or guardians. The focus groups were part of a larger study that included stakeholder interviews and a survey of this population on transportation-related issues and concerns. The findings provide evidence of the vital role of transportation in the lives of persons with ASD, especially as they seek to navigate the often difficult transition to adulthood. Transportation issues of special concern among all participants included an absence of transport options, lack of familiarity with public transportation modes, and cost factors. Parents were concerned about the safety of their adult children with ASD when they used public transportation. They also described the financial and emotional implications of being the primary transportation providers for their adult children. Adult participants with ASD discussed the difficulties of relying on their families for transportation and many conveyed a desire to use public transportation or to secure a drivers license, or both, as a means to achieve greater independence and employment success.

Adapting the Swedish Service Route Model to Suburban Transit in the United States

Since the early implementation of the complementary paratransit provision of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) in 1990, transit operators in the United States have been challenged by the increasing demand for service and its low productivity relative to traditional accessible bus service. Over the same period, these agencies have been challenged by the cost of a demand for new conventional buses in low-density areas. During the 1980s, Sweden faced a similar challenge as demand for special transportation service (STS), a form of municipal paratransit serving older persons and people with disabilities whose mobility needs could not be accommodated through conventional public transit services, increased after becoming mandatory in 1979. The introduction of the Service Route, a scheduled bus service designed to serve persons who could not be served by conventional transit, resulted in lower costs per passenger, while offering a convenient alternative to STS for many older persons and persons with disabilities. This paper examines the application of the Swedish service route concept in the United States, offering a lower-cost alternative to conventional scheduled bus service for the general public and providing convenient connections to existing traditional bus and rail public transportation services. The specific cost and productivity impacts of two service route systems developed over the past decade in two U.S. suburban counties are presented. These systems provide a lower-cost alternative to the existing advance reservation service while expanding the availability of local bus options for the general public and for transportation disadvantaged populations.

Travel patterns, needs, and barriers of adults with autism spectrum disorder: report from a survey

Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has received a substantial amount of attention in other fields, very little appears in the transportation literature about people with ASD. Because the National Household Travel Survey and metropolitan travel surveys do not classify people with ASD as a separate category of persons with disabilities, very little information is available about their travel patterns, needs, or barriers. To bridge the existing information gap, this paper provides results from a recent survey that focused exclusively on adults with ASD in New Jersey to learn about their travel patterns, the importance of the various types of trips they make, and the barriers they encounter regarding the use of different transportation modes. The survey, distributed through various organizations throughout the state, was completed by or for 703 adults. Because the objective of the paper is to provide as much information as possible from the survey, no attempt has been made to compare the travel patterns, needs, and barriers of the survey respondents with those of the general population. However, other researchers can easily compare the survey results provided in this paper with data from other sources. Although the survey generated other valuable information, the most revealing information pertained to barriers to walking, driving, taking public transit, and even taking rides from others. The information collected through this research is being shared through outreach efforts with agencies that provide or fund transportation to persons with disabilities in New Jersey.

Improving Pathways to Fixed-Route Transit: Transit Agency Practices to Expand Access for All Users:

This paper discusses challenges to and promising practices for making infrastructure improvements that enable persons with disabilities and all system users to safely reach public transportation stations and stops to access fixed-route transit options. Although tremendous strides have been made in national transit system accessibility since the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, far less progress has been made in ensuring that pathways to accessible transit stations and stops are in place. This reality poses a critical mobility concern as the nation’s aging population continues to rise, as does the percentage of the population with disability who may need to utilize public transit to access life enhancing and sustaining services. The study uses a national survey and targeted case study analysis to identify effective best practices for facilitating improvement to pathways to transit. These include approaching cost and funding creatively; pursuing partnerships; initiating and maintaining open communication and collaboration; exploring the use of data and new technologies to reduce cost and improve outcomes; and thinking holistically to identify and address pathway to transit improvement needs. Useful to both practitioners and policy-makers, the findings presented offer insights on how agencies can successfully achieve infrastructure improvements that extend beyond their own facilities and that allow people with disabilities and others to more easily access public transit.

Achieving Mobility Access for Older Adults Through Group Travel Instruction

It is anticipated that the number of older adults in the United States will reach 70 million before midcentury. Although the majority currently meet their transport needs by driving, one in five older adults does not drive. That statistic is expected to rise as senior drivers experience disability, health-related issues, or both, that negatively affect their driving ability. For many older adults accessible public transportation can be a viable transport option provided they are aware of and familiar with available transit services, trip planning, and how to safely and independently utilize transit systems. Findings are presented from a group travel instruction program piloted with older adults in New Jersey that encompassed classroom training and a field trip. A robust survey evaluation protocol was implemented that yielded findings that included the important role of transportation to older adult quality of life; high participant program satisfaction; evidence of participant knowledge and skills gained after program completion; and participant interest, willingness, and actual usage of public transit after the program. Survey respondents also confirmed several quality-of-life indicators experienced from program participation. In total, these findings offer evidence of the benefits of group travel instruction for older adults with and without a disability as they seek to meet some or all of their travel needs via accessible public transportation. The findings also support the value of offering both classroom and field trip components in older adult travel instruction programs.

Exploration of Poverty, Employment, Earnings, Job Search, and Commuting Behavior of Persons with Disabilities and African-Americans in New Jersey

The extant literature that touches on the role of transportation in enhancing job accessibility for persons with disabilities has largely remained separate from the literature on the role of transportation in the job accessibility of African-Americans. Each stream focuses on either race or disability. Although a few studies have examined the combined effect of race and disability on economic outcomes, researchers have rarely examined the role of transportation. With the assertion that transportation issues for minority populations and persons with disabilities are often similar, this study encompassed race, disability, economic well-being, and transportation. Taking New Jersey as the study area, the study examined how disability and race are related to employment, poverty, and earnings and how the commuting and job-search behavior of persons with disabilities is affected by their race. Statistical models clearly show that both disability and race are strongly associated with economic well-being. Analysis also shows that African-American persons with disabilities are far more likely to use public transit than non-African-Americans with disabilities. The commuting patterns of workers in the state also indicate that fewer African-Americans have jobs in close proximity to their homes than those of other races, regardless of disability. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.