APP-BASED COMPANIES QUICK TO SHOW INTEREST IN MBTA RIDE PROGRAM

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, MARCH 22, 2016.....MBTA customers who qualify for pre-scheduled door-to-door paratransit service could soon have new options for on-demand travel as the transportation agency seeks to contract with ride-hailing services.

The MBTA issued a request for proposals Monday and already received three responses, MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve told the News Service on Tuesday. Rather than picking one vendor to offer smartphone, app-based travel service, multiple companies would be able to participate, Shortsleeve said.

Uber and Lyft are the two highest-profile transportation network companies and Boston is also home to Fasten, a similar company. A House-passed bill creating a regulatory framework for ride-hailing companies is awaiting a likely reworking in the Senate.

The service through the MBTA's The Ride program would be similar to a pilot program that got off the ground in December, offering discounted taxi trips to people with disabilities. As is the case with the taxi program, customers would pay a flat fare of $2 - a dollar cheaper than regular Ride service - and the MBTA would cover the cost up to $15 for a trip. Customers would be on the hook for anything over $15.

Except for the 200 participants in the taxi pilot program, Ride customers are required to schedule their trips by 5 p.m. the day before and must leave an hour between being dropped off at a location and when they are scheduled to be picked back up, said Michael Lambert, the T's deputy administrator.

Lambert said unlike the Ride, where operators assist customers to the doorway, the taxi pilot and the ride-hailing company pilot would leave passengers at the curb. While the Ride follows MBTA service hours the taxi pilot and the ride-hailing pilot would operate around the clock, Lambert said.

The Ride serves people with a range of disabilities and, according to Shortsleeve, the "vast majority" do not need a vehicle with a wheelchair lift. Shortsleeve said by introducing new companies into paratransit, that may create a market for more accessible vehicles.

Until more changes are made, however, those who use wheelchairs could be left out of the alternative paratransit service.

"At some point in time they need to include us," James White, chairman of the Access Advisory Committee for the T, told the News Service. White, who uses a wheelchair to get around, said it is highly unlikely that the private drivers who procure customers through ride-hailing services would have a handicap-accessible van.

Moving customers toward ride-hailing services and taxis would be more economical for the T, too. Excluding fixed costs, each Ride trip costs the T an average of $31 while each Ride taxi trip costs $13 and Ride trips through transportation network companies would cost up to $13. When both fixed and variable costs are calculated in, regular trips on the Ride cost an average of $46.

Paratransit advocates, often at loggerheads with the T, have applauded the move toward the alternative service, and the taxi pilot in a few months has shown popularity. The program saw trips per month shoot up from 21 in December, to 46 in January to an estimated 470 in March.

Responses to the ride-hailing request for proposals are due April 11 and there is not a set timeframe for when the new alternative might roll out.

"Our hope is that customers start to experiment with this," said Shortsleeve, who said broader changes could be made in the future to the way the Ride is structured. Already, the MBTA has sought proposals - and received four - to create a centralized call center for the three vendors that provide regular Ride service.

The transition to that centralized call center could begin in a little over a year, Lambert said.