Ride-share services crucial for safe and reliable public transportation in rural communities

CENTER TWP. ― Public transportation provides safe and reliable transportation to people who cannot access a car or other means of transport. It is crucial for many individuals who rely on it for travel to work, school, medical appointment and other essential destinations.

Even though Beaver County Transportation has limited routes, it offers tailored transportation options that ensure safe and reliable travel for those who need it most.

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One way BCTA ensures reliable transportation to the community is with its Demand and Response Transit, DART, which provides door-to-door transportation for Beaver County residents outside the bus routes in both the county's urban and rural areas. If a resident does not live within a mile of one of his or her fixed bus routes, they can schedule DART to pick them up and drop them off wherever they need to be within the county.

BCTA’s General Manager Mary Jo Morandini said DART is unlike standard cab services, requiring residents to make reservations for pick-ups and drop-offs.

“One thing it is not is a taxi service; it’s a shared ride program. It operates countywide, including the county's rural areas,” she said. “It's been in place here since the early '80s. Residents have to make the trip reservation the day before the trip. And there are other people scheduling trips. ”

In 1983, the authority created DART to help residents in rural areas connect to any fixed-bus routes they offered. BCTA's Demand and Response Transit, similar to Pittsburgh Regional Transit's ACCESS service, benefits primarily disabled people while still being open to the general public. Morandini said most residents who use DART tend to be elderly or people with disabilities.

“It's a door-to-door service, as opposed to a curb-to-curb service, so the variety of clientele using that service often requires the driver to assist that rider,” Morandini said. "It could be someone in a wheelchair. It could be someone who is blind, hearing impaired, any disability, just somebody even very frail, a senior citizen who's very frail and needs assistance.”

Public transit is a lifeline for many people with disabilities as it helps them retain their independence and attend necessary appointments, grocery shopping and social events. However, there are still many challenges people with disabilities face when using public transportation in a rural area like Beaver County. An American Community Survey in 2022 found over 3% of people in the state with disabilities use public transportation for commuting to work.

People with disabilities may find it challenging to access medical care and services in rural areas where public transportation is either unavailable or inaccessible. However, those who qualify for the Medical Assistance Transportation Program can receive discounted or free non-emergency medical transportation and reimbursement from both services. MATP aims to provide residents aged 65 or older with the ability to ride fixed-route public transit or commuter rail at a reduced or no cost.

The Pennsylvania lottery system funds the MATP program. In 2022-23, lottery funds provided more than $145 million across the state to help reduce the cost of public transportation for seniors, according to the state lottery website. Last year, the authority funded all MATP services with over $2 million, out of which 20% went toward DART fares, Morandini said.

“We offer different transportation options. Generally, the first option is for the lowest-cost service,” she said. “So the MATP program would pay mileage reimbursement to eligible clients. Then, for the fixed route service, we would provide tickets to the fixed route service if they could reach their destination on these routes.”

Morandini said medical facilities, including the Beaver County Rehab Center, Aurora, Beaver Falls Personal Care home, the senior center at the mall, and the Heritage Valley Beaver hospital, usually receive visits from residents who use these services.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, DART reported over 2,200 residents were using their ride-share program, and at the start of this year, they currently have over 1,300 people using it, as noted by Morandini. For the MATP, she mentioned the program had over 1,200 clients using the system in 2023.

Morandini said some challenges when operating these ride-share programs tend to be the residents requiring services from all across the area rather than meeting at a hub like Indiana, Greensburg and Johnstown.

“We have all of these riverbend communities scheduling trips from multiple origins to multiple destinations, and that presents a pretty significant challenge in terms of scheduling a service, on a shared ride basis,” Morandini said. “I think we have really good people in our call center, but we don't have a hub, so people are traveling from everywhere to everywhere. These are transportation disadvantages to people that are using the service, and they need it for important services like doctors, a variety of doctors.”

Although these ride-share services help those in rural areas of the county, Morandini revealed the BCTA is currently working on creating a new transit development plan, which aims to cover short- and long-range transportation for Beaver residents going up to 2029. Morandini said she intends for the complete plan to be revealed to the public soon.

“We're looking at all the services and possibly some new services as part of this transit development process,” she said. “ We surveyed stakeholders all over the county: employers, municipal officials, colleges, human services, and the general public. So we're looking at a substantial amount of demographic data throughout the county to determine the best way to service the county moving forward.”

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: DART service provides door-to-door service for Beaver County residents in need