Local riders with disabilities continue to benefit from public transportation through Intercity Transit’s Dial-A-Lift service.
The program is a shared, door-to-door transit service for people with disabilities who are not able to use the transit agency’s fixed route bus service.
In 2024, the program helped move 1,438 clients, according to an update from Program Manager Kevin Karkowski to the Intercity Transit Authority at a meeting on Wednesday, June 4.
The riders took a total of 132,961 trips, around the same number as in 2023. Karkowski noted the number is still below pre-Covid-19 levels, but explained the application process has become formal since the pandemic, resulting in fewer qualified riders.
The service covers transit to and from areas up to 0.75 miles away from fixed routes, except for the route going to Yelm where the service area extends up to 1.5 miles away.
Karkowski said there is no limit to how many daily trips a client can have through the service, as long the corresponding fixed route to the place a client is going is still in its operational hours.
Clients would just have to call Intercity Transit to schedule a ride through the service. In 2024, the transit agency's call center handled 81,557 calls for Dial-A-Lift and service came on time at a 99% rate, according to the agency’s tracking software.
The program is offered to people with disabilities who either cannot get to a bus stop or cannot use the bus ramp without assistance. There are also certain bus stops where the ramp cannot be safely deployed, so people with disabilities near those stops may also qualify for the program.
In 2024, the transit agency received 956 applications for the program, with two-thirds being fully eligible.
Thirteen percent of the applicants qualified for conditional eligibility, which is granted to people if they require the service during certain weather conditions or to people who can walk but have limited mobility.
Sixteen percent qualified for temporary eligibility, which is granted to people recovering from injuries.
Around 5%, or 50 applicants, were denied from the program as they were not able to justify their need for the service, but they were allowed to appeal their application.
Not all applicants are fully screened to verify the extent of their disability, but Karkowski said they conduct as many in-person assessments as possible. The transit agency conducted 392 assessments last year, which Karkowski noted was a vast improvement from 2019, when they were only conducting 35 assessments.
“There's some people that want it but they have the ability to ride fixed route bus. Since all the buses are ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible, we need to have those folks that can use … and access the fixed route system to do that,” Karkowski said.
After his presentation, Authority member Brian Hess, a city council member in Yelm, asked for an update about a planned feature in the Dial-A-Lift app that would allow clients to book a ride similar to other ride hailing apps.
Karkowski said the transit agency is still working on the feature to ensure the provided service matches a client’s eligibility.
General Manager Emily Bergkamp added that the transit agency would first have to complete the ongoing redesign of its bus system before looking into microtransit services for certain areas.
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