The number of people with disabilities requesting transportation assistance from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s (METRO’s) METROLift services has grown significantly in recent years. This increase has prompted the transit agency to consider a change in its paratransit policies and practices to balance quality of service with financial sustainability. Researchers with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Transit Mobility Program recently helped the agency create a first-of-its-kind community outreach program called METROLift Moving Forward.
With the goal of increasing public involvement, the researchers developed a way to engage members of the community and document their opinions in a format that could be shared with the METRO board of directors and the public.