TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Salvador Llamas, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: East Bay Paratransit Fixed Operating Hours
BRIEFING ITEM
AGENDA PLANNING REQUEST: ?
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider receiving a report on converting to fixed paratransit operating hours. [Requested by President Shaw - 12/10/2025.]
Staff Contact:
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Convenient and Reliable Service
Initiative - Service Quality
Fixed operating hours will provide additional paratransit service which, in turn, will improve service access for paratransit riders.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
Switching East Bay Paratransit to a fixed 5:00 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. window would result in over-serving in some areas for example where buses stop at 8:00 p.m. Initial high-level order of magnitude estimate indicates that changing to a fixed paratransit operating time would cost approximately $1.4 million annually. More work is necessary to fully understand all the potential costs, operational changes, and equity implications.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
At the request of the Board of Directors, staff examined the implications and analyzed the costs of changing East Bay Paratransit (EBP) service to a fixed operational time (for example 5:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.) from the current structure of providing comparable service during the same hours and days and within three-quarters of a mile on either side of an operating fixed-route bus and/or rail line. It should be noted that any paratransit operational changes would require agreement with BART.
In theory, East Bay Paratransit could adjust its service hours to a single fixed window (like 5:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.) for all locations, but it must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements to be available during the same hours and days as the fixed-route service (both AC Tra...
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