Early next year, paratransit riders must re-apply to meet disability eligibility requirements as the Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority plans to scale back service to only what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires.

Funding constraints, rising costs for fuel and maintenance, and driver shortages make it difficult for MBCTA to keep up with the current demand for paratransit, an ADA-required service for those who cannot take regular public transit.

MBCTA Chief Operating Officer Tony Woodard said they must make sure funding cuts and shortfalls don’t reduce the quality of service.

“We’ve got to prepare to do more with less,” Woodard said, during the authority board’s September meeting. “So we’ve got to do what we need to do to be prepared to give the best for the least we can get by with.”

Demands for service at peak times routinely cause paratransit scheduling issues.

“Through good intentions and possibly overcommitting, we water down our service sometimes to try to do too much with too little, and sometimes that doesn’t benefit anyone,” Woodard said. “Those that need the service don’t get what they need, and those that don’t need the service are dissatisfied as well.”

Woodard shared observations from a recent trip to Columbus, where the transit system is about the same size and had just re-evaluated their paratransit ridership.

Through new applications and evaluations, including some personal interviews, Columbus’ METRA system reduced paratransit ridership from 1,500 people to 500, Woodard said.

“That has changed the level of service, the whole everything about their their paratransit, because now they focus on people that absolutely have to have it,” Woodard said. “Do we expect to get the same results? We don’t know, but what we do expect to do is to go through and make sure that we know what our our riders need, we need to know how to meet those needs.”

Woodard said if a rider’s physical condition makes traveling more difficult, but does not prevent travel, is not a basis for eligibility.

“If it takes Craig twice as long to walk to the bus stop as it does me because of a bunion, that doesn’t mean paratransit eligibility,” Woodard said.

Going forward, MBCTA plans to pose application questions differently to hone in on who really needs paratransit, which is arranged by appointment only.

Wade Horton, a visually impaired man who frequents paratransit, disagreed.

“One word of caution I will give you is not ask, ‘Why can’t you ride fixed route?’ but ask, ‘Do you have a qualifying disability that is specifically stated in the ADA?’ And I’ve read it,” Horton said.

Horton often takes paratransit to local government meetings and makes public comments.

During September’s meeting, Horton told the authority he’s talked to people who have difficulty waiting for long periods at the bus stop.

“They can’t stand that long, and because of that standing disability, they have chosen paratransit. So I’ll advise you to first look at your fixed route, see what you can adequately fix on that,” Horton said.

Over the next year or so, Spatial Plans consultants also will conduct a thorough study of current bus routes and passenger needs for fixed routes.

Information gleaned from updated paratransit applications could alter fixed routes to make stops at popular health clinics or other areas frequently requested for paratransit rides.

Because of riders’ mobility issues, paratransit bus drivers escort passengers onto the bus from the curb or their home’s front door, and assist the same way with exiting.

“We can go to their front door, but we can’t go through it,” MBCTA CEO Craig Ross explained. “Same way, when we get to a destination, every business, every doctor’s office is supposed to by ADA regulations, have someone there that can meet a person at the front door if needed. We don’t walk through that door.”

Paratransit drivers also face unique challenges with pushing wheelchairs and providing other assistance to riders.

“We’re not allowed to say we want to hire big, burly ex-football players as paratransit drivers because they can put people anywhere,” Woodard explained. “We have some ladies that drive that are expectant, and so we’ve got to, as an employer, consider their best interest as well.”

If a qualified paratransit rider does not have an adequate wheelchair ramp or clear, safe path to the door, MBCTA might have to deny service until necessary upgrades can be made.

It’s a ‘complementary’ service to supplement the fixed routes, but not complimentary, as in free.

Paratransit fares are $2.50 per ride, compared to $1.25 for fixed routes.

Ineligible former paratransit riders could take advantage of the Rapid Transit service that also requires scheduling rides on a smaller van, but costs at least twice as much — $5 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and $8 per ride between 6 p.m. and midnight.

The planned re-evaluation of paratransit riders is to strengthen the system, Woodard stressed.

“The intent was never to kick someone off. It was, how can we make the most of what we have, both in vehicles, drivers, and in time and effort,” he said.

It could be as simple as removing passengers from the rolls who needed paratransit for only a limited time before or immediately after a surgery.

Board member Charles Murphy questioned whether paratransit riders could lose their jobs if the list of approved riders is drastically cut, but Woodard explained that there is enough turnover of drivers that no one is expected to be let go. The authority regularly schedules overtime because they are short bus drivers, he said.

ADA requirements do not allow the authority to prioritize trips to the doctor’s over rides to Walmart, which makes it difficult to schedule, Woodard noted.

“Staff struggle because they’ve got someone that needs to go to dialysis, and they were late booking a trip, or they’ve got something and the trips are full, and they say, ‘We can’t take you,’” Woodard said. “They’ve always been trying to do everything for everybody, always, and that gets you tired, and it runs a lot of our good drivers off because of the stress levels.”

Re-evaluation of services is the first step to resolve some of these issues, he said.

Applications are set to go out in January and must be fully completed to be eligible to ride paratransit.

Ross assured the board that they are following guidelines set by the Federal Transit Administration.

“When you go by the book, you don’t get in trouble,” Ross said. “What we go by is what is in that six-inch-thick FTA manual, and we’re not going to sit there and argue about it. This is the way it’s going to be. We want to help everybody. We really do.”

© 2026 The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.).
Visit www.macon.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.