Barriers to Transit Equity for People with Disabilities

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Barriers to Transit Equity for People with Disabilities Grant

We know access to transit is often challenging, however, during the pandemic we have also realized we have opportunities to change, grow, enhance and diversify our services. Thanks to funding from the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council, Iowa DOT and Central Iowa Regional Transportation and Planning Alliance (CIRTPA), we are going through a process now where we have created a coalition of community partners including riders, human service agencies, county and city officials, healthcare providers and many others to work on identified key objectives (barriers/improvements). We are very excited to have this opportunity to work with EasterSeals Project Action, who is facilitating this project via their Accessible Transportation Community Initiative (ATCI) process, assisting us along the way to ensure we are focused and moving forward as a group. What we have come to realize over the years is none of us are as strong as all of us.

Transportation is the connection to everything and it is vital for all people to be able to navigate the process in order to access essential services, such as medical care, groceries, employment and visiting loved ones. If we want healthier, more diverse, inclusive thriving communities, we must promote more equitable mobility services and financially support transit vehicles and services so we are able to be accessible to all users. Every community benefits from having transit services. It helps get people out in the community spending their money, filling jobs, visiting landmarks, attending schools, and so many other things. I often have to remind people, “No matter how great a service program or facility is, if a person can’t get there, it doesn’t exist for them”.

HIRTA has a wonderful advocate from Disability Rights Iowa, Emmanuel Smith, who tells people he is a 30 year old man with a disability, who has a great job and lives on his own, and yet his curfew is 11pm because that is when the bus ends service. Think about that – Would you want to be an adult where transit dictates when you have to be home?

Transit systems like HIRTA must have the ability to establish more flexibility and adaptability to serve all of the people in our communities. This not only means we need to create different services, we need different vehicle types and sizes. We know there is no one size fits all, but we know we can do better – and we are working hard to make that happen.

Some of the items we will be working on this year are:

• Identify and develop funding and partnership strategies for broadening access to transit services by expanding hours, geographical reach and diversifying modes of transportation

• Develop and implement updated promotional and educational marketing strategies to raise awareness, enhance customer experience, and increase ridership

• Expand service hours by pursuing funding opportunities & partnerships

• Identify and research options for offering same-day services, increasing dispatcher hours and decreasing telephone hold times

• Expand and create partnerships to identify and eliminate mobility barriers to improve quality of life with a focus on the underserved population which includes people with disabilities

We will be seeking input from the community in a variety of ways, including surveys and focus groups, and as those get developed we will share how you may participate. As you can see most everything is tied to additional funding, so we will also be developing educational opportunities on learning more about transit funding, as well as, how to advocate on behalf of transit to ensure services are sustainable in meeting your needs.

This is just the first of our blog posts on this funded project. Be on the lookout for additional progress blogs in the future!

Julia Castillo

Executive Director