Can the convenience of Lyft be brought to the disabled?
An important mandate of public transportation in the United States is to provide transit services to the most vulnerable and mobility-reduced. This mandate is central to building just, equitable cities accessible to all citizens. To accomplish this mandate, many transit systems augment their primary lines and system with ‘paratransit’ that provide service to those that for one reason or another can’t use traditional transit.
The rise of e-hailing technology like Lyft and Uber has increased the convenience of mobility for many people, but those gains have not yet spread to the mobility-reduced. Though Uber and Lyft are experimenting in certain markets with services targeted towards the blind and those in wheelchairs, their offerings are far from universal, and will likely continue to be the case. These are for-profit companies. This begs the question:
how can the conveniences of modern e-hailing platforms be provided to the mobility-challenged where the private market will not go?
An experiment in doing just this has begun in Boston. Starting in October 2016, the MBTA, the region’s public transportation company, will begin providing subsidies for mobility reduced customers using Lyft. It’s current paratransit service–RIDE–requires being booked 24-hours in advance. Using Lyft, these customer order a car like anyone else, with all the convenience the technology provides. Lyft drivers, in partnership with a local firm, will have access to wheelchair accessible vehicles. Lyft, for its part, will provide smartphones to wheelchair customers that do not have their own so that they can access the service. It will also staff a call center for customers who still want to order a ride by phone. The pilot will last for a year, though MBTA analysis already estimates a potential savings of $10 million annually.
This sort of collaboration, between the private sector providing an improved and innovative service, and the public sector working to guarantee that that innovation is shared by all citizens, is a promising example of the best kind of public-private partnership.
