Quick-Response Research on Long-Term Strategic Issues. Task 42. Transportation for People with Disabilities and Older Adults during COVID-19: Lessons for Emergency Response

Transportation services for people with disabilities and older adults are provided, in most communities, by a complex, and often fragile, agglomeration of public, private, and non-profit fixed-route, paratransit, and demand-responsive services that are essential to the well-being of their customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of being prepared and nimble to serve people with disabilities and older adults was evident. While facing many challenges, numerous transportation providers that serve people with disabilities and older adults demonstrated laudable responses to the pandemic and other emergencies they faced, while others struggled to adapt. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of enhancing resilience and assuring that community-wide mobility and other critical needs are met during emergencies. Given this, research is needed to help ensure that the positive and negative lessons learned regarding transportation services for people with disabilities and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic are documented and understood. The objective of this research is to present strategies for public transportation agencies, paratransit providers, human service transportation providers, emergency planners, and their partners to prepare for and be ready to operate transportation services for people with disabilities and older adults during major service disruptions such as a pandemic, natural disasters, and other emergencies. This research should draw on the lessons learned from diverse communities during the COVID-19 pandemic; provide examples of successful strategies; and present implementation methods that can be emulated.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5075

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $100000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project J-11, Task 42

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Schwager, Dianne

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135
• Principal Investigators:

  Hansen, Todd

• Start Date: 20211201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230901
• Actual Completion Date: 20230901

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; COVID-19; Disaster preparedness; Disasters and emergency operations; Equity; Lessons learned; Level of service; Paratransit services; Persons with disabilities; Public transit; Transportation disadvantaged persons
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Security and Emergencies; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01758962
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project J-11, Task 42
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 23 2020 8:01PM