With office space in downtown Chicago, vehicles inspected and drivers equipped with new uniforms, Pace is ready to take over the Chicago Transit Authority’s responsibility for providing rides for the handicapped.
Starting Saturday, Pace will be in charge of rides for the 38,644 certified disabled residents of the six-county area, double the amount of paratranist service it currently provides.
Despite the transition, CTA paratransit riders shouldn’t notice major changes. They will call the same phone numbers to reserve a ride, and their fare will remain $1.75, at least for the near future.
“Our goal is to make this very seamless for the riders,” said Melinda Metzger, a Pace deputy executive director.
Required by federal law, paratransit service provides door-to-door rides for people whose disabilities prevent them from using fixed bus or train routes.
Until now, the CTA has provided those rides in Chicago, and Pace has provided them in the collar counties. Both agencies provide rides in suburban Cook County. CTA officials said they provide about 83 percent of the rides in the region, but Metzger said each agency provides about 2.8 million trips, meaning Pace’s responsibility will double.
Pace’s takeover of the CTA’s service stems from a law enacted last year designed to help the CTA solve a $55 million budget deficit by transferring the paratransit responsibility to Pace.
The new role increases Pace’s profile, but it comes with lawmakers’ expectations that the agency will make the service more efficient. Starting next year, Pace will have to meet a fare ratio for paratransit. For every $10 million in the cost of paratransit service, Pace will have to receive $1 million in fares.
Pace also will have to re-examine fares. Currently, the CTA charges $1.75; Pace charges $3 for most rides but $2.50 in some areas. Pace is awaiting the results of a paratransit funding study before it makes any changes.
To prepare for the transition, Pace workers have shadowed CTA employees, opened a city command center in Metra’s downtown headquarters and met with riders in each of the city’s 50 wards. Since April, Pace officials have inspected 450 vehicles used by the three private carriers that the CTA has contract with to provide rides.
Advocates for the disabled hope that Pace’s takeover of the system will improve service, “which is sorely needed,” according to Gary Arnold, a spokesman for Access Living.
But Pace doesn’t plan major changes soon.
“We need to kick the tires before we start changing the tires,” Metzger said.
Some minor changes to improve customer service will start Saturday.
Drivers who work for the CTA paratransit carriers will have to wear uniforms and badges so riders with complaints can note their badge numbers. In addition, riders will file complaints with Pace, not the carriers, so Pace will know about the problems it needs to fix, Metzger said.
All calls made to the reservation line will be recorded so Pace can determine whether an operator is rude or took incorrect information from a caller.
Pace officials are developing plans to save money and deliver more timely service.
Pace officials would like to change the CTA’s reservation system, which allows riders to choose the carrier they want to drive them to a location. Since the carriers don’t communicate with one another, three neighbors who are traveling to the same place could be picked up by three separate vehicles and driven to the same destination.
Pace also would like to install devices in vehicles that track their locations, so if a vehicle is running late, the agency could call riders and inform them of the delay. Pace currently does this in the suburbs, Metzger said.
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vgroark@tribune.com
