County Paratransit Taxi Service Ending?

American United Taxi Cab Service Offices, 646 S. 2nd St. Photo taken March 31, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

After studying the feasibility of continuing the paratransit taxi program, officials from two county agencies have concluded that the county can’t afford it.

A joint report from the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the Department of Health and Humans Services (DHHS) stated that the agencies are recommending that the paratransit taxi service be discontinued at the end of the current contract with American United Taxicab Services, rather than trying to secure a new contract.

The service provides a timely and efficient way for the county’s residents with disabilities to travel around the county directly to their destinations. The paratransit vans, which are not on the chopping block, do not allow same-day reservation of a private ride, nor can they be relied upon for getting to appointments and work on time, as riders and advocates have explained.

Recent federal regulations left the county’s contractor for paratransit taxi out of compliance, according to Donna Brown-Martin, MCDOT director. The vehicles did not have wheelchair lifts — now required. They also did not employ random drug testing of drivers and the county was going to be on the hook for that. Falling out of compliance with these federal regulations would jeopardize MCDOT’s access to federal funding used to maintain the county’s transportation infrastructure. So MCDOT did not renew its contract with the company.

But after residents decried the end of the service and the county board created the Paratransit Taxi Task Force, MCDOT exercised a 120-day continuation clause in the contract, to keep it going until a solution was found.

The contract ends Sept. 28. The latest report effectively rules out DHHS taking over the taxi service. Since the agency is not regulated by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), one of the new stipulations, random drug testing, would not have been required.

The recommendation for discontinuation, according to the report, was arrived at for several reasons: the estimated cost of the service exceeded the available funding; the limited budget also means that any on-demand service would not “meet the preferences of riders,” because it would limit the number of monthly rides, increase the fare from $4 to $10 and not guarantee private rides; the service could “detract” riders from using available fixed-bus route transit and paratransit services; additionally, “discontinuing the paratransit taxi service in its current form is not only mandated by the FTA, but also increase equity for all paratransit riders.”

The report is a product of a cost and ridership analysis by DHHS. That analysis found that 762 individual riders took approximately 25,000 trips in 2022 and 2,200 riders eligible for transit plus were excluded from these trips because the vehicles did not have wheelchair lifts. Additionally, 70 riders took 50% of the taxi rides in 2022.and the majority of riders were 60 years or older.

The number one use for the taxis was to travel to a commercial destination, and 28% of commercial rides were to Potawatomi Casino and Walmarts. The vast majority of rides, 92%, remained within the City of Milwaukee. Nearly all rides fall between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The two county agencies that produced this joint report are recommending that the task force explore ways to promote existing transit services and advocate for increased specialized transportation funds to improve existing paratransit service.

Update: This story was updated to clarify that the vans do not take passengers directly to their destination with no stops in between. They do provide door-to-door service.