Special Report: Challenges and Strategies in Paratransit Workforce Development

Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, paratransit has been a staple component of public transportation systems across the United States. ADA complementary paratransit provides transportation to people who, because of a disability, cannot use fixed-route service independently. Despite the importance of this mode in the overall health of urban transportation infrastructure, very little research has focused on the development of the paratransit workforce since a seminal 2010 study on paratransit operator recruitment and retention. This report aims to provide a brief update to the 2010 study, focusing not just on operators but on the entire paratransit workforce, including a range of frontline roles. To learn more about the unique workforce challenges of this modal context, as well as what successful strategies paratransit providers have used to combat those challenges, the Transit Workforce Center (TWC) research team conducted interviews involving 22 individuals across 13 paratransit systems in nine states. This report documents our learning from those interviews