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BCRTA paratransit faces criticism

Late rides, lack of drivers hinder students

By Grace Moody, The Miami Student

Miami students with disabilities may not have access to adequate on-campus transportation this fall semester.

Last spring, the Students with Disabilities Advisory Council invited a Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) representative to a meeting in order to share grievances about Miami's Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Paratransit service \0xAD- a complimentary door-to-door resource for students whose disabilities would otherwise make them unable to use the fixed-route public transportation.

Since that meeting, however, no changes have been made to Miami's ADA Paratransit service.

Junior Rachel Reeves, a member of the Students with Disabilities Advisory Council, regularly uses this service because of a permanent disability.

Due to a high demand for rides, particularly in the mornings, she said, students with disabilities sometimes have a hard time making appointments for the door-to-door transportation service. This often leads to Reeves, and other students, arriving late to some of their classes.

"I would love for them to get another bus," Reeves said. "We just need more people driving because there are a lot of us and often we can't get the rides that we need. We also need to make sure the dispatchers know where exactly the buildings are on campus."

Reeves said many students with disabilities are concerned about the lack of drivers, but also the drivers' navigational abilities. There are drivers in both Hamilton and Oxford, so when a Hamilton driver is transferred to Oxford, often they aren't sure where many of the buildings on campus are located. Getting lost is a frequent occurrence, said Reeves.

BCRTA's Interim Operations Manager for Paratransit Services, Sherry Hawley, was present at the Disability Advisory Council's meeting last spring to answer students' questions about the service.

Hawley said BCRTA's Paratransit service employs three primary drivers, who drive the ADA Paratransit bus in shifts.

Andrew Zeisler, director of Student Disability Services, said students with concerns about Paratransit busing typically contact BCRTA directly. Zeisler directs students who approach him to Capt. Ben Spilman, Miami University Police Department's parking services and BCRTA liaison, who, Zeisler said, is responsive to feedback.

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"Probably the concern that I've heard the most often is that students have waited longer than they should have for a ride," Zeisler said. "Sometimes people don't get to their classes on time. It all depends on the time of day and the levels of use."

Spilman said students offered very constructive feedback during the Students with Disabilities Advisory Council meeting. Overall, he said, the system tends to work well in serving students' mobility needs on campus.

"In large, the feedback has been fairly positive to neutral," Spilman said. "There have been a couple of instances where there have been [issues], but overall I would say that the system works well."

He said it's not just students that the Paratransit system serves; it's also university employees and the general public of Oxford.

"I think it's certainly an asset to the resources that we provide here on campus, as it provides mobility options for students who otherwise would not be able to use the bus system," Spilman said. "It plays a big role in making Miami's campus mobile."