Impact of COVID-19 on paratransit operators and riders: A case of central Alabama

Paratransit plays an important role in offering mobility and accessibility in local communities, especially for mobility disadvantaged group such as seniors, persons with disabilities, and persons with medical conditions. This study comprehensively evaluates the impacts of COVID-19 on paratransit services from paratransit operator and individual rider perspectives. In particular, we mine a paratransit dataset that covers trip logs of more than 800 unique riders over a seven month period in order to understand how the pandemic impacted service and influenced trip purposes of individual riders. For service providers, our analyses show that a significant loss in paratransit ridership was accompanied by drastic changes in travel behavior among paratransit riders. Results indicate that the operator was able to deliver safe and efficient mobility services during COVID-19, but at a 60% higher cost per rider than under pre-pandemic conditions. The results also reveal a varying level of impacts for individual riders given heterogeneity among trip purposes and demographic profiles. Moreover, similarities are identified across a range of individual riders, depending on specific trip purposes and the availability of alternative travel options. This study is among the first to investigate paratransit operations during COVID-19 in terms of impacts to both operators and individual riders. The lessons learned and policy insights should be useful to other paratransit operators and policymakers in preparing for current and future pandemics.