TY - JOUR
T1 - Advocating for transportation equity
T2 - A critical examination of paratransit service reductions in St. Louis and its impact on health and community social participation
AU - Desai, Rachel Heeb
AU - Choi, Seyoon
AU - Wehmeier, Aimee
AU - Oxford, Jeanette Mott
AU - Morgan, Kerri A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Social participation is associated with better health, quality of life, physical activity, and engagement in community living and is thus an emerging health priority. Transportation plays an important role in facilitating social participation. Our team recently reported in the Journal of Disability and Health that Missouri-dwelling adults aging with long-term physical disabilities who use paratransit services as their primary transportation mode are more likely to participate in social roles and activities outside the home compared to those who do not use paratransit. In March of 2023, the paratransit company Metro Call-A-Ride that serves St. Louis announced major scale backs to their coverage zones due in part to staffing shortages. This decision has been met with a formal complaint filed to the U.S. Department of Justice as well as protest from the St. Louis disability community and advocates. Thousands of individuals who relied on Call-A-Ride for their routine community outings—to work, grocery stores, or medical appointments, for example—have been affected by the cuts. In this commentary, we will summarize the media coverage this decision has received, including the perspectives of disability rights advocates and individuals who have been directly affected. We will then present an overview of our original research findings in the context of these recent events and a brief synthesis of existing literature on paratransit services in the U.S. The commentary will end with proposed policy, research, and programming solutions for St. Louis's Metro Call-A-Ride and public transportation at large.
AB - Social participation is associated with better health, quality of life, physical activity, and engagement in community living and is thus an emerging health priority. Transportation plays an important role in facilitating social participation. Our team recently reported in the Journal of Disability and Health that Missouri-dwelling adults aging with long-term physical disabilities who use paratransit services as their primary transportation mode are more likely to participate in social roles and activities outside the home compared to those who do not use paratransit. In March of 2023, the paratransit company Metro Call-A-Ride that serves St. Louis announced major scale backs to their coverage zones due in part to staffing shortages. This decision has been met with a formal complaint filed to the U.S. Department of Justice as well as protest from the St. Louis disability community and advocates. Thousands of individuals who relied on Call-A-Ride for their routine community outings—to work, grocery stores, or medical appointments, for example—have been affected by the cuts. In this commentary, we will summarize the media coverage this decision has received, including the perspectives of disability rights advocates and individuals who have been directly affected. We will then present an overview of our original research findings in the context of these recent events and a brief synthesis of existing literature on paratransit services in the U.S. The commentary will end with proposed policy, research, and programming solutions for St. Louis's Metro Call-A-Ride and public transportation at large.
KW - Accessibility
KW - Disability
KW - Equity
KW - Social participation
KW - Transportation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197457581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101666
DO - 10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101666
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 38964937
AN - SCOPUS:85197457581
SN - 1936-6574
VL - 17
JO - Disability and Health Journal
JF - Disability and Health Journal
IS - 4
M1 - 101666
ER -