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Peoria approves Ride Choice amendment to expand paratransit options and reduce costs
Summary
Council approved an IGA amendment Oct. 7 to add Valley Metro's Ride Choice on-demand option to Peoria's paratransit services; staff estimates the blended per-trip cost would drop from about $84 to ~$56 and improves on-time performance and same-day service for ADA-certified riders.
The Peoria City Council unanimously approved an amendment on Oct. 7 to its regional paratransit agreement to add Valley Metro’s Ride Choice option as a supplemental service for ADA-certified riders.
Chris Howlett, director of Neighborhood and Human Services, introduced the item and Tremaine Coley, Peoria’s transit manager, described Ride Choice as an on-demand, single-pickup, single-drop-off service that contracts with multiple vendors — including rideshare and specialized medical/ADA carriers — instead of relying solely on a single paratransit shuttle vendor. Under the existing IGA, Valley Metro-operated shared-ride paratransit trips cost Peoria about $84 per contracted trip and require advance reservations; staff reported contracted on-time performance has hovered around 80% (contracted target 95%).
Staff estimated they could divert roughly 70% of regional paratransit trips to Ride Choice at an average cost of about $45 per trip for those diverted rides; with the remaining 30% continuing under the current arrangement, the blended cost would be roughly $56 per trip. Staff said the change would enable same-day bookings (24/7 call center), eliminate the typical shared-ride transfers that require riders to change vehicles, and could improve on-time performance by about 15 percentage points for those who use Ride Choice. Staff estimated program savings of roughly $400,000 (32% of the current paratransit contract) and flagged additional potential grant savings of approximately $150,000.
The council moved, seconded and approved the IGA amendment by unanimous roll call (7-0).
Votes at a glance: the Ride Choice IGA amendment (agenda item 16R) was approved 7-0. The meeting also passed the consent agenda 7-0 earlier in the session.
Next steps: staff said they will implement Ride Choice under Valley Metro oversight and return later this winter with further program enhancements, operational metrics and grant opportunities.
