Cobb County paratransit services provide just under 35,000 rides per year to help individuals with cognitive or physical disabilities get around. But in April and May, only five of the county’s 30 paratransit vehicles were operating.
The lack of vehicles strained the program, increasing wait times for riders.
Willie Flagg, a 68-year-old Marietta man, uses the service several times a month as his primary form of transport. Recently, he was stuck waiting on a bus four hours beyond his scheduled pickup time.
“Fortunately, I did not have any serious health issues,” Flagg said in an email complaint to the county. “I cannot find any excuse for waiting five hours.”
Customers can request a ride to be picked up within a 30 minute window. Any pickup 15 minutes beyond that is considered late.
“It’s very, very important for seniors like me and people who have limited mobility,” Flagg said of the service in a recent interview.
CobbLinc ordered 22 new vehicles in May 2021. But one year later, they still hadn’t arrived due to supply chain issues. Now the new fleet isn’t expected until 2024.
This May, more paratransit vehicles were in disrepair without the parts needed, causing 35% of the scheduled pickups to be late, according to statistics provided by the county.
“They’ve not been able to be repaired since November, waiting for parts,” Cobb Transportation deputy director Karl Von Hagel said. “So we just got ourselves further and further into a deficit with the repairs and the supply chain.”
As a temporary solution, CobbLinc leased 14 vehicles through a contractor, First Transit. Just over a week after the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the contract, eight new buses with wheelchair access and six new minivans were on the road.
Credit: Cobb Counthy
Credit: Cobb Counthy
Although still short several vehicles, the additional vans and buses have helped. Late trips decreased by 91% in their first week of operation. Now, over a month since the vehicles hit the road, on-time performance is back to normal at 90%, according to the county’s data.
The service is hugely important to those in need.
Paratransit vehicles have ramps or lifts for wheelchairs and securement devices on board, and operators often assist passengers with boarding.
Chari Johnson, a 44-year old Marietta woman who has difficulty walking after a car wreck, uses the service for doctors appointments. In May, she waited an hour for the bus she had reserved.
“A lot of times I’ve called and they had to cancel,” Johnson said. “They didn’t have anybody to come pick me up.”
Cobb County will pay $686,613 to lease the 14 vehicles over the course of one year. CobbLinc paratransit services cost $1.58 million total from April 2021 to March 2022.
For some, the paratransit service is the only affordable way to get around.
“There’s a lot of seniors here,” Flagg said. “A lot of us are probably only getting maybe Social Security as income, so it’s very limited income and a lot of us can’t afford a car.”
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