The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit opened a new Paratransit Assessment Center in Lower Manhattan, which will be used as part of the eligibility determination process for new Access-A-Ride (AAR) customers and those looking to recertify their eligibility.

The new center provides a more convenient assessment location for paratransit applicants who live or work in Manhattan and increases capacity across the system of AAR Assessment Centers that serve thousands of paratransit customers each month.

NYCT’s New Access-A-Ride Facility

NYC Transit repurposed 1,600 square feet of the MTA’s bid suite, which has seen less use since the COVID-19 pandemic, to create a convenient assessment location with three interview rooms. This location is easily accessible by bus or subway, and paratransit provides free trips to and from assessment appointments to all applicants who request this service.

 So far in 2024, paratransit has processed 32,680 applications and 8,130 recertifications, making nearly an 11% increase from 2023.

“Customers are voting with their trips and showing us that they have been seeing reliability improvements, and the data backs that up,” said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. “Between a new assessment center, electric vehicles joining the fleet and a new wheelchair securement system, we have made real improvements to paratransit service, with more to come.”

The Access-A-Ride Program

Through September 2024, Access-A-Ride has seen 6.8 million trips, with 800,000 trips for 79,000 customers in September alone. 

AAR is on pace to exceed pre-COVID service with more than nine million trips in 2024. On Oct. 30, Access-A-Ride set a daily record with 40,000 scheduled trips.

Customer satisfaction continues to increase year-to-year as customers respond to improvements to the service. 

For example, amid historic on-time performance, AAR adopted a more customer-friendly 20-minute standard to measure on-time pickups earlier this year. Even with the tighter performance metric, on-time performance continues to constantly exceed 90%.

Paratransit customers are also taking advantage of different tools and channels to book trips. Between the MY AAR app, webpage, and recurring subscription trips, 30% of AAR trips are now booked without the customer needing to pick up the phone.