Summary
- Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA or RTA) wants to transition from three external Paratransit service providers to one, Provide A Ride, focusing on higher capacity but a lower contract rate. RTA projects a reduction in annual Paratransit expenses of $1.5 million over three years.
- The Ad-Hoc Compensation Committee did not approve decisions or take any actions in the public portion of this meeting.
Follow-up questions
- What other public services have seen the rapid demand increase that Paratransit has seen in the past year?
- How much is RTA willing or able to budget for this work?
RTA meeting essentials
Documents:
Find the agenda for this meeting here.
Presentation here.
Watch the recorded livestream of this meeting here.
Board members present:
Organizational, Services & Performance Monitoring Committee
- Emily Garr Pacetti, board vice president, and vice president and community affairs officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
- Marie Gallo, mayor of Parma Heights
- Deidre McPherson, chief community officer, Assembly for the Arts
- Jeffrey Sleasman, senior director, The Fund for Our Economic Future
Ad-Hoc Compensation Committee
- Pacetti
- Anastasia Elder, associate, UB Greensfelder L.L.P.
- David Weiss, mayor of Shaker Heights
Other board members
- Shanelle Smith Whigham, senior vice president and national community engagement director, KeyBank
- Stephen Love, program director, Cleveland Foundation
Absent:
- Paul Koomar, board president and mayor of Bay Village
Staff and other attendees included:
- Scott Lawson, contract administrator for procurement
- India Birdsong Terry, general manager and CEO, RTA
- Nicholas Davidson, district director for Paratransit
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Meeting Cleveland Paratransit demand with third-party providers
The Organizational, Services & Performance Monitoring Committee was called to order at 9:03 a.m.
Agenda item 1 – Minutes approved from Jan. 6 meeting.
Agenda item 2 – Contracted Paratransit Services, a recurring competitively negotiated procurement for contracted Paratransit services, for a period of three years with two one-year options.
A public service mandated by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, “Paratransit service is provided to persons who, because of their disabilities, are unable to independently travel on the public transit system”.
Nicholas Davidson, district director for RTA Paratransit, presented a plan to reduce costs by renegotiating provider contracts as Paratransit services expand capacity alongside increasing rider demand in the coming three years.
Paratransit’s operational priorities, established in 2019:
- Leverage scheduling technologies
- Improve customer service
- Modernize communications technologies
- Increase on-time performance
- Reduce onboard travel times
RTA assesses customer satisfaction through user surveys conducted and averaged every three months. According to data shared by Davidson, Cleveland Paratransit has averaged rider scores of 65-75 the past several quarters, while the national average for similar services is 33.
Board Member Deidre McPherson shared her own positive experience with Paratransit customer service: “I was hosting an event in Midtown, and we had an attendee that was taking Paratransit, and she had called me personally to ask if I could escort her into the building. I missed her call, but the driver took the time … they escorted her, brought her inside.”
Currently, 46% of active Paratransit operations are run in-house with RTA equipment and staffing, Davidson said. The remaining 54% is contracted out to three service providers: Provide A Ride, GC Logistics, and Senior Transportation Connection. In 2025, Paratransit use reached 130% of pre-COVID demand, and this number is anticipated to rise. More than 50% of Paratransit use is for healthcare-related trips. The agency’s immediate goal is to grow operational capacity to meet demand, while maintaining or lowering cost, without detrimental impact on customer satisfaction.
RTA Contract Administrator Scott Lawson said the agency went out to market to negotiate lower contractor rates over the next three years. RTA issued a public request for proposals (RFP) in October 2025 to solicit contract proposals. The portal was accessed by 50 applicants, and eight firms submitted eligible proposals by the Nov. 18, 2025 deadline. The RFP language established requirements for required workforce capacity and vehicles no older than seven years. Proposals were reviewed for contractor qualifications and experience, people strategy and scaleability, capital resources, infrastructure, and cost.
After reviewing proposals, Davidson said RTA administrators selected Future Age, Inc., doing business as Provide A Ride — one of Paratransit’s three existing service providers — for a new three-year-minimum contract at a lower rate. The current contract with GC Logistics would expire on May 31, and RTA would exercise a one-year option with Senior Transportation Connection on their existing contract, with the rate currently being negotiated. Over the next three years, RTA aims to increase the percentage of its Paratransit operations run in-house, in part by increasing from 85 to 100 vehicles, while Provide A Ride ramps up to run to 100% of contractor-supported operations, Davidson said. RTA also projects decreased insurance liability expenses. Projected annual savings through the new proposed contracting plan is about $1.5 million, as shown in the table below.
Reviewing the presentation, Board Member Jeffrey Sleasman said that in the past, Provide A Ride has had worse customer satisfaction ratings than the other contract partners and RTA. Davidson assured the board that these metrics have significantly improved in the past decade and, in fact, the 65-75 average score from the past year includes the 30% of Paratransit services currently managed by Provide A Ride.
In his portion of the presentation, Lawson said Provide A Ride also partners locally with CareSource, UnitedHealthcare, The Transportation Alliance, Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Accreditation Commission, Medical Transportation Access Coalition, and more.
They report a growth pattern, Davidson said, adding that they are building a young, accessible fleet of vehicles, and are willing to take on 100% of contract operations as soon as RTA requires.
India Birdsong Terry, general manager and CEO of RTA said, “We had a lot of debate … to make sure that we were doing this in the most economically advantageous manner but also making sure … the vehicles are there, making sure the manpower is there [to ramp up].”
Terry also commended Davidson and Lawson for prioritizing in-house operations and contracting with a Cleveland-based provider, Provide A Ride, while engaging multiple national bids through the RFP process increasing visibility and competition for future contracts.
Motion was approved to move the request to a full board session.
The Organizational, Services & Performance Monitoring Committee adjourned at 9:43 a.m.
Suggested Reading
Ad-Hoc Compensation Committee called to order at 9:43 a.m.
Agenda Item 1 – Minutes approved from the last committee meeting on Jan. 6.
Agenda Item 2 – Committee moved into executive session.
Members returned from executive session about one hour and 20 minutes later. The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 a.m.
These notes are by Documenter Hannah Morgan.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.