Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is pledging to use his emergency powers to fund paratransit before a critical deadline on December 18. As first reported by the Detroit News, the Federal Transit Administration cited the city for allowing a 70% service cut before the end of the year.
Key stakeholders in the city’s disability community say they have not been included in the emergency response.
Stephen Handschu with Detroit’s chapter of the National Federation of the Blind said concerns about Transdev—the company that manages most of the city’s paratransit services—have not been addressed.
"The service under that provider Transdev is so poor, that people are not safe traveling under their management," he said.
Handschu said drivers with Transdev have left visually impaired people at wrong destinations and injured riders who use wheelchairs by failing to secure them.
Many paratransit riders said the service should be brought in-house at the Detroit Department of Transportation.