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12 <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />NORTH CAROLINA <br />ORANGE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ADA PARATRANSIT PLAN <br />described in the Description of Current Paratransit Services section of this document will be <br />implemented and will apply to the new and expanded services. The same eligibility <br />determination process will also apply to the new and expanded fixed -route services. <br />Estimate of Demand and Description of Estimation Methodologv: <br />The current demand for ADA paratransit service in OPT's fixed -route ADA service area is <br />estimated at 2.7 paratransit trips per day (based on 2014 data). This estimation is based on <br />an assumption that approximately four (4) percent of trips associated with fixed -route <br />service would be provided as ADA paratransit trips and borrows from the experience of a <br />similar system in a similar hybrid rural /urban environment, Apple Country Transit in <br />Hendersonville, North Carolina. Experiences of other providers in the Triangle region range <br />from a low of approximately 0.9 percent for Chapel Hill Transit to a high of approximately <br />7.1 percent for C -Tran, the Town of Cary's local public transportation provider. As such, the <br />four (4) percent assumption lies safely in the middle of the range for the region. When <br />OPT's fixed -route ADA service area expands in the spring of 2015, demand is estimated to <br />increase to approximately eight (8) paratransit trips per day. <br />Complementary ADA paratransit trips are generally more expensive to provide than fixed - <br />route trips or ADA paratransit trips provided as deviations from fixed -route service. <br />However, given that a good portion of OPT's existing service is provided in a demand <br />response format, OPT can continue to realize the cost per trip benefit of combining <br />complementary ADA paratransit trips with demand response trips provided for other <br />purposes. Consequently, the use of OPT's existing cost per trip for the system is a good <br />estimation of the cost per trip for those dispatched to service ADA paratransit clients. The <br />current cost per trip for OPT's demand response service (using 2014 data), including both <br />pure operating and administrative costs, is $12.85. Assuming a demand of eight (8) ADA <br />paratransit trips per day and 2,000 per year based on an assumption of there being 250 <br />days of service per year, the total cost to provide these trips is anticipated to be $25,700 per <br />year with an escalation of approximately three (3) percent per year to account for <br />inflation /increases in costs overtime. <br />Operating and Capital Budget for Proposed ADA Paratransit Service. <br />The operating budget for proposed ADA paratransit service for the next five (5) years is <br />provided in Table 2 and is based on the estimation of demand explained in the previous <br />section. <br />Table 2: Five -Year ADA Paratransit Service Operating Budget <br />Year <br />FY 2016 <br />FY 2017 <br />FY 2018 <br />FY 2019 <br />FY 2020 <br />Budget <br />$27,265 <br />$28,083 <br />$28,926 <br />$29,793 <br />$30,687 <br />Based on the anticipated cost per year to absorb the estimated demand for ADA paratransit <br />service and in the manner it is anticipated to be provided, no additional capital needs are <br />foreseen as necessary. OPT vehicles used for fixed -route service that may deviate to <br />provide service to an ADA - eligible client are ADA - accessible and equipped with lifts. OPT <br />10 <br />