King County Metro in Seattle, Washington has been recognized as a trend-setter and leading innovator in the evolution of paratransit practices and procedures. Faced with dramatic projected increases in paratransit demand and costs, the agency implemented significant refinements to their paratransit eligibility procedures in November 2000. As a result of these changes, it is estimated that new applicants are being added to the registration rolls at half the rate they would have been under the previous process, and the agency is estimated to have saved $1.5 million in trip reductions in 2002. In 2003 Metro conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of all aspects of the program, which is the core of this paper.

Highlights of the eligibility program evaluation include: effectiveness of a unique pre-application process; 100% phone interviews with applicants; use of a team of eligibility analysts with varying degrees of expertise in the field; provision of a costly but very effective travel training program (and how referrals to the program occur); and effective collection of information to allow implementation of trip-by-trip eligibility screening.

The evaluation included two unusual methodologies for assessing the impact of the eligibility program: 1) telephone interviews were conducted with individuals who had expressed interest in applying but chose not to after receiving the pre-application package, 2) two hundred applications were reviewed by team of three cross-discipline analysts who compared their eligibility determinations to those of Metro and contract staff, and made recommendations for program refinements. In addition, the study team conducted a detailed cost/ benefit analysis, addressed issues related to the use of health care professionals in the completion of "non-medical" evaluations, and recommended a standard for conditional eligibility.