The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's operation of its federally mandated Access-A-Ride program has been marked by waste, mismanagement and widespread service failures, according to an audit released on Tuesday by Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, public transportation authorities are required to provide a paratransit system for passengers who cannot use public buses or subways.
"Access-A-Ride is absolutely essential for thousands of people to get around New York City every single day, yet this program stranded thousands of people, wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and caused untold harm and distress," Stringer said in a press release.
The MTA uses 16 different companies to provide Access-A-Ride services for which it paid $321 million in 2015. These firms use MTA-owned vehicles, such as specially equipped buses and cars, and for-hire vehicles that provide transportation to ambulatory passengers through car services.
The audit said the MTA let its vendors "act with impunity, failing to monitor and correct problems or improve its Paratransit service."
According to the audit, self-reported data from Access-A-Ride bus and car providers showed passengers were stranded 31,492 times in 2015, almost twice the rate allowed by their contracts before penalties and corrective action could be taken.
The MTA assessed only $12,000 in penalties last year for inaccurately reporting when vehicles were no-shows, the audit said.
The MTA took issue with some of the audit's findings.
"Access-A-Ride enhanced the mobility of more than 144,000 New York City residents," the MTA said in an email to The Bond Buyer on Tuesday. "Every ride is important to us. Even though we carry 6.3 million per year, one missed ride is one too many, which is why we are constantly striving to improve the service, management and cost controls of this important program."
The MTA pointed to the percentage of total no-shows cited in the report.
"While every single customer is important, the 31,000 no-shows mentioned in the audit accounts for less than half of one percent of total trips," the MTA said in an email to The Bond Buyer.
The comptroller's audit also examined pick-up and drop-off times and said the MTA did not enforce contract requirements that car services install GPS. As a result, the auditors said the authority could not be sure vendors were paid only for trips that were performed. The audit said because the MTA lacks GPS data, it may have paid nearly $130,000 for car service trips that never occurred.
An audit sample of rides also found that nearly three-quarters of the time, Access-A-Ride bus and car providers misrepresented or had no data to confirm when customers were picked up.
Although Access-A-Ride buses and cars were required to have GPS installed, the audit said the MTA failed to use it regularly to see if vendors actually showed up for appointed rides and provided timely service. It said the MTA instead relied on contractors' self-reported trip and vehicle data, which is often inaccurate and not supported by GPS data, the auditors said.
The MTA said this issue was being addressed.
"Our Paratransit unit is already working to further develop the Automatic Vehicle Location Monitoring system to improve monitoring of Dedicated Service contractors' accuracy of pickup time reporting. A February 2015 contract modification is adding significant functionality to AVLM and, as monitoring enhancements are implemented, Paratransit will be able to more effectively use contractual incentives and remedies (credits, liquidated damages, etc.) to improve contractor performance," the MTA said. "Paratransit has and will continue to monitor contractors' utilization of GPS devices and to assist them to increase contract compliance beyond the current level. The contractors' stated goal is to achieve 100% compliance with providing GPS data for reporting by December 2016."
The comptroller said flaws discovered by the audit needed to be fixed.
"We found serious breakdowns in oversight and operations which have contributed to a culture of indifference and neglect by the MTA," Stringer said. "After years of mismanagement, it's on the MTA to take action now."
The comptroller made 21 recommendations for the MTA to implement.
The audit urged the MTA to: ensure all buses and cars are equipped with GPS technology and that it is functioning and activated when the vehicles are in service; direct providers to stop recording "reconciled" times, except when the GPS system fails to operate properly; use GPS data to evaluate performance, including if buses and cars meet minimum no-show and on time performance standards; take corrective action against service providers that inaccurately report trip and vehicle data, including higher financial penalties, reductions in trip referrals, and termination of contracts; and consider seeking new car service providers or alternatives to the existing service model.
"We note with pride that we have not denied a trip request due to insufficient capacity in more than 13 years. We have achieved this while embarking on several significant cost reduction initiatives, including the use of Broker Car Service Contractors, and as a result, average transportation cost per trip has declined 7.5% since 2009," the MTA said. "We will continue to enhance our efforts to improve contractor performance, so that our customers receive safe, reliable, timely and cost-effective service."
