Several transit agencies nationwide have owned ADA-complementary paratransit facilities since the mid-1990s. A few others have taken to facility ownership within the past decade. NJ TRANSIT has always leased its facilities for Access Link, the ADA-complementary paratransit service provided in parts of 18 New Jersey counties. Currently the Access Link service area is divided into five service regions for six “operating regions,” with each operating region having a facility of its own. The facilities are leased through private service providers from landlords. This study was conducted primarily to examine the advantages and disadvantages of NJ TRANSIT owning one or more Access Link facilities. The study additionally identified optimum locations for Access Link facilities in the six operating regions.

To fulfill the study’s objectives, several tasks were undertaken, including

• a review of literature and practice, site visits to all six Access Link facilities
• interviews with the facility general managers
• structured telephone interviews with ADA division officials from 11 transit agencies nationwide
• accessibility analysis to identify optimum facility locations within each region
• analysis to compare leasing and owning costs for two actual and three potential Access Link facilities
• forecasting the growth of each region in terms of riders and size
• estimation of costs of new facilities in each region

The results from various types of analysis are summarized in this report. Electronic files containing different types of analysis and results have been separately provided to NJ TRANSIT and NJDOT. Based on the results, eight recommendations were made. Justifications for each recommendation are provided. One of the key recommendations for the NJ TRANSIT ADA Division is to seriously consider ownership of one facility and assess the outcome. It is also recommended that the agency coordinate with other divisions of the agency and conduct appropriate real estate appraisals for the identified properties by using the findings of this study as a guide.