Disability Rights Mississippi, JTRAN renegotiate 2010 paratransit agreements

Editor's Note:This is the third in a series exploring issues with JTRAN, Jackson's transit system.

On-time pickups and dropoffs, trips under two hours and operators answering the phones are just some of the paratransit performance standards the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ordered JTRAN and the city of Jackson to comply with in a 2010 consent decree.

But for the past 14 years, while things have improved some since 2010, JTRAN has still failed to fully meet these standards. Now, the city of Jackson is trying to end the consent decree, throwing the decree and its stipulations back into discussion.

Public transportation standards like delivering timely pickups and dropoffs are services JTRAN continues to wrestle with and especially pertinent to Jackson’s disabled community — many of whom rely on JTRAN paratransit as their only means of transportation to work and to critical medical appointments.

Currently, the consent decree is stayed and Disability Rights Mississippi has filed a motion to extend the consent decree.

“We filed a joint motion with the city to stay the consent decree pending a resolution, whether that's through the court or through an agreement between the parties,” Hunter Robertson, attorney for Disability Rights Mississippi, said in a JTRAN paratransit advisory board meeting on Wednesday.

More on JTRAN paratransit:Jackson bus shortage leaves JTRAN using paratransit buses as spares. See impact on riders

The group is working on a proposal outline to present to the city to negotiate. The decree will be stayed until the city and Disability Rights Mississippi reach a resolution or it reaches a settlement. If they reach a settlement, Disability Rights Mississippi said they plan to go through the court process.

“We'll be in this as long as it takes to make sure that people with disabilities in Jackson have reliable, timely, accessible transportation,” Jane Walton Carroll, communications director for Disability Rights Mississippi said.

Read our JTRAN investigation:Has JTRAN really improved since its March relaunch? We rode buses to find out

Back in 2010, individuals and disability groups in Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the city of Jackson for not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act for paratransit.

The result of that lawsuit was a consent decree, which outlined performance standards for JTRAN, including telephone wait times of less than three minutes for 95% of callers, not denying more than 10 trips per month, meeting at least 95% of all pickups within 30 minutes of the scheduled pickup time and 99% of all pickups within a 45-minute window, 95% of drop-offs before appointment times, no trips longer than 120 minutes for more than 5% of all paratransit trips, and not missing more than 20 trips in one month.

Disability Rights Mississippi hopes to negotiate the same agreement they set 14 years ago.

“If they would just meet the standards that have already been set, we would call it a success,” said Polly Tribble executive director for Disability Rights Mississippi.

The city of Jackson did not respond in time for publication.