Comment from Anonymous

I am writing to strongly urge FTA to withdraw the Notice of Proposed Policy Statement Regarding the Applicability of FTA's Drug and Alcohol Testing Program to Transportation Network Companies (Notice of Proposed Policy Statement) published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2024, at 89 FR 106732. If enacted, this policy would have a devastating impact on paratransit riders. Before transit agencies started partnering with TNCs, the booking and customer experience for paratransit riders was abysmal and supply was unreliable. The typical pattern required riders to call a day in advance to book a trip and give a pickup window multiple hours long. That is not how the world works – life isn’t lived in two hour pickup windows that can be scheduled neatly in advance. This cumbersome process coupled with inconsistent service delivery created barriers to mobility that limited paratransit riders’ abilities to participate fully in their communities. Without TNCs, paratransit riders have had a harder time scheduling and making medical appointments, holding employment, shopping for groceries, seeing family and friends, pursuing educational opportunities, and living their lives fully as non-paratransit riders. The entry of TNCs changed all of that. Mobility is no longer a barrier, but an opportunity. TNCs have brought safe, affordable, and on-demand travel to hundreds of thousands of paratransit riders nationwide. Reversing the progress TNCs have made possible in increasing mobility for our nation’s most vulnerable riders would be a terrible and cruel decision. Additional regulation around drug and alcohol testing would dramatically shrink the amount of drivers eligible to support paratransit programs, which ultimately affects riders through the end of same-day service, longer wait times, and inefficient routing. Additionally, TNCs have shown they can deliver rides safely, as they have done for billions of riders around the world who trust these services. TNCs are often ahead of the industry in terms of delivering safe rides. In addition to the thorough background checks TNC drivers undergo,TNCs offer riders the ability to share their trip status, get detailed reports on driver rating and history before getting in the car, and on-trip customer service support. Transit agency partnerships with TNCs have been life-changing, not only for the riders who take part in these programs, but for our communities and country as whole. We are better and stronger when paratransit riders can engage fully in their communities. They have so much to give.