Palm Tran Connection is the demand-responsive, shared-ride, door-to-door service that serves the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit service for Palm Tran and serves as the Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) for Palm Beach County. The types of trips provided by Palm Tran Connection include ADA, Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) and Division of Senior Services (DOSS). Palm Tran Connection schedules over 4,000 passenger trips per weekday. The current Palm Tran Connection program requires two (2) vendors. The contract requires the vendors to maintain the county owned vehicles in a facility provided by the vendor. The vendors are also responsible for the hiring, training and background/alcohol testing of the paratransit operators. Palm Tran Connection is responsible for the Eligibility, Reservations, Scheduling, Dispatching and the contract management for the paratransit program. Palm Tran Connection has added two alternative transportation services. An ADA compliant overflow option with UZURV and a Rider’s Choice program through Lyft. This initiative has improved and expanded services to those who are economically disadvantaged, elderly or disabled. We desire to further grow this program through an initiative called the Connection Plus Program. In the new procurement Palm Tran plans to provide a single-use facility for the use of both providers. Palm Tran Connection will also use this facility as their main center of operation. Palm Beach County (PBC) is located along the southeastern coast of Florida and shares boundaries with Broward County to the south, Martin County to the north, Lake Okeechobee and Hendry County to the west and southwest, respectively. There are approximately fifty-three (53) miles between the County’s eastern and western boundaries and forty-five (45) miles north to south. The County has experienced 1.06% population growth over the last decade and currently has a population of approximately 1.52 million people.
