BUS MAIN --- 1. INTRO --- 2. GOALS BY MUNIC. --- 3. FIXED ROUTE --- 4. FIXED ROUTE GOALS
5. SWEETHART --- 6. SWEETHART GOALS --- 7. MULTIMODAL GOALS
8. ADMIN. GOALS --- 9. CAPITAL PLAN --- 10. INTERCITY BUS --- 11. LINKS

SERVICE CHARACTERISTICS
HART provides demand response bus service to seniors and persons with disabilities through its SweetHART system. Door-to-door service is provided by SweetHART whereby passengers are picked up, usually at their homes, and taken to their destinations. Drivers assist passengers from the door of their pick-up point to the door of their destination on request. All SweetHART vehicles are wheelchair-accessible.

The service is provided to eight towns in the region: Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, Newtown, New Milford, Redding and Ridgefield. Persons at least 60 years of age or with a disability are eligible. Redding service, originally established under a State Section 18 rural operating grant, is available to any resident. SweetHART service in New Milford is operated on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. by the New Milford Senior Center using grant funds passed through HART to the town and using a HART vehicle.

To use SweetHART, passengers must complete an eligibility application. The service is operated on a reservation basis whereby requests for service must be phoned in by the passenger to the SweetHART dispatcher at least 24 hours in advance. There are no restrictions for trip purposes and reservations are handled on a first come, first served basis.

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) mandates that persons in certain locations with disabilities unable to use fixed route service shall be provided "complementary paratransit" service for their trips, assuming the trips meet the ADA-eligible definition. For a trip to be considered ADA SweetHART eligible, both the origin and destination must be within 3/4 mile of a fixed route and the individual must be unable to use fixed route service as a result of physical or cognitive impairment.

Other factors can make a trip ADA-eligible: if a wheelchair lift cannot be safely deployed at a stop; if a common wheelchair cannot be accommodated by the fixed route bus wheelchair lift; or if the interaction of the person's disability and architectural or environmental barriers prevents him or her from traveling to or from a bus stop. ADA-eligible trips take first priority on SweetHART over all other trips.

Service on SweetHART, as noted on this schedule, varies considerably by municipality. It is provided Monday through Friday in Danbury, Bethel, and Brookfield during the fixed route service span of 6:05 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Service to Newtown and Ridgefield operates every weekday from 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. New Fairfield operated 7a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and 7 a.m. -5:15 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays. In Redding, service hours are peak period only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and 10:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m. Friday.

HART provides ADA complementary paratransit service to areas within ¾ mile of a fixed route in the Town of New Milford on weekdays when fixed route service operates but town-operated paratransit services do not. Saturday service operates between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield and New Milford and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Ridgefield. No service is provided on Sundays or major holidays. Daily service hours and vehicle requirements by town are illustrated here (add link to chart).

Over the past five years, service was increased in the towns of Newtown and Ridgefield and reduced in New Fairfield and Redding due to changes in municipal contributions.

SweetHART service differs from the fixed route service in that trips vary from day to day depending upon the demand for specific origins and destinations. Trips to medical appointments, work, senior centers and shopping centers are among the most popular uses of SweetHART.

SweetHART provides intratown service (within the borders of a particular town) for residents of all towns. Intertown service is provided between Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, and New Milford for ADA-eligible passengers as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. For passengers whose trips are not mandated by ADA, intertown service policies vary by town. Schedule permitting, service is available between contiguous towns. Additionally, residents of Newtown and Redding may travel to Danbury, although neither town borders Danbury.

FARE STRUCTURE
A single one-way intra-town trip on SweetHART is 60 cents, except in Redding, where the general public pays $1.00 and students (kindergarten - 12th grade) pay 75 cents. Passengers pay an additional 15 cents for an intertown trip made on SweetHART. All ADA-eligible trips are $1.00, the same as the fixed route base fare (the state requires that ADA fares be at least equivalent to the fixed route adult fare; many systems charge double the fixed route fare).

Transfers to other buses are free. Personal Care Attendants for persons who are handicapped and need assistance may ride free. Companions who are not PCA’s pay the same fare as the passenger they accompany. Exact change is required for all fares.

Residents of the Town of Ridgefield do not pay fares. The town reimburses HART for fares on a monthly basis.

SweetHART provides one fare prepayment option, a ten-ride punch pass. Like the fixed route punch-pass, this pass is called a "Bye-Pass" but offers a five-cent discount per trip (rather than a percentage discount). Approximately 180 SweetHART "Bye-Passes" are sold per month.

RIDERSHIP
Annual ridership within HART’s SweetHART system has nearly doubled over the last 25 years. SweetHART ridership increased from 31,893 passengers in FY 1978 to 62,124 passengers in FY 2002. In the past ten years, ridership has fluctuated between 60 and 70 thousand annual trips. Note that there have been no significant changes in the amount of overall service supplied or in fare structure since the early 1990’s.

Changes in rider demographics and trip patterns, however, have changed dramatically. Trip length has increased substantially along with the number of trips made by wheelchair-bound passengers. Service efficiency declines as trip length grows longer and from the additional time required to make each wheelchair trip.

A second significant trend is growth in ridership of disabled workers on the SweetHART system relative to senior citizens. Seniors took the majority of trips until the early 1990’s and the passage of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA). ADA opened up opportunities for access and employment for disabled persons, and these clients have gradually made more and more use of SweetHART.

Senior riders tend to ride over a limited term of years, after which they cease using the service. This may be driving the sinusoidal pattern observed in the ridership data over the past ten years. Seniors are also living healthier and driving longer than in the past, which may be another factor in the demographic shift in the service. Absent any service additions, disabled workers are likely to continue to consume a growing share of trips supplied by SweetHART. In the long term, the growing population of seniors may again shift the demographics of system users.

REGIONAL PARATRANSIT COORDINATION
During the past five years, HART has initiated a number of efforts toward the coordination of paratransit services within the Housatonic Valley Region.

For several years, HART provided paratransit service under contract to Ability Beyond Disability (formerly DATAHR) located in Brookfield. Until 1996, HART operated six buses for 32 cumulative service hours per day of subscription services to carry clients from their homes to the Ability Beyond Disability center and to employment sites within and outside the Region. The service covered nine cities and towns including Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, New Fairfield, Newtown, New Milford, Ridgefield, Southbury and Kent. Approximately 130 trips per day were carried under this agreement.

In 1996, Ability Beyond Disability curtailed services contracted through HART. After a series of periodic reductions through 1996 and 1997, HART operated two vehicles serving Newtown and Southbury for 9.6 cumulative hours per day. All contracted service was ended in 1999.

Maintenance and fueling agreement have been executed with Education Connection, a non-profit transit service for special-needs children located in Danbury, and Henry Abbott Vocational Technical School, also in Danbury.

Six of EDUCATION CONNECTION’s 52 vehicles are regularly fueled and maintained by HART. However, any of these 52 vehicles may receive service, particularly major repairs, from HART from time to time. A similar agreement is in place between HART and Henry Abbott Tech to maintain five small buses.

In total, HART fuels and maintains a fleet of 11 to 57 vehicles owned by private, non-profit agencies, 36 body on chassis vehicles, 27 fixed route vehicles, 2 trolley buses, and 9 service vehicles for a total of 131 vehicles.

The primary benefit of such service agreements is that non-profit agencies such as Education Connection can take advantage of the service and maintenance expertise available from HART at a reasonable cost. Further, qualified non-profit agencies can take advantage of HART's tax exemption on fuel thus saving even more. HART benefits from the agreements by earning revenues that can cover indirect costs incurred by the transit district and can qualify as match for federal grants.

HART acts as the service provider in the region for transportation of elderly persons through an agreement with the Western CT Area Agency on Aging (WCAAA). Funding provided to HART from the WCAAA helps subsidize the cost of transporting elderly persons using SweetHART between municipalities in the region.

HART has a service coordination agreement with the Western CT Chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross operates several sedans using volunteer drivers to provide transportation to persons going to medical appointments. Under the current agreement, the Red Cross refers all ADA eligible trips to HART for service. Occasionally non-ADA eligible trips already scheduled by HART have to be bumped in favor of an ADA eligible trip. If the bumped trip is for a medical appointment, HART refers the trip to the Red Cross for service.

The Town of New Milford leases a SweetHART vehicle from HART and operates paratransit service Monday through Friday within New Milford. The service is funded by a Section 5307 operating grant passed through HART, and HART maintains the vehicle as part of the lease agreement. HART provides service on Saturdays and complementary service according to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act under a fully State-funded grant program.

HART offers private, non-profit transportation providers the opportunity to send drivers and staff to HART's driver and management training courses. Many of these courses have been and continue to be funded under the State and Federally funded Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP), which HART managed until the end of FY 1998.

HART's computerized scheduling and dispatching system has positioned HART as a potential broker in the delivery of paratransit service using several different providers. In this manner, reduced duplication of service and maximized use of available vehicle capacity can be realized among the different service providers.

VEHICLES
In the provision of demand response bus service, HART operates a fleet of body on chassis buses of various makes and models. Included are three 1996 Ford E-350/Goshen GC-II buses, Seven 2001 Ford E-350/Startrans Supreme buses, and 15 Ford E-350 and E-450/ElDorado Aerotech buses. Seating capacity varies according to model and wheelchair capability. This link (add link to table) shows the SweetHART demand response vehicle roster.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Over the past five years, SweetHART operating costs increased slightly by 6.2%. Annual operating costs actually decreased by 6 percent between 1998 and 1999, with the overall average annual rate of increase between 1998 and 2001 only 0.27%.

Cost per hour on SweetHART is slightly less than on fixed route service due to a differential in the division salaries of paratransit operators. Although paratransit vehicles have greater fuel economy, they are less durable than full size buses and have a shorter useful life, so maintenance and fuel costs are not significantly different between the services.

Total hours of service provided decreased slightly by 7.9%, as a result of consolidation of Saturday regional service and municipal budget reductions.

As earlier discussed, average trip length and intertown travel continue to grow. With each passenger trip becoming longer and service levels remaining roughly the same, fewer overall passenger trips are expected. After a decrease in ridership and productivity from fiscal year 1998 to 1999, ridership hovered around the 61,000 trip mark from 1999 to 2002.

HART survey’s SweetHART ridership on a regular basis to track satisfaction with the service. The surveys are used along with customer comments to review performance and priorities in the SweetHART service.

Please proceed to the sixth section of this bus plan discussing goals for HART Sweethart service.

BUS MAIN --- 1. INTRO --- 2. GOALS BY MUNIC. --- 3. FIXED ROUTE --- 4. FIXED ROUTE GOALS
5. SWEETHART --- 6. SWEETHART GOALS --- 7. MULTIMODAL GOALS
8. ADMIN. GOALS --- 9. CAPITAL PLAN --- 10. INTERCITY BUS --- 11. LINKS