Sponsors
The bill would expand and modernize same‑day paratransit—improving access for people with disabilities and seniors through higher federal shares and tech standards—while imposing significant upfront costs, raising federal/local spending, and creating implementation, equity, and privacy risks that must be managed.
People who need same-day paratransit (people with disabilities, seniors, and other riders) will get materially expanded access because the bill raises federal operating shares and creates formula incentives to fund same-day services.
Transit providers will be encouraged to adopt real-time routing, dynamic scheduling, and modern matching technology, improving reliability and increasing available trips for riders while enabling operational efficiencies.
Digital accessibility, stronger cybersecurity requirements, and rules that preserve recipients' ownership of service data will make paratransit apps more usable for people with disabilities and reduce risks from data breaches while enabling anonymized data for planning.
Rising federal shares and new operating subsidies increase federal spending, which could raise taxpayer costs or create pressure to offset spending elsewhere.
Smaller and some mid-sized transit agencies and vendors will face significant upfront and ongoing costs to implement new technology, meet accessibility and security standards, or replace noncompliant software—raising short-term local expenses and procurement complexity.
Changes to scheduling/eligibility and a fast rollout of same-day systems could create access or equity problems for some riders and, separately, broader data‑sharing rules risk misuse if anonymization or PII protections are imperfect.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Increases federal operating grant shares for qualifying same‑day paratransit (up to 70–80%) and requires FTA minimum software standards with phased compliance deadlines.
Introduced March 26, 2026 by Lateefah Simon · Last progress March 26, 2026
Provides higher federal operating shares to encourage transit providers to offer same‑day paratransit and requires the Federal Transit Administrator to publish minimum software and technology standards for ADA paratransit systems. Grants that fund same‑day paratransit projects may receive up to 70% of net operating costs (80% if staffed exclusively by recipient employees), while ordinary operating assistance remains capped at 50% federal share. The Administrator must issue final procurement standards within one year covering accessibility, cybersecurity, data controls, API interoperability, real‑time dynamic routing, unified booking, and data ownership; noncompliant third‑party paratransit software will be ineligible for 5307/5310 funds one year after publication and for 5311 funds two years after publication.