LEXINGTON, Ky. — According to a report from CivicLex, the city is taking aggressive steps to improve transportation access for disabled residents who have struggled with unreliable paratransit service and long distances to bus stops. Lextran’s Wheels paratransit service, which provides door-to- door transportation for disabled riders, has long faced performance problems. Monthly on-time performance fell as low as 50.5% in October 2022, with rides showing up late, taking too long to reach destinations, or failing to arrive entirely. But improvements have followed significant investments, with on-time performance trending above 80% between April and August 2025, the first time since before 2023, after Lextran integrated 21 new ADA-compliant vehicles into its fleet. Still, Lextran general manager Fred Combs acknowledged the service remains below its operational goal of 90% on-time performance. Mary Evans, a Lexington disability advocate who relies on Wheels for daily transportation, said inefficient route planning by drivers unfamiliar with the city has led to excessively long trips that sometimes take more than two hours. To supplement Wheels service and fill gaps in the fixed-route bus system, Lexington transportation officials and community leaders partnered with BUILD, a coalition of religious congregations, to explore flexible transit options. Following a feasibility study in August 2025, the city council voted in December to contribute half the cost of a $1.2 million pilot program launching in 2027. The microtransit service will operate on the northwest side of the city, stretching between Newtown Pike and Versailles Road, where many residents live at least a mile from the nearest bus stop. Unlike Wheels, which requires 24-hour advance scheduling, microtransit will offer on-demand, app-based booking similar to Uber or Lyft at rates comparable to regular bus fares. Lextran officials emphasized that microtransit is not intended to replace paratransit service and cannot serve all residents with disabilities. Instead, it aims to be a bridge for some people to better access amenities and fixed-route bus service. The city also approved $375,000 in funding for United Way of the Bluegrass’s Ride United program, which offers subsidized Lyft rides for essential services. The need for expanded options has grown more urgent as disability rates have risen nationally since the pandemic. Many people have developed disabilities after COVID-19 infection, particularly those with long COVID, creating new demand for accessible transit even as Wheels strives to rebuild trust with users who experienced service failures. This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from CivicLex, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://news.civiclex.org/how-lexington-is-ensuring-disabled-residents-can-get-around/. The post Lexington invests in new transit options for disabled residents appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less