49 CFR Parts 37 & 38 - Department of Transportation (DOT) ADA Regulations

Category 1 Eligibility

The first eligibility category includes, among others, persons with mental or visual impairments who, as a result, cannot “navigate the system.” This eligibility category includes people who cannot board, ride, or disembark from an accessible vehicle “without the assistance of another individual.” This means that, if an individual needs an attendant to board, ride, or disembark from an accessible fixed route vehicles (including “navigating the system”), the individual is eligible for paratransit. One implication of this language is that an individual does not lose paratransit eligibility based on “inability to navigate the system” because the individual chooses to travel with a friend on the paratransit system (even if the friend could help the person navigate the fixed route system). Eligibility in this category is based on ability to board, ride, and disembark independently.

Mobility training (e.g., of persons with mental or visual impairments) may help to improve the ability of persons to navigate the system or to get to a bus stop. Someone who is successfully mobility trained to use the fixed route system for all or some trips need not be provided paratransit service for those trips. The Department encourages entities to sponsor such training as a means of assisting individuals to use fixed route rather than paratransit.