Juneau aging commission to vote Sept. 15 on demanding paratransit fix or new contractor

Juneau's ADA paratransit riders have gone ten months without service that meets contract requirements, the chair of the city's Commission on Aging wrote in a draft letter to the Assembly. Deborah Craig warns that the borough could face federal and state ADA violations if the current contractor cannot show compliance. Commissioners vote Sept. 15 on whether to send it.

Craig has described what the failures look like. Her 96-year-old neighbor was left without a scheduled pickup at Foodland. And the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium started running its own transportation shuttle, she testified in July, because the paratransit service "failed repeatedly to get clients to medical appointments."

The letter lists startup requirements it says were never met: door-to-door pickup, communication training, and multiple phone lines with voicemail.

It offers the Assembly three options. Survey current Capital AKcess riders by phone. Commission a risk assessment along the lines of an ADA audit. Or move the contract back to Catholic Community Service, with a transition period. CCS held the contract before and now runs the service in Sitka, and its executive director, Erin Walker-Tolles, is scheduled to present at the same meeting.

Who holds the contract now is not clear from the record. Craig's letter identifies the current provider as Juneau Taxi. A Capital Transit public notice says Ground Transportation Solutions has performed the contract since Nov. 1, 2025.

Craig wrote that Capital Transit told her the borough manager's office had begun reviewing complaint logs from both the former contractor and the current one. Her letter follows an Aug. 7 communication to the Assembly and her July 27 testimony, in which she said the service had failed seniors and disabled riders for nine months and the contract was renewed in June anyway.

Capital Transit describes Capital AKcess as providing service comparable to fixed-route buses under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and its materials lay out a written complaint process for riders. Neither the transit agency nor the contractor has responded in the meeting materials.

The commission advises the Assembly and does not set transit contracts. Its meeting starts at 3 pm Sept. 15, by Zoom only, with public comment before the vote.