Transit:
ECAT Cuts Off Disabled Riders Without Notice as FlexTransit Rules Change
Starting Oct. 1, the Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) has changed its rules regarding its once-touted FlexTransit program, leaving many disabled riders without rides to and from work.
- Another communication failure by County Administrator Wes Moreno and his team. See “Moreno Keeps Library Board in the Dark.“
How FlexTransit Became a Paratransit Service
The launch. On April 1, 2025, ECAT launched FlexTransit, a microtransit pilot program that would use smaller vehicles to provide bus service to people not on the regular bus routes. However, ECAT didn’t offer the service to all residents. FlexTransit gave rides to paratransit customers served by ITL Solutions, which cut into its revenue.
- What paratransit is. Paratransit provides transportation for people who can’t use bus line service, most commonly because of a disability. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), any public transit agency operating fixed-route bus service, such as ECAT, must also offer paratransit as a complementary service within 3/4 miles of its routes.
The Contract Fight
Moreno’s recommendation. In October 2025, County Administrator Wes Moreno recommended that the county drop its contract with ITL Solutions for paratransit and let FlexTransit handle it. The commissioners asked Moreno to work out a new agreement with ITL Solutions, but he failed to do so. ITL Solutions gave up and handed paratransit to ECAT in December 2025.
Where things stand: ECAT now has a million-dollar shortage. Moreno and ECAT have clamped down on availability for disabled riders not living or working close to ECAT’s main routes.
A Rider Gets Dropped
Today, I received a text from Carolyn Grawi, executive director of the Center for Independent Living of Northwest Florida. She uses public transportation and lives on the outskirts of District 3 (Commissioner Lumon May), near District 4 (Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger).
“So it is my turn to be officially cut off of services by ECAT… where I live is one mile from a stop and was still getting service through yesterday 9/30. And nothing official that my rides stopped, but no rides this morning while waiting to go to work despite standing orders.”
Another Handoff, Another Gap
The TD program. On July 1, RideITL Cares took over from ECAT the federal government’s Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) program, which handles off-hours transportation for people.
No notice. Grawi texted:
“Ride ITL was given no notice by ECAT that they were to pick me up today. I was simply dropped and left behind.”
- The ECAT problem has only gotten worse since I wrote about it in July—”Transit Changes Botched: How Escambia County Failed its Disabled Citizens.”
Irony
The Board of County Commissioners tonight will proclaim October National Disability Employment Awareness Month and “celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities.”
“The Board of County Commissioners of Escambia County, Florida, pledges to continue to take steps throughout the year to recruit, hire, retain, and advance individuals with disabilities and work to pursue the goals of opportunity, full participation, economic self-sufficiency, and independent living for people with disabilities, including those with mental health conditions and other non-obvious disabilities.
