Paraquad and SMART Coalition Awarded $10,000 APTA Grant to Expand Accessible Transportation in St. Louis
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has awarded a $10,000 Local Coalition Grant to the St. Louis Metropolitan Alliance for Reliable Transit (SMART), a disability transportation advocacy coalition convened and led by Paraquad. The grant will fund community engagement, advocacy activities, and coalition coordination as SMART pursues two major goals: restoring Metro Transit fixed routes in North St. Louis County lost during the COVID pandemic and securing accessibility commitments from transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft.
“This $10,000 grant from APTA is more than a funding award. It is recognition that transportation is a civil rights issue, and that Paraquad and the SMART coalition are leading the fight to get it right in St. Louis” stated Latosha R. Fowlkes, LCSW, President and CEO of Paraquad. “SMART’s work is helping move our region toward a more accessible and connected future. When people with disabilities can move freely through their communities, independence, opportunity, and inclusion become possible for everyone.”
A Coalition Built on Results
Paraquad convened SMART in January 2023 in response to a series of critical service failures. Metro Transit's Call-A-Ride paratransit service denied more than 18,000 of 47,000 (38%) trip requests in a single month due to driver shortages and eliminated service in several north and south county areas due to staffing vacancies. Riders faced wait times well outside Federal Transit Administration guidelines, were given one-way trips with no return, and were required to pay cash with no electronic option.
In just three years, SMART's advocacy helped produce measurable results. Metro Transit achieved zero ADA capacity denials between July 2024 and February 2025, increased driver hiring bonuses from $2,000 to $5,000, hired more than 100 new drivers, implemented the E-Pay electronic fare system, and reformed its advisory committee into an Accessibility Advisory Committee.
This grant builds on Paraquad's half-century of transportation advocacy. In 1972, Paraquad founder Max Starkloff secured the first statewide barrier-free legislation for curb cuts in Missouri. In 1977, Paraquad made St. Louis the first city in the nation to have lift-equipped public buses on its streets. Paraquad also played a leading role in passing accessible parking legislation and in ensuring total accessibility was built into MetroLink from its inception.