Access-A-Ride complaints roll in

Three months ago, Teresa Meade, 48, had just finished seeing a movie at the theatre on 42nd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan, and she was waiting in her manual wheel chair for an Access-A-Ride (AAR) vehicle to arrive for her 9 p.m. pickup that would take her back to her Howard Beach home.
After nearly an hour of waiting, the vehicle finally arrived, but Meade's odyssey was just beginning as she spent time in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island before the vehicle finally dropped her off in Howard Beach shortly before midnight.
Untimely pickups and extremely long trips were only two of a laundry list of complaints riders of AAR voiced at a City Council hearing on Tuesday, November 21.
AAR provides transportation for people with disabilities who are unable to use public bus or subway service for some or all of their trips, offering shared ride, door-to-door services for customers who qualify for the program at the same $2 cost subway and bus riders pay.
During the hearing, Councilmembers from the Transportation and Mental Health Committee grilled Tom Charles, Vice President of the MTA's Para Transit Division in charge of Access-A-Ride, about the program's status as well as its continued expansion plans for the future.
Charles said that a number of the current Access-A-Ride contracts are up this year, and while a number of options have been picked up on carriers, he plans on adding four carriers and an additional 62 vehicles by the end of the year.
&#8220We do have our share of problems, and that is where the expansion is coming into play so that we can provide a little more flexibility on the road,” Charles said.
Meanwhile the MTA is continuing to look to Global Positioning System (GPS) and Real Time Technology to improve its on-time service, which they say is 93 percent (the driver has 30 minutes from the scheduled pickup time to be considered on time).
&#8220We are trying to improve the on-time performance,” Charles said. &#8220We want to look at the rides and offer more flexibility.”
However, Queens Councilmember John Liu, Chair of the Transportation Committee, urged Charles to go further.
&#8220Based on their own customer satisfaction surveys, the MTA consistently earns a C+ for their operation of Access-A-Ride,” he said. &#8220We urge the MTA to accelerate the use of technology, black car vouchers, and evaluate why the operating cost is so high compared to other cities.”
Flushing resident Mary LoDolce, 89, takes AAR four days per week to and from the Clearview Senior Center in Bayside.
&#8220Most of the time I have good rides,” she said. &#8220Sometimes they are a little bit late . . I've waited over an hour.”
LoDolce said that when she calls in to request a ride to a doctor's appointment she makes sure to let the dispatcher know that the driver must not be late.
&#8220You have to tell them,” she said, explaining that at times she has been driven all around the borough for what should have been a short trip. &#8220I've learned more about Queens than I ever knew before.”
Charles testified that the average cost per ride to implement the AAR service has not risen dramatically throughout the last five years; it remains close to $50 per ride, and he expects that number to rise.
Michael Harris, who is the Campaign Coordinator for the Disabled Riders Coalition, said his organization receives between 500 and 600 complaints per week and more than half of them refer to AAR.
&#8220I let my eligibility expire because I know too much about the program,” he said. &#8220When you get 250-300 complaints a week, you basically give up on using it.”
Two other issues AAR users expressed their dissatisfaction with included its subscription service and vehicles being prohibited from crossing county lines.
Meade uses the subscription service, which is available to customers who take trips that begin at the same place and end at the same destination at the same time one or more days a week but she has to cancel the subscription three days in advance, if she is not going to use it, or face a possible suspension.
Meade said she can understand giving 24 hours notice, but three days is excessive.
&#8220I've had some health issues,” Meade said. &#8220When I have to go to the doctor, I have to go.”
Earlier this year, Assemblymember Mark Weprin introduced legislation that would enable AAR vehicles in Queens to drive into Nassau County in order to drop customers off at their destinations, but Governor George Pataki vetoed it.
Harris termed forcing customers to switch vehicles, sometimes to go an extra three or four blocks, &#8220pathetic,” and said he hopes to see legislation introduced to not only allow vehicles in Queens to cross county lines, but also in the Bronx, Westchester and other areas throughout the state.
Weprin said that the Queens/Nassau border has many health care facilities that senior citizens often frequent, including Long Island Jewish Medical Center, which has parts that are actually in both Queens and Nassau, and he plans to reintroduce legislation in January to allow carriers to go five miles over the county line.
&#8220We plan on pushing it again and hopefully pass it,” he said. &#8220Hopefully we will have different luck with a new governor.”