Howard Beach resident Teresa Meade received a note in the mail from Access-A-Ride (AAR) in March, alerting her that her eligibility would expire April 30 if she did not renew her application.
She wasted little time calling to schedule an appointment, but was initially told a representative would call her back and give her a time to come in for an assessment - a new policy AAR implemented in March.
However, Meade never received a call back, so she waited a week and placed another call before finally receiving an appointment for April 13. She underwent the assessment, but when she called AAR on Friday, May 4 to find out her status, she was told to call back the following Monday because it takes 21 days to process the results.
Meade, 48, who has a permanent disability and uses a motorized scooter, travels from Howard Beach to her secretarial job at Verizon in Manhattan and was without the use of AAR for more than a week. Only after she called to file a complaint with the MTA, a representative told her she has temporary status, which will expire on May 26.
“I did what I was supposed to do, and someone dropped the ball,” said Meade, who is currently relying exclusively on Express Bus Service to get to work, but had to cancel other plans at destinations not easily accessible by public transportation while she was without AAR. “I have a permanent disability so I don’t know why I have to go back [to the assessment centers].”
During the first week in March, Access-A-Ride, a citywide paratransit service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), implemented a new system requiring people who utilize the AAR service to attend assessment centers so representatives can determine if the person still qualifies to use the service.
Testifying at a recent City Council oversight hearing, Thomas Charles, Vice President of the MTA’s Paratransit Division in charge of Access-A-Ride, said the organization changed the system to accomplish two goals.
“The first is that we can now ensure that all applicants receive the same fair, equitable and thorough evaluation of their disability for eligibility for paratransit service,” he said. “The second is that we can achieve compliance with the American with Disabilities (ADA) requirement to issue determinations of eligibility within 21 days of the submission of a complete application.”
Charles told The Queens Courier that in 2005 the average response time for AAR eligibility was 30 days while in 2006 the average response time was 26 days. If the AAR did not reach a decision on eligibility within 21 days, it granted presumptive eligibility to registrants which, according to Charles, created more problems.
However, some AAR users as well as councilmembers believe the new system has major flaws and serves as a hindrance to seniors and those with disabilities to qualify for the service.
“The MTA testimony is just not credible,” said Queens City Councilmember John Liu, who is the chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee. “It makes no sense that the MTA thinks it can better meet their 21-day turnaround deadline by mandating a whole new physical in-person assessment for all applicants. The real reason for the sudden change in the rules is the inability of the MTA to keep up with the rising demand for this vital para-transit service.”
City Councilmember G. Oliver Koppell, who chairs the Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Disability Services, had even harsher words for the agency.
“It’s unconscionable that instead of focusing on complaints of late pick-ups, no-shows, excessive delays and denials; the MTA creates new eligibility requirements that increase the burden on our most vulnerable citizens,” Koppell said.
Meanwhile, Meade, who took AAR on April 13 to an assessment center near JFK Airport, said the evaluation process was not thorough.
“It’s really a farce,” she said. “She [the person doing the assessment] was asking me the same questions that were on the application, which I already answered. I was with her for five minutes.”
Michael A. Harris, campaign coordinator for the Disabled Riders Coalition, which is the tri-state area’s only disability advocacy group, testified at the Council’s oversight hearing calling the organization’s new requirement ‘nightmarish.’
“I find it to be absolutely appalling that New York City Transit would add this additional burden to users of the agency’s already dysfunctional paratransit system,” Harris testified. “Access-A-Ride is not a service that the Transit Authority offers out of the goodness of their hearts; rather it is a federally-mandated program.”
Meade said that during the warm weather months she prefers to take the Express Bus because she has been disgusted with the consistent late pickups and rude treatment from the drivers.
However, on Mother’s Day, Meade and her husband Larry decided to use the AAR service to visit her sister-in-law at Brookdale hospital, and they waited more than an hour for their carrier to pick them up to go back to Howard Beach. After finding out from an AAR representative that the carrier that was supposed to pick them up does not run on Sundays, the couple decided to take the Express Bus and walk a half mile from the drop-off spot home.
“As much as I hate Access-A-Ride, I still need it,” Meade said.
Border crossing law for Access-A-Ride
For the second straight year, state legislators are trying to pass a law allowing Access-A-Ride (AAR) and Able-Ride service providers to cross the Queens/Nassau border within five miles to transport riders to their destinations.
Legislation introduced by Queens State Senator Frank Padavan passed unanimously in the Senate, while Queens Assemblymember Mark Weprin said he was confident the bill would make its way through the Assembly as well.
Last year, a similar bill passed in both legislative houses, but then Governor George Pataki vetoed the bill.
“I’m troubled that this bill was vetoed last year for questionable technical reasons, and I truly feel for those seniors whose lives this affects,” Padavan said in a statement. “It’s my hope that the Assembly will act quickly on this legislation because it is our high-needs residents who are losing out. This bill could correct a major inconvenience.”
Weprin said it is important for the legislation to pass because the areas in question contain numerous hospitals and doctors’ offices that seniors need to go to, but currently cannot easily commute to because of the need to cross county lines.
“I am hopeful that the Governor will sign the bill and not continue this discrimination,” he said.
Currently, AAR vehicles have the leeway to travel three-quarters of a mile over the county line, but lawmakers believe five miles is more conducive to meeting the users’ needs.
However, if the legislation is unsuccessful, Weprin said he would not rule out pursuing legal action against the MTA saying that language in the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) may require the MTA to provide this service already.
