[tabi] Re: Fw: your experiences with Dial A Ride
- From: "Norine Labitzke" <norine@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2013 21:58:24 -0400
Most of your know, I am very pro Dial-A-Ride, and perhaps overly tolerant,
positive, and supportive of Dial-A-Ride,, but even my patience is about to run
out. As has been said before, it is not the drivers fault – they are severely
overscheduled.
My experiences over the past few months that have been very frustrating are as
follows: #1 calling the dispatcher and being lied to, and especially and often
by one whose first name begins with “T” – I can understand they are busy; I
would be annoyed if told I don’t have time to deal with your problem right now,
however, I could tolerate that, but I extremely resent being lied to,– one
dispatcher does this repeatedly – I will call the 30 mins after my scheduled
pick up, be put on a long, long hold, then told the driver will be there in 3-5
minutes, which does not happen; when the driver comes they tell me, they were
never contacted. Thus I am too late for my appointment or class. In some
situations, had I known the schedule and how late I would be, I would have
cancelled or made other arrangements. I would support a computerized or
automated system that riders could access to determine the approximate times of
our rides – it might not be what we want to hear but it would be objective and
honest. Also, why can’t riders have the same courtesy and notifications if
their scheduled times will be late, and given the option to make other
arrangements and not charged with a “No show”..
I teach a Bible Study class at my church at 4:30 on Wednesdays and have a
standing 3:15 pick up, which certainly should assure I am not late, but three
times in a row recently I was late. How early do I have to schedule to be
sure?
The same is true if I call and say” I am ready early, would you please notify
my driver?” I am assured that will happen. However, when the driver comes,
usually late, they say they were never notified and their schedule would have
been much easier and more manageable if they had been told this – this usually
occurs for me in the middle of the day, when things are slower.
Lately, I have had to cancel pick ups when it is evident they cannot get me to
my work, class, or destination on time. I have been told these trips are
cancelled – God forbid I get a notice my riding privileges have been suspended
because of too many “no shows” Another similar problem, which happened
today, is that once I got on the bus I dialed dispatch and was put on hold for
a long time, then disconnected. I asked my driver to call for me to cancel a
pick up at 12:15 – it was now about 12:16 after I had been on hold for several
minutes. The driver was able to get through to dispatch much quicker than I
could and I think and hope this will be ok. Recently I have tried to cancel
about an hour and ten minutes before my scheduled trip but been put on a long
hold, usually been disconnected and had to call back, thus making it late by
one or a few minutes. I always explain this and am told ok; I hope and pray I
do not get a notice otherwise.
It would be nice if cancellations could be within thirty minutes, or less,
rather than an hour. It would make the drivers schedule easier, and often, a
rider such as myself, does not know how long I will have to run over at work,
or that someone will offer me a ride. At least, when at work, could we cancel
or delay such as is allowed at a doctor’s appointment?
The people in scheduling are usually very reliable, and one who is very good,
also seems to have a control problem. I requested to change a standing ride to
and from work to be picked up at 12:15 rather than 12:45. I was told, after a
few days of “we have to talk with Quintas to get permission to change” to I
could not change a standing ride. This seems quite strange as it seems to
override my employers ability to change my schedule. Does Dial A Ride have a
policy on standing rides for work, and standing rides in g eneral? I would
like to know this and all their policies.
I could support a priority of scheduling for medical, school, and work as
number 1 priorities with a one hour tolerance strictly accounted for and
enforced. It would seem those of us who are using the system because of age,
health, and other reasons not our own fault should have a number 2 priority for
rides no matter where or why with perhaps a 75 -90 minute tolerance; anyone
using this service who does not fall in this category should be subjected to
and able to live with a #3 priority of a 2 hour+ tolerance.
I continue to appreciate and support Dial-A-Ride and their caring hard working
employees. Changes need to be made. I did not know that persons with DUIs
could affect schedules and agree this does not seem fair – if anything, it
would seem they are the ones who should have to schedule with a 2 hour + leeway
for work or other appointments. I am sorry for them, but their need to ride
comes from their own choices where many of us ride because of circumstances
beyond our control and are trying our best to maintain employment, pay taxes,
maintain or improve our health and ability to be good citizens doing volunteer
work, etc.
Hopefully this helps with what you are doing. Probably after sleeping on this,
I will have many more situations and examples to share, but probably will
not, because this and the others who have responded have already addressed them.
Thanks for taking this on and for all you do Norine
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Easy Talk
Sent: Saturday, April 6, 2013 8:27 AM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tabi] Re: Fw: your experiences with Dial A Ride
Hi windy,
Thanks for your support. I am collecting all the info people give me so we
have proof of the problems and will add yours to the list. I will keep you
posted on progress.
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: wendy.hoss@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:wendy.hoss@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 05, 2013 4:42 PM
Subject: [tabi] Re: Fw: your experiences with Dial A Ride
Robert,
I whole-heartedly agree. The drivers are completely overbooked, I have been
late to work twice when I have to go to the office at TCC and it was due of
course to overbooking. Also to add to your list is one that I fussed about
many times before and that is being allowed more than one escort. People with
disabilities have families too - it works in Jacksonville and BTW you pay less
per ride over there. I will be happy to go to city hall with you. I don't
really know how much help we will get from others in the community but I am
willing to try.
Thanks,
Wendy
_____
From: "Easy Talk" <Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2013 5:18:12 PM
Subject: [tabi] Fw: your experiences with Dial A Ride
----- Original Message -----
From: Easy Talk <mailto:Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Rosser, Andrea <mailto:Andrea.Rosser@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [tabi] your experiences with Dial A Ride
Hi Andie,
Thanks for your prompt attention to my concerns. I look forward to your call.
you can reach me at 906-9821
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: Rosser, Andrea <mailto:Andrea.Rosser@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Easy Talk <mailto:Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ; Maldonado, Ivan
<mailto:Ivan.Maldonado@xxxxxxxxxx> ; Hudson, Jann
<mailto:Jann.Hudson@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: [tabi] your experiences with Dial A Ride
Mr. Miller,
Thank you for forwarding this to me. I believe we can fix the issues you have
listed below. StarMetro would appreciate the opportunity to talk with you
about each issue prior to the City Manager/Mayor/ Commissioners getting
involved.
Having involved citizens like you is what makes our system better.
I will give you a call tomorrow.
Thank you,
Andie
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
Easy Talk <Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Easy Talk <mailto:Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 11:04 AM
Subject: [tabi] your experiences with Dial A Ride
What have been your experiences with Dial A Ride since the Decentralization of
the bus system. It is my understanding that 100 new users have registered and
been approved for service but there has been no expansion of vehicles or
drivers and drivers say they are being over booked. Recently Sila totally
missed a dentist appointment, had to wait for two hours to get a return trip
home from a medical appointment and just this morning was picked up 1 hour
after her scheduled pick up at 7-30 for a two hour medical procedure.
Since Dial A ride starts pickups at 6-30 AM, with in a hour they were already a
hour behind.
As we all know public transportation has declined in Tallahassee and Leon
county for the past five years and we also know transportation is a vital
service for the visually impaired. I think it is time that the disabled
community stand up and try to remedy some of our transportation problems and at
least get it back to what it was five years ago. I propose we start with Dial A
ride and work our way up to night and non sponsored county service. I am not
particularly interested in doing this under the guise of TCB or the local NFB
chapter but as disabled citizens who need a service that is reasonable by
contacting city and county commissioners by phone, email and requesting for
agenda time on both boards. We can also use media coverage to get there
attention.
Here are the things I think will help as far as Dial A ride is concerned
1 not sure who made this rule but you can not have a dispatcher check on your
ride until the vehicle is 30 minutes late. This means if DAR screwed up you
only have 30 minutes to make your appointment and from my experience you will
be late. This needs to be immediately changed to 15 minutes. The fact that
you have to wait 20 minutes after your pickup time to see if you are on the
schedule must be scrapped.
2 Dial A ride must have at least one vehicle available at all times to deal
with over books and scheduling changes such as some one not being ready for
pickup from a medical appointment.
3 as soon as possible the City needs to acquire vehicles and drivers to meet
the demands due to decentralization of the bus system. They created the
monster so let them pay the price.
4 The city needs to look for a better schedule routing system for more
efficient scheduling and not allow drivers to be scheduled for more pickups and
drop offs that aren't physically possible.
5 have the rule changed that allows self inflicted driving privileged
restricted/DUI people removed from being able to use Para transit. Just
imagine, A drunk driver can cause you to be late for your doctors appointment
or not be allowed to go grocery shopping.
Folks, this is a serious issue and it is time we stand up and do something
about it. I hope you will join me in this indever. I think the issue can be
dealt with in the manner I have outlined. I think we have a few city and
county commissioners who care and may just not be aware of the problem. About
a year and a half ago, a bunch of us went to the city commission meeting and at
that meeting when I spoke, I gave each commissioner a document of research I
had done on the Polaris traffic signals and many of you know that is what the
city is using now so it can work with some effort on your part. Once we get
Dial A ride back on track, we can move to the other transportation issues.
Thanks Robert
.
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