The local paper, the Denver Post, ran an article about the problem of people calling 911 (the US all-emergency phone number) instead of visiting a doctor’s office for urgent care needs (that is, things that need to be handled quickly but are far from life and death). It seems that many times this ties into another disability problem: lack of affordable, convenient, usable transportation. It turns out that you can get an ambulance. You can’t get other transportation oftentimes if you are poor and don’t drive.
Many politicians in larger urban areas (like Denver) probably pat themselves on the back thinking, “See how progressive we are? We’re doing the bare minimum required by federal law to create an accessible transportation system. So now nobody has the excuse that they can’t get transportation to work or wherever else.” Let’s look at that system’s rules in Denver, though (they aren’t worse or better than most other US cities), if you can’t ride the standard bus (because of cognitive/sensory issues, location of the stop, etc):
- Cost: twice the standard fare if using Access-a-ride instead of a standard bus. Note that it is twice the standard fare, not twice the disabled fare. It is between $4 and $24 per ride, depending on type of service. I pay $56 per month for a bus pass from my employer that allows me unlimited riding on all services except the airport bus. The cost if I took Access-a-ride only to commute to work (about 20 days per month, 40 trips total, at $4/trip): $160. Ironically, non-disabled people typically have higher incomes.
- Travel time: From the Regional Transportation District website: “For example, a trip between 0-5 miles may require a travel time of 45 minutes” and “ADA allows providers like access-a-Ride to take up to twice the time it would take for a passenger to make the same trip via fixed-route bus service” – it takes me up to 1.5 hours to take the regular bus to work, a trip I can make in 20 minutes by car or motorcycle. Thus, with these rules, my daily commute could take 6 hours total (3 hours each way).
- Wait times: Access-a-ride will only wait 6 minutes per passenger. So if you are 7 minutes late, you must pay for a taxi out of your own money (taxis are expensive in Denver – it makes the $24 maximum fare for Access-a-ride seem cheap). Note that while you can’t be more than 6 minutes late, the bus can be up to 15 minutes late according to their rules. The bus may arrive anytime within a 30 minute window (well, actually 45 minutes, because it is allowed to be 15 minutes late) but will not wait any longer than 6 minutes regardless of when it arrived. So, basically, you need to plan 45 minutes on each leg of your trip where you have nothing going on. This is in addition to the twice-normal-time that the bus is allowed to take (making my bus commute into a 7.5 hour per day commute!). You can call if you are running late, but it might take an hour or more for a replacement bus to arrive.
- Certification: To get on this service, that takes no more than 6 hours (well, up to 7.5 hours if you count the 30 minute windows and allowance for the driver to be 15 minutes late) to do my 40 minutes of commuting, you must be “certified”. You need a doctor to agree that you need the service and to complete a “functional evaluation”. Oh, you have to re-do this every 4 years…
- “Subscription Service:” If you make the same trip again and again, you can apply for “subscription service” so that you don’t need to schedule the trip every single time. However…the website notes that this is “popular” (uh, how do they define that?) and that there is likely to be a waiting list before you can set up subscription service.
- Reservations: You must make a reservation at least one day in advance. Urgent needs? Too bad – you should have known about it a day in advance! Note that calling a day in advance is no guarantee of availability (they can “suggest” an alternative time anywhere in a two hour window, starting at one hour early or ending one hour later than your requested time), nor can you call more than 3 days in advance to find out if it will be available (and perhaps arrange alternative transportation if it is not). You must also remember to tell the reservation agent if you are bringing someone to help you – or they may be denied boarding.
- Soonest return trip: You cannot schedule a return trip less than one hour after your arrival time.
- Penalties: You must cancel 24 hours in advance, or you are penalized. You are also penalized if you “miss the bus”. Note that the return trip is also counted against you, separately, if you miss the originating trip. 4 of these in a month and no rides for you – for two weeks. Note that there are no penalties for the bus agency if they break their rules (repeatedly running more than 15 minutes late, for example).
- Guests: You can only take one other person with you. If you have a personal attendent, then that person will count as the one person. Have a bunch of friends wanting to watch a movie with you? They’ll have to go on a different service. Ironically, even children count as “guests” – despite the fact that the non-disabled bus service to the airport allows two children to travel free to the airport with an adult. But not on the disabled-person’s bus! At least you don’t have to pay for a personal attendent, if you can convince a doctor and the bus service it is necessary, but kids and friends have to pay the twice-standard-fare (even if they have a regular bus service pass), unless they are under 6. The bus service may accommodate more guests, but only if they feel that they can at the time – they are not required to, and you can find out there is no room when the bus shows up, not at the time of reservation.
- Packages: You can bring 3 “packages” with you, such as shopping bags. They can’t weigh more than 20 lbs, though, so pack light!
- Service animals: You can bring one, but only if approved in advance. Note that you don’t need this approval for the standard bus service.
- Lost card: If you lose your ID card, you will need to obtain a new one before you can ride the service without penalty (remember, 4 penalties cause you to lose two weeks of service; don’t ask me how you get to the place to get a new one if you can’t ride the bus, I don’t know either). Lose it 3 times in a year, and no rides for you.
- Emergencies: If there is a natural or man-made disaster, the bus service can cancel all rides. Of course why would anyone need to travel in such circumstances? Ironically, they suggest “911″ as an alternative.
- Cabs as an alternative: You can get a cab instead – you have to pay $2 plus any fare over $14. Remember to tip! You can’t do more than 4 of these in a day. Oh, ironically, cab services don’t necessarily meet ADA accessibility standards that buses have to meet – as the bus service notes, “Please remember that most cab companies provide only limited services for persons with wheelchairs. In many cases, you will need to transfer yourself from a manual folding wheelchair in order to be able to use the service.”
Ask yourself, if you aren’t currently a user of this type of service: could you plan your life around these rules? Would you be willing to commute nearly 8 hours for an 8 hour/day job, when everyone who can drive can do the same commute in 40 minutes per day? If you were living on limited income – look up what social security pays – could you afford even this service? Is it a surprise that some people are calling 911 for emergency medical transport, simply because there is no usable alternative?