Access-A-Ride, NYC

[clitzpah queen]

Hey folks, any NYC members of this forum who have some experiences with AAR they would be willing to share, please contact me ASAP - I've joined Man Borough Pres Scott Stringer's Disability Task Force subcommittee on Transportation and I'M DETERMINED to give AAR a Ride for MY money!

abby

[Traveling_Home]

1. hmmmmmm......

Originaly the ADAPT orgazation stood for Americans with Disabilities for Accessible Public Transportation. Once the Transportation Act and then the ADA passed ands the focus has shifted to be Americans with Disabilities for Attendent Programs Today.

They still ahve alot of knowlege about tranportation since most folk use public transportation.

You might want to contact the NY ADAPT chapter. Here's the ADAPT link - http;//www.ADAPT.org

[neena1127]

2. Access A Ride

I was surprised not to see tons of response. I use AAR since
2005 - and despite the fact that I am close to 45, I had never
seen such an array of different attitudes:  sometimes
underlying/open hostility, sometimes apathy, rarely
compassion, toward those who depend on AAR due to disability.
I can't say every experience is bad but 4 out of 5 rides are
exercises in stress management.  Sometimes, because of job
location, (Vesey btwn West/North End Ave) AAR gives a taxi -
traffic is restricted between security/construction in area
and it can take 30 minutes to go around a city block.  I
thought this was good - takes pressure off because you don't
have to wait, call, get a number then scramble to get home. 
Until I discovered yellow cabs do not go to Brooklyn, car
services will not let you reserve a car to pick you up at an
assigned time, (also if the bus is a no show this is not an
option!) and particularly at rush hours, when I need them,
there is no answer because they are busy, or can't get you
home on time, which leaves me to the mercy of the vouchered
car: very expensive but if your employer has a corporate
account (mine does) they are obligated to accommodate you,
always on time, always available - and will accept a cash call
at an inflated rate because they are taken off the rotation
while they take you home.  However as a single mother with
three sons, the $55.00 trip home gets unmanageable.  Then add
the weeks waiting to get the money back - at this writing I
have 21 trips waiting for reimbursement - and a new batch
being mailed today!  Despite calls to taxi reimbursement
division I still have no idea what the hold up this time is -
I'm told the maximum turn around time is about 3 weeks.  I'm
on week 7. Ah, the inability to pay my rent made me digress -
I do many many stories about the boros I've seen (scenic
tour), the lack of understanding at work when I am late ('you
live less than 5 miles from work - but you can't get here in
by 9:30??') or have to leave early for a doctor appointment in
Brooklyn at 4 PM but need to leave work at 2:15 to make that
appointment, arrive early and still can't be seen till 4 PM!!
And the bad treatment of people at a time in their lives when
they are weakened by illness, humbled by the need to use AAR
and frustrated by it all.  Then there the new breed:  the
working mother of young children - the issue of being able to
put my sons on a bus to camp or school and still make it to
work on time.  I've developed high blood pressure, and am now
in counseling for a panic disorder - caused by the blend of
worrying if I'll encounter a terrorist attack while at work
and sick from worrying if I'll get home in time to meet the
bus or if the camp/school will have to take the boys to the
police station because camp/school closed and I'm still not
home.  then I have to pay the round trip to the camp/school
after finally arriving home.  It is a daily battle.  And since
I cannot use public transportation at all, it is the only way
I can get around.  Catch 22 is, apparently, the name of this
game.