[Blindtlk] Para transit Vs. fixed Routes

Thu May 5 18:54:25 UTC 2011

Dear Peter and All,

Just like the fixed route bus system, Para-transit is a shared ride system, 
where you may or may not be riding with people you know or don't.
Under the ADA, Para -transit is suppose to be "equal" to the fixed route, 
but it often is not exactly.
Ride times, should be about equal in time, but many times the Para-transit 
is faster if you luck out and there are "no shows and cancelations" before 
you are picked up.
This means that you are more apt to get home sooner on Para-transit than 
fixed route.
Fixed route runs on a schedule and Para-transit operates on "approximate" 
times of arrival.
One thing that is not guaranteed under ADA is convenience.
It should be reliable.
If you can use fixed route, you can change the time, with in the bus route 
schedule that is, and take an earlier or later buses and be more flexible. 
On Para-transit, you can not make same day changes.  It just really upsets 
their planned schedule and routing.
In fact, one problem with the route on Para-transit is that if there is a 
issue it is like tossing a stone in the pond.  The ripples just go out 
through the whole system.

I know that understanding just how it all works brings very little comfort, 
but that is the way it is.
Moving can help a lot but it is not going to fix everything.
Likely there is no strong transit advocacy in your area that can help make 
things better quickly, but you can find out
Your local government needs to hear about your needs and troubles with the 
system.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Mary Donahue" <braille at satx.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Para transit Vs. fixed Routes

> Hello David and everyone,
>
>    These are great suggestions but what happens when you've posted notices
> in your apartment and workplace newsletters looking for someone you can
> share a ride with and no one responds. Due to some medical conditions in
> addition to blindness and the proximity of the bus stop to her place of
> employment Mary uses paratransit to get too and from work. The trips to 
> work
> usually go without incident but she never knows what's going to happen on
> her ride home. Some times she'll be brought straight home but on other
> occasions she'll be picked up late and/or be given the grand tour of San
> Antonio before being dropped off here. We've tried on several occasions to
> find her a ride home in the evenings especially on Fridays to relieve her 
> of
> this uncertainty and stress after a busy day at work. She was able to 
> adjust
> her work hours so she finishes earlier in the hopes she could get better
> rides home but this too often fails. We hoped to find her a ride with
> someone that lives here and works near her workplace or someone at her
> workplace that could bring her home in the evening. Not one person
> responded.
>
>    It's helpful when a paratransit service gives its riders options. In
> Houston patrons can use the Metrolift Main service or their taxi service
> that gives them free transportation up to a specified amount. They are 
> then
> required to cover any fares over the amount covered by the transit
> authority. If we had such an option in San Antonio it would give patrons
> needing to be assured they will reach their destination at a specific time
> another paratransit option. We've suggested this to the Viatrans folk 
> using
> Houston's Metrolift program as an example. We're getting sick and tired of
> the same old line "That's Houston. This is San Antonio." They would do 
> well
> to study such schemes in other cities and develop one to give riders 
> various
> options. To us it's worth it to pay a higher fare to be assured we'll 
> reach
> an intended destination on time.
>
>    As others said transportation often requires some creativity on our
> part. We've discovered that many medical facilities offer courtesy
> transportation to their patients and their attendants. Shortly after 
> Mary's
> knee surgery she needed to attend physical therapy several times a week. 
> The
> center where she was to have her sessions offers courtesy transportation 
> to
> its patients and those accompanying them. This service is free of charge.
> She scheduled her therapy sessions to occur in the afternoon so she could
> have them pick her up at her workplace and bring her home after the 
> session
> was over relieving her of the after noon Viatrans run-around at least for 
> a
> season.
>
>    Sendero Imaging offers a similar service to patients needing
> transportation. I'll be going to their Louis Pasture  location on 
> Wednesday
> for an annual MRI scan. They'll send a Chauffered  limo to pick me up from
> home and will bring me back home when the examination is finished.
>
>    The Methodist Health System in San Antonio operates the Methodist 
> Health
> Bus in various parts of the city. They will transport patients and/or
> attendants too and from any Methodist facility in their particular service
> area. The only drawback with this service is that they do not operate
> city-wide. Many of our doctors are located in the Metropolitan Office
> Building downtown. Their central bus would bring us there when we lived in
> our Alamo Heights apartment but will not do so from here. Another Health 
> Bus
> serves Methodist facilities located in Northeast San Antonio where we now
> live. Any new doctors we get will hopefully be in this part of town.
> Assuming they're located at a Methodist facility we could use the 
> Northeast
> Health Bus to go to these appointments freeing us from being totally
> dependent on paratransit. It may be that there are similar services in 
> your
> home area. You need to do your research to determine if medical and other
> facilities in your area offer courtesy service of one kind or another. If
> you're eligible to use it do so.
>
>    To those of you whose chapter or state affiliates have Web sites this 
> is
> great information to include to assist blind persons currently living in
> your community or those who may locate there in the future. We're 
> compiling
> this information for our chapter Web site and encourage other affiliates 
> to
> do likewise. We tell blind people they need to be resourceful. Giving them
> information to enable them to seek alternatives to paratransit is one way 
> to
> help them do it. They can the focus their attention on cracking tougher
> transportation nuts such as the example of Mary's ride home from work.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Hyde, David W. (ESC)" <david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>
> To: "'Blind Talk Mailing     List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 2:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Para transit Vs. fixed Routes
>
>
> Sometimes, you can get a paid driver. Now before you say "I don't have the
> money", let's be a little creative. What can you trade? You may have a 
> skill
> that someone needs, and you may be able to barter what you need. I use 
> this
> when I want to attend a play in the evening when busses don't run. I'll 
> buy
> the ticket for the person driving. If they don't let me do that, I buy 
> their
> dinner. If I can't do that, I send them a gas card. Whatever I use though, 
> I
> do get to see the play.
>
> It doesn't always need to be money. Find someone who can drive and needs
> help with their computer. They pick you up and you do a computer lesson.
> Then they pick you up and you do the guitar lesson.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Michael
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 2:02 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Paratransit Vs. fixed Routes
>
> I would like to take guitar lessons from a jazz guitarist eight miles from
> my home but have pretty much given up.  I checked with paratransit and 
> they
> want to pick me up, drive me twenty miles to the central office, transfer 
> me
> to another bus, and then drive me back twenty miles to get to the guitar
> store, a four hour adventure....all of this for a trip eight miles from my
> home.  And then they have no way to get me home after the lesson.  I have
> checked with every nonprofit and volunteer group I can think of to no 
> avail.
> Taxi service is $40 round trip, so that makes a pretty pricey lesson. 
> I've
> given up.  There is no regular bus service in my county.
>
> Michael
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cindy Handel" <cindy425 at verizon.net>
> To: <davidb521 at gmail.com>; "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 1:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Paratransit Vs. fixed Routes
>
>
>>I use paratransit, in some instances.  We have fixed route transportation.
>> But, there is one bus an hour, in the morning; nothing for about three
>> hours
>> in the middle of the day, and then one bus an hour until 6:00pm.  If I
>> were
>> to take fixed route transportation to my piano lesson, I'd have to get a
>> bus
>> from my home into town; transfer and then walk a distance to get to my
>> lesson.  I'd have to do the same for the return.  So, for a one hour
>> lesson,
>> I'd be traveling at least four hours.
>>
>> I don't know if this is the case everywhere, but here, I can only take
>> paratransit in the area where there is fixed route transportation.  If
>> they
>> should discontinue it in my area, paratransit would also be discontinued,
>> for me.  I don't know why this is.  But, it seems we have either all or
>> nothing!
>>
>> Cindy
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "David" <davidb521 at gmail.com>
>> To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 1:17 PM
>> Subject: [Blindtlk] Paratransit Vs. fixed Routes
>>
>>
>> Hello. I was reading the thread discussing the pros and cons of blind
>> driving, and noticed some discussion regarding paratransit versus fixed
>> routes. What I am wondering is this. Does paratransit in most cities
>> closely
>> follow fixed routes within a certain radius as I assume it does in Palm
>> Beach County? From what I read from the list, paratransit is neither
>> superior or inferior to fixed routes, hence it's name. Therefore, if
>> blindness is your only disability, and your travel skills enable you to
>> travel anywhere you please with confidence, as is the case with me, what
>> are
>> the advantages of paratransit, if any? I am interested in hearing your
>> thoughts on this.
>>
>> David
>>
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>
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