[Blindtlk] Contacting Rideshare Drivers

[Mary Donahue]

Good evening everyone,

 

                                Both of us understand full well that it is
our responsibility to contact drivers when necessary to give theminformation
so they can find us. We recently had a situation where we needed to get our
gatecode to a driver and did try contacting him by phone. All we got was his
home answering machine. We could tell it was your old fashion answering
machine. He probably had no way to check it from his car. In addition his
text messages kept bouncing so we were unable to get the information to him
that way. Luckily another tennent passed him up and drove into our section
of the apartment complex allowing the Uber driver to enter as well. Problem
solved for this time. How much easier it would have been had we been able to
give the driver such information at the time the reservation was made by
entering it into a "Special Instructions" field before the reservation is
processed. Had that other tennant not come along we would have been
no-showed for the second time that day and would have missed a doctor's
appointment.

 

                This is not so much a matter of not recognizing one's
responsibility rather it's a matter of the rideshare company enhancing their
apps to allow us to fulfill that responsibility more effectively.

 

                Another reason for giving a cab or rideshare driver such
information is if the apartments in your complex follow an unusual numbering
pattern of buildings. Both of us were no-showed by Viatrans due to this odd
numbering scheme. Since Viatrans will not contact patrons to insure that
their driver is at the right building and that they meet their rides this
results in a no-show. To drivers apartment 224 should be in building 2. In
our case our apartment is in building 27. If paratransit and  cab companies
allow us to give special instructions to their dispatchers at the time we
make a reservation a similar feature should be included in rideshare apps
eliminating the situation we described above.

 

                Both of us are very impressed with the service provided by
rideshare companies. We're finding it superior to cabs and it runs circles
around paratransit any day. We just want to see a good thing get better.

 

Peter and Mary Donahue who are very happy that rideshare is in Texas to
stay!