[Blindtlk] Contacting Rideshare Drivers

[Ericka]

Here you can't give Paratransit special directions. Yes, that is dumb! You can tell dispatch but the contract with 3 different companies. Some are more responsible than others shall i say. Two are like the company you described-Viatran i believe.  You get assigned a different company each ride request. The drivers don't read directions from dispatchers and make no effort to find you vision or no vision. You don't know what company to call if they don't show unless you call dispatch before your pick up. I have never had a respectful, on time paratransit ride in my 40+ years. One family run company in Kenosha was excellent but when owners aged, the service ended because family didn't want to carry on. 

Uber is definitely a great option. Could it be better?  Of course. After reading you note it looks like that driver was not responsible. He/shr gave the company the wrong contact info. Then again the uber data entry person may have screwed up. I've had more trouble with esl and drivers who can't follow directions. I thinksome worked for paratransit!

Ericka Short
from my iPhone 6+

> On Jun 10, 2017, at 7:06 PM, Mary Donahue via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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!
> 
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