[NAGDU] Looking for suggestions on booking rides

Jenine Stanley jeninems at icloud.com
Sat Mar 18 15:22:02 UTC 2017


HI Raul, 

Here’s what we do in our house. both my husband and I have guide dogs. 

Ride Share: We book a standard vehicle. Kent and Linus usually ride in the front seat with Linus tucking in on the floor. He’s a 70-pound Golden but curls up nicely. Roger goes on the floor in back with me. 

Paratransit: Our paratransit has our dogs registered as part of our profiles so they know if both of us are traveling, there will be 2 dogs but when booking, they always ask if we are bringing our dogs along. Only once has this been an issue, when they sent a smaller van with the 1 seat across the back. The poor 3rd passenger had to sit in the middle of that bench seat with dogs o her feet. Luckily she was OK with this. 

I have actually been with friends when we’ve squeezed 4 people and 3 not so small guide dogs into an NYC taxi successfully. It was not comfortable for anyone, including the person without a dog who had to ride in the front seat, we were all covered in dog fur by the time we got out , and getting out would have made a hilarious video as at least 2 of us ended up falling over getting dogs, harnesses and all we were carrying out of the car. Never again. We now get help flagging down the mini-van taxis or go 2 at a time and meet up at our destination. 
> On Mar 18, 2017, at 11:13 AM, Raul A. Gallegos via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello all. This can apply to either taxis, rideshare services, or paratransit. When booking a ride and it is two people with a guy dog each who is writing, how do you guys typically do this? My thinking, specifically with Uber for example, I will book a regular size car which can fit up to four people. Two people and both of their dogs can easily fit. If the car is a bit smaller, one person could even ride in the front. Regarding paratransit services, many times what I will do is book a trip for one person and one attendant, or two people. Regardless we still have two dogs. An incident happened this morning where they sent a vehicle from para transit and there was not enough room. It was a minivan with a wheelchair section in the back and there were already two people on board. I fully get that. However now the paratransit is trying to find a ride which will accommodate four people. Meaning that they are trying to count the dogs as actual people. I know the dogs can take up space, but I also know that since they are on the ground they are not going to take up a full seat space. So I'm looking for suggestions on how people deal with this kind of situation in the areas they live in.
> 
> Thanks. 
> 
> --
> Raul A. Gallegos
> Assistive Technology Trainer - RGA Tech Solutions
> 
> Mobile: 832.554.7285
> Work: 832.639.4477
> Personal Email: raul at raulgallegos.com
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> 
> “Any teacher that can be replaced with a computer, deserves to be.” – David Thornburg
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