[NAGDU] Rideshare Issues

[Heather Bird]

OK, I am a little confused. I am pretty sure that by law, you do not have to even tell them that you have a service dog. And if you do, and even if you don’t, they still have to transport you. Para transit, and public transit, and taxi cabs, are all subject to the ADA. I never ever tell our para transit company that I am traveling with a service dog, and if a bus operator, the driver of a van, or if they contract with a rideshare or taxi company, shows up, and won’t take me, I will call the police and raise hell. So this is really confusing to me. Why not just treat it like taking a taxi cab. Any other day, refused to tell them you have a service dog up front, when the ride arrives, get in, and if they don’t wanna take you, insist that they have to, and if you need to call the police, then you do so. I mean, if there’s a law, I’m not aware of, or some interplay between the laws in your state, and the ADA, then please feel free to correct me, but this just does not make sense. when our paratransit company tried to pull this crap a few years ago, because they have buses, they have had vans in the past, and then they started using cars, they were making two claims that were not acceptable. One was that if you had a child requiring a car seat, that you could not ride in the car. this is unacceptable, as if a person with a disability, who is a parent, has a car seat, and knows how to install it, and wants to travel with their child in that mode of transportation, they absolutely should be allowed to do so. The guy dog related issue we had was that they were saying that the cars were too small to transport a guy dog, even though Guide and service dogs ride every day in very small cars  used by the handler, their family, rideshare, companies, or taxi companies. So the New York Association Of Guide Dog Users, recorded a video, demonstrating how both of these things were false, a segment of the video showed blind parents quickly installing car seats and loading multiple children into a car at great speed, as well as individuals, positioning service dogs correctly into very small vehicles, and then we had a third segment of loading multiple guy dogs, two in each seat, of a para transit style bus, as another assertion they had been making was that there shouldn’t be more than one service dog on one of their para transit buses at a time. We recorded the video, touched it up, recorded commentary to put on it, added music in the background,  and presented it to them with a meeting we requested. Now, I am actually a commissioner on the board of that same transit authority that runs at paratransit company. Perhaps your guy dog user division, maybe with the help of the national level division, could work on addressing this with your local Paratransit company? Because it seems to me that this is breaking the law.  I’m sure that someone from the legal team can let me know if I am correct, or if I am mistaken. Have a great day. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 23, 2023, at 11:45 AM, judotina48kg--- via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Good Morning: 
> Yesterday, Saturday July, 22,2023 I booked a rideshare trip (Paratransit).
> While filling out all of the pertinent information I inadvertently missed
> checking the Service Animal box. It wasn't until this morning that I
> realized that I didn't check that box. 
> 
> I called the Paratransit Customer Line and spoke to a gentleman and verified
> if I in fact did not have a Service Dog on my information sheet. We then
> discussed the situation and he put me on a brief hold while he spoke to the
> Dispatcher. After waiting on hold for approx. 
> 5-10 minutes, the gentleman reconnects with me and informs me that the
> Dispatcher wasn't able to add the Service Dog because my mode of
> transportation is a taxi. I asked if they could send me a van and he put me
> on hold once again for about 5 minutes. Once we reconnected again, he
> informed me that I would have to speak to after hours customer service. I
> was transferred there just to hear the office was closed.  So as a result, I
> canceled my rides online only to find that it did not cancel. However, the
> gentleman did mention that canceling online could be difficult, and I didn't
> question being that I was dealing with a possible denial due to my Service
> Dog was not attached to my information.  I called the reservation line and
> explained the situation and the woman on the line was able to cancel my
> trips. 
> 
> It's either the touch screen or the check box or both that is becoming a
> major pain in the a$$ I feel like I'm living in a bubble with the law of
> physics turned upside down being that I was stopped at the MSP airport on
> March 12, 2023 and asked for a hard copy of my DOT forms and now the above
> mentioned.  
> Frustrating and aggravation to say the least.  
> 
> Respectfully submitted By Tina Thomas
> Email: tina.thomas90044 at gmail.com    
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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