[Tn-talk] Relax and Ride

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Shara,

    Is that the paratransit service that serves the Nashville area? I'd like 
to learn more about their services. The Viatrans Service here in San Antonio 
suffers from a terrible lack of innovation resulting in the problems that 
plague riders that use these services. I'm sure you know the drill.  People 
are dropped off and picked up late is they're picked up at all, they're 
taken to their destination via the scenic route, and are not given 
opportunities to give input to transit staff concerning ideas to improve the 
system to serve riders better. I once had a Viatrans customer service 
representative tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about when I 
suggested a voucher program that would allow patrons to use local taxis to 
get where they need to go instead of having to wait on vans. Ambulatory 
patrons don't need reserved vans. They just need a card informing the 
participating taxi company that they have x amount of rides per month and 
that the cab can carry them up to a certain distance that would be 
subsidized by the paratransit service. If they go over they would need to 
pay the difference. This would be a hell of a lot better than waiting on 
vehicles and being given the grand tour of San Antonio before getting to 
their destination. Several transit companies around the country have such a 
system in place. Capital Metro in Austin and the Houston Metrolift are two 
such services offering this option to its paratransit riders. I'd like to 
see how things work in Nashville.

    I would dare any of those fools to tell me that I don't know what I'm 
talking about if I can send them a page of Web site UrLS they can visit to 
learn for themselves how these plans work and determine how they could be 
implamented in San Antonio! Glad to hear from you again.

Peter Donahue