GREATER HARTFORD TRANSIT DISTRICT
ADA PARTICIPATION GROUP FORUM
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Attendees:  Briana Bittel, Michael Carrier, Jeffrey Cole, Kenny Davis, Antonita Dunbar, Michael Leyva, Lydia Mele, Lee Sekas, Vurlean Waterman, Linda Wright, Candace Low-Independence Unlimited, Kathy Shanley-Goodwill Industries,  Ulises Himely-FTS, Aris Pena-FTS, Linda DeLallo-FTS, Blaine McKay-FTS, Pat Williams-GHTD, DJ Gonzalez-GHTD, Vicki Shotland-GHTD,

The forum began at 5:00 pm.

Due to the number of people who wanted to speak, Pat Williams decided to forego communicating the following statistics to the group.  Ms. Williams advised the members that if anyone has questions regarding the statistics please to call her.

Total passenger trips for the month of September was 19,684 and in October it was 23,038. There were zero trip denials and the no show trips for September was 866 and in October it was 1,043.  In September 105 ADA applications were received, out of the 105 there were 84 new and 21 recertified and 115 ADA eligibilities were completed for the month of September.  In October 147 ADA applications were received, out of the 147 there were 104 new and 43 recertified and 171 ADA eligibilities were completed for the month of October. 

Pat Williams described the need for the company to follow-up more consistently with the “no show” policy and that there are going to be some small modifications that will go along with the procedural steps by both First Transit and the GHTD. She told the group that all riders will immediately receive notification via a postcard identifying the time and day of their no show.   Visually impaired riders will receive a telephone call.  Immediately after receiving the postcard/ telephone call, the rider will have the opportunity to call customer service and discuss any discrepancies with the “no show” that is initially recorded.  If a rider receives three postcards within a rolling month and he/she does not dispute the finding, they could be subject to a possible suspension of service according to policy.  Some forum participants had questions and others mentioned their concerns. 

Attendee:       Lydia Mele
Comment:     Ms. Mele shared with the forum her experience of being marked down as a “no show.”  Ms. Mele said that she had no control over the situation because the elevator where she lives was not working.   She recommends that as soon as the dispatcher knows that it is an incident outside of the rider’s control, the dispatcher should not mark the rider as a “no show.”

Response:    Mr. Gonzalez noted that this is a decision that should be made by First Transit management and not by the dispatch department.  Ms. Mele was also told that her situation with the broken-down elevator is a valid one and this would not be charged to her record.

Attendee:      Jeffrey Cole
Comment:     Mr. Cole’s doctor’s appointment was canceled and he tried to call the service the day before to cancel his transportation, but was unsuccessful.  The bus arrived and Mr. Cole explained the situation to dispatch.  Mr. Cole wanted to know more about the three no shows within a month.
                         
 Response:   Ms. Williams explained that this situation would not be marked down as a no show because he called in with a valid justification. Mr. Gonzalez explained the three no shows are within a rolling month (e.g. from November 13th-December 13th). 
                       
Attendee:       Briana Bittel
On two different occasions, Ms. Bittel called with an ample amount of time to cancel her rides.  Ms. Bittel apparently spoke with Aaron the Dispatcher both times to cancel the trips.  She stated that on both occasions the driver was apparently not notified, however the vehicle showed up anyway. 

Attendee:       Michael Carrier
Comment:     Mr. Carrier thought the no show issue was resolved due to the reduction in days a rider can reserve a trip; from fourteen down to five.

Response:    Ms. Williams advised Mr. Carrier that the reduction of days was never going to eliminate the no show trips completely, but has had an affect on reducing the percentage of no show trips.

Mr. Gonzalez advised the committee that the ADA Paratransit service will be getting twenty-five new vehicles sometime in the month of January, 2008.  He stated that the service will maintain additional spare buses for emergency purposes and this will hopefully increase productivity.  These few changes should assist in alleviating some late trips.

Attendee:       Michael Leyva
Comment:     When you purchase the vehicles, do you ask riders for their input?

Response:    Mr. Gonzalez advised the committee that most of the vehicles are on order with standard features and are similar to our current vehicles with some small modifications.  The District procures its vehicles through a contract with the Greater New Haven Transit District (GNHTD). The GNHTD is the entity that puts out the Request for Proposal with specifications for the ADA Paratransit vehicles.

In addition, Mr. Gonzalez communicated to the participants in the forum that over the past three months Ms. Williams and him have been working diligently on a new telephone calling procedure.  One of the issues is that many riders call for an estimated time of arrival well in advance of their buses scheduled arrival time. The group was advised that when riders call too early to find out about their trips, the phone system is unnecessarily flooded with calls that cause delays for callers who have what is considered more urgent issues or those that should take priority.

There will be ongoing communication to the riders about this issue and there may be possible changes in the near future regarding “passenger calling procedures” and also modifications to the current “window time.”  One possibility discussed is looking at changing the window time frame to five minutes before the scheduled pick-up time and twenty five minutes after the scheduled pick-up time.  The current window is fifteen minutes before and fifteen minutes after the scheduled pick-up time.

Attendee:       Antonita Dunbar
Comment:     Ms. Dunbar questioned whether or not telephone number 247-0050 is still working?

Ms. Dunbar asked who should she address complaints to regarding the Project Manager, Linda DeLallo.  Ms. Dunbar was concerned about not receiving a call back from Ms. DeLallo?

Ms. Dunbar asked who does the scheduling of rides?

Response:    Ms. DeLallo advised the committee that the 247-0050 telephone number is used for the dispatcher to communicate with the drivers.  Ms. DeLallo indicated that she personally returned Ms. Dunbar’s calls but was unsuccessful. Ms. DeLallo will verify that she has the correct telephone numbers for Ms Dunbar and an email address.

Ms. DeLallo explained that there are three schedulers who review the schedules. First Transit management has been working in the scheduling department and is addressing the issues. 

Attendee:       Michael Carrier
Comment:     On Thursday, November 8th, Mr. Carrier claims that the driver did not use good judgment when transporting him.

Response:    Ms. Williams will investigate Mr. Carrier’s concern and e-mail the findings to him.

Attendee:       Antonita Dunbar
Comment:     Ms. Dunbar noted that on one occasion the driver’s manifest had the wrong address.  She notified dispatch that this was the incorrect address but dispatch did not advise the driver of the change.  Ms. Dunbar questioned why the driver did not receive the change from the dispatcher?

Response:    Mr. Gonzalez said that the driver cannot alter his own manifest for various reasons including passenger safety. 

Attendee:       Candace Low
Comment:     Ms. Low stated that she has personally experienced the service arriving late when picking up her consumers and also discourteous dispatchers.  Ms. Low questioned whether or not dispatchers are trained on sensitivity.  Ms. Low did commend the effort of management meeting with her in July and that some issues at that time were resolved.

Response:    Mr. Gonzalez also advised the committee that First Transit employees went through an intensive training last fall with Nancy Ferrantella a training professional with an extensive background in customer service and transit.

Response:    Mr. Leyva questioned whether or not Ms. Ferrantella has a disability?  Mr. Leyva commented that Independence Unlimited is able to point out situations that people without disabilities are not able to see.

Response:    Ms. Shotland assured the group that Ms. Ferrantella is an excellent trainer and the class covered customer service training in addition to sensitivity and various other related ADA Paratransit needs. 

Attendee:       Jeffrey Cole
Comment:     Mr. Cole would like to be able to reserve fourteen days in advance again.  Mr. Cole cannot understand why every Thursday he has an issue with his ride.

Attendee:       Linda Wright
Comment:     Ms. Wright lives across the street from Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and she has difficulties when the driver does not come to the back door to pick her up.

Response:    First Transit management has a meeting at Ms. Wright’s house on Wednesday, 11/14 to review her issues.

Attendee:       Lydia Mele
Comment:     Drivers are still not coming to the door to assist Ms. Mele. Ms. Mele commented that she did not particularly care about the possibility of changing the window time frame.  In addition, she wanted to know how is it possible for drivers to pick up three different riders when the manifest indicates that the pick-ups are three minutes apart?

Response:    Ms. DeLallo commented that the current software system does not recognize how many wheelchairs are scheduled for a specific vehicle (i.e. vehicle can hold two wheelchairs but the system schedules four wheelchairs on the vehicle).  This will allow for inadequate multiple pickups.  This issue is going to be addressed.

Attendee:       Lee Sekas
Comment:     Shared with the committee his experience about changing a trip on the same day. He asked why there can’t be reasonable accommodations on the same day?
Response:    The District and First Transit will discuss this request further.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:15pm. 
                       
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE GREATER HARTFORD TRANSIT DISTRICT

The next ADA forum is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8th at 5:00 pm at Union Station.  You must make a reservation for transportation to and from the meeting by calling 724-5340 and select #1.  All riders are required to pay the standard ADA Paratransit rate of $2.50 each way.

As time is limited all attendees are required to sign up to discuss issues at the forum with Pat Williams and provide the topic for discussion at least 48-hours in advance and the last opportunity to register is fifteen (15) minutes before the forum begins.  Please remember that in order for everyone to have a chance to participate you need to keep your initial questions and discussions to five (5) minutes a piece so that we can accommodate all attendees at the forum. Follow-up responses should also be kept to five (5) minutes.