Access-a-Ride

A valuable service in NYC for those ill or mobility disabled, especially considering the problems with MTA subway elevators. The service has its problems, but I think it’s improving gradually thanks to user feedback surveys. Sometimes drivers and dispatchers can be late, and or impatient with the people they serve, or poor communication. But overall my sense is positive. You have to reserve in advance and don’t be late for your pickup time. Abide by the rules, be courteous and things will go smooth as they can. There are notorious stories of needless complications, and it takes a bit to get used to the process of reservations, but the operators are more understanding and helpful now I have found. Thank you AAR.

Pick up was great. driver courteous, helpful with assisting my parent into car, arrival to destination timely considering the traffic flow… then…the nightmare begin… waited at designated area for pick up to go home.½ hour before expected pick up time. given to us. no driver.car insight. Called # to ask «where is the car» was told driver was there for 15 minutes… REALLY! still standing in designated accessaride area looking at sign with no car insight. Now being told ½ hour wait or longer. Person who informed us of this was courteous.but.this all began @ 9:20 for a 9:50 pick up. repeat calls still waiting. it is now 12:05 and as I said still waiting… WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE. This has been an horrific occurrence placed upon individuals who use this service. I feel there is «no excuse» for such delays. like this… and again I say STILL WAITING will call that 877 number AGAIN! Wish us luck…

One star too many! What a nightmare!
My 96 year old mom tried it today to get to her doctors appointment. The pickup was 45 minutes late. When I called they told me she would be driven directly to her doctor. But I guess they forgot to tell the driver because there was another pickup and that made my mom more late for her appointment. Ride home was much worse. It was. 85 degrees out and this one had no ac and the exhaust was backing up into to bus. Picked her up on 64^th street and the drive down to 34^th street in heavy traffic. Ended up being a three hour trip in an overheated bus. The driver however was an angel. So kind and apologetic. But the people who run the company are inconsiderate and uncaring about the people they are supposed to be serving. Shame on them!

Access-​A Ride is possibly the worse service to provide those with disabilities. My father takes access-​a-​ride 3 times a week. He is visually impaired. Customer service is always rude they have no heart or sense of consideration for those who are not able to get around. Drivers are sometimes intoxicated and rude and could care less about those who are impaired due to health issues. Who is hiring these people? Where is training? It is very heart breaking to see how they treat the elderly and those who are disabled. Every week is a heart wrenching issue. It should be call AcStress-​A-​Ride.
Sometimes I am scared to not go with my father because someone won’t do there job and not walk him to the vehicle and not have common sense to take there job serious.
Not all employees are bad but its 1 out of 10 who are and thats horrible. Where is the compassion and consideration. No-​one cares until it is them or there family has to go through this.
Access-​a-​ride you have to do better. I know there is enough money being invested in your program. But it is clear as day where the money is going and that is not into the company but in the hands of those who are in corporate doing nothing but sitting around doing nothing.
Have a heart. Have a soul access-​a-​ride. These are lives in your hands and it could be you one day. Get your karma up.
Side note: 1 out 10 access a ride employees with a heart, a woman with a heart goes to Renee vehicle number 4106 was amazing despite my overall review. Thank you Renee for treating my dad with care.

Horrible service! Used it twice for my very disabled sister. The car was always an hour-​and-​a-​half late. People who are eligible for this service can not wait for a transportation for hours!

this government funded service for the disabled is a sad joke on the disabled and the taxpayers. the adage «good help is hard to find» could not ring truer for this farcical organization!

There are always problems with Access-​a Ride (better known as Stress-​a Ride). My main gripe with them recently is that the large busses they have that seat 5 passengers, have the choppiest most uncomfortable ride. After being picked up in Staten Island and brought to Brooklyn, my gallstones were jogged out of place and I needed to be admitted to the Emergency Room because of symptoms of diarreah and vomiting.
This is because the carriers over-​inflate the tires to get better fuel milage. MVP is the worst of the lot.
So, Beware.

Aliza was an amazing person and was very caring. Her compassion for others showed through her service. The guy that took us to the destination was very rude and didn’t even come out to help my sister who can not walk.
I want to ensure Aliza gets the credit she deserves — good job!

I can only give one star.
The service is helpful, but the service is broken.
Drivers show up late, if at all. No one lets the passengers know when the vehicle will actually arrive. AAR makes an automated call letting the passenger know when the vehicle will arrive, but the call is usually received AFTER the pick up time.
I understand it is not the fault of the drivers, it is the fault of the dispatchers of their companies who create ridiculous and unrealistic schedules.
When you call AAR to complain, you can almost see the Person you’re speaking to shrug like they don’t care. And they usually don’t. There is no system of checks and balances in place so that companies that contract with AAR have an incentive to adhere to pick up and drop off times. AAR should not pay a company the full fare if that company arrives more than 15 minutes after the scheduled pick up time. If that was in place companies wouldn’t be so greedy to promise unrealistic pick up times.
The other thing, the drivers smoke in their vehicles when they are empty and when you get picked up the vehicle reeks of cigarette smoke. That is illegal and dangerous for passengers who have respiratory issues.
But again, the government employees who work for AAR don’t care. The dispatchers don’t care because they are still getting paid. And passengers get to wait forever and NYC
residents get to pay the cost for an inefficient program. And, there is no one to make suggestions to.

Some drivers have good attitude and some seems like they don’t want to work .at one point I just asked for a receipt and the guy got nasty and wanted to drop me off with my don on the street I told him don’t you dare and he say what you gonna do? I left and called to complaint and guess they fired him

Assess-​A-​Ride is supposed to provide disabled passengers with comparable service to regular transit service. If the subways were accessible, I would be able to return home from work in twenty-​five minutes. Instead, at times, it takes me over two hours to get home. Why? Because Asses-​A-​Ride owners are paid by mileage and therefore, I become a victim and am driven all over New York City to the point that I become car sick and vomit by the time I get home.
I pay for someone to drive me to work every morning so that I will not lose my job. I did not sign up for a service that is riddle with fraud and a drain on the taxpayers’ money. From now on, at exactly thirty minutes past my pickup time, I am calling for a taxi authorization. How horrible is this since I must wait for at least three months to be reimbursed!

I applied for AAR 4 times, and got rejected all 4 times. I AM DISABLED AND WALK WITH A CANE! They told me I was not disabled enough. Am I making this up? Yet there are people who were walking perfectly fine who got approved. I don’t get it. And the people who work there don’t want to hear it. I think they have a quota and they give AAR to whoever they want. And I feel discriminated against because of my age. I even tried free legal help with a letter from my doctors and they wouldn’t help, since they claim the medical justification was not spelled out clearly in the letter from my doctor. I was able to get the parking permit, the ambulette, but not AAR! Way to go, MTA!

Access-​A-​Ride is HORRIBLE!!! And deserves no stars! This is the third time that my grandfather missed his appointment due to late arrival or no arrival at all. I’ve called to reschedule for a new pick up arrival and the customer service representatives delivered horrible service! Disgusting attitudes and were rushing me off the phone! Beside the last representative I spoke to who was very helpful. When we finally were able to schedule a new pick up, the driver could barely speak English and even went to the wrong location. Also, had the nerve to ask for directions for the correct location! Spent an hour trying to reschedule a new ride to hear that the next ride wouldn’t be available until another hour so I was better off canceling everything. Horrible service.

Believe it or not I seldom complain. I must say the drivers are really great. Some of my days are better than others and if I am alone (without my PCA) they willingly assist me. However on October 2^nd I had one of the most awful days. i asked for an 6:30 pm appt for a true 7:30 pm appt. Why? because I thought I would beat them at their own game. Later after receiving a 5:08 pm promised time I thought I got them now there’s no way I will be late. Little did I know the van would arrive at 6:09 pm and then the dispatcher, Vanessa called the driver on the phone for another pickup across town which caused me to miss the first 15 min. of a B’way play. Needless to say i was not given the seat I paid for until intermission. Solution either my ride should have been given to another driver or the pick up across town given to another driver. I felt bad for the driver as he tried to explain how late I was already and that I was going to a play, it did no good. He did his best but the traffic from Bklyn to Manhattan is horrible at that time. I wrote to AAR but my letter was not acknowledged. Either it was tossed out or never received. i am going to send it to everyone in authority in the transit as well as the mayor.
By the way the drivers are treated worse than those horses the animal rights folks are so worried about. While they struggle to make time for the passengers I don’t see how they go to the bathroom, let alone eat a lunch. This really needs to be looked into and corrected. here’s one for the mayor. Private carriers doing what many in the private sector do. SHAME!!!
Four Stars for the drivers. Zero for the private carriers.
Five stars for the reservationists. There has been a vast improvement. Almost reminds me of the old fashioned telephone operators.

The MTA Broker Services portion of Access A Ride is a horror! About 99% of drivers don’t speak English, how in the world can they obtain a TLC Drivers License?
I have had drivers NOT display their driver’s license nor their TLC vehicle license at all while driving a vehicle with TLC plates. These drivers skirt the law. They actually blatantly break the law by driving while on the phone (yes, propped on the neck or held in the hand), watching videos on ipads while driving on the highway. Blasting music and refusing to lower the volume. etc. etc. etc.
The majority of the drivers are misogynists and racist. Forget about compassion. The elderly and disabled are treated worse than animals. The passengers are treated as a nuisance rather than a responsibility. The door is never opened for a passenger with a cane. The rude, nasty behavior of most of these drivers goes unchecked.
It is a shame that there is no transparency and there is absolutely no accountability in the whole Acess A Ride department,.
I am just disgusted that nothing is done to properly train and discipline the MTA Broker Services drivers.
Words cannot describe the subhuman behavior of most of the drivers!
PS: I am angry that the City of New York does nothing to address this problem!

WORST SERVICE EVER for the elderly and people with disabilities. The dispatchers do not give a rat’s ass about the appointment times of the clients who are scheduled to be picked up. They will tell the driver to go all the way to the Bronx first 10 minutes before the client in Jackson Heights, NY needs to be picked up for his/​her appointment. These people do not care about what others need. They treat you like you don’t exist. They treat you like you are a burden to them. My husband has been late to many appointments because of their lack of service. I really wish every dispatcher who screwed up would get fired because heads seriously need to role.

Just one example of the accidents Access a Ride has,
Let’s see, an Access a Ride van, a building and an expensive car. (People who drive expensive cars are afraid to scratch them) Who is responsible? The building? The expensive car? Or the Access a Ride van? You figure it out.
Here is another article about common complaints.
Another article titled «Don’t become a victim of Access a Ride. «

From the above article-«However, the most common causes are drivers who drive while drunk, reckless driving, and mechanical problems. Injuries and accidents are usually made worse by various objects lying around the car, including smartphones, portable MP3 players and cell phones. CDs and DVDs, if left scattered inside the car, can become terrible projectiles when a collision occur. «
One of the above articles says it has stayed the same and not improved in the last 10 years. I am hoping by writing my little review it will draw attention to this program so changes will be made. It shows how our city values or doesn’t value its senior citizens and disabled citizens. Sad and scary!

Access
Pronunciation: \ak-​ses
Function: noun
a: permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, or pass to and from a place or to approach or communicate with a person or thing
b: freedom or ability to obtain or make use of something
c: a way or means of access
To assist a good friend and fellow poet from points B to C and subsequently from C to D, we endured travel woes inflicted by Access A Ride. Reserving an appointed time for door-​to-​door car service for passengers with physical limitations that operates ²⁴⁄₇ @ 365 is one story, while the actual vehicle’s arrival time is a whole other story. With patience we waited an eternity of ONE AND HALF hour for the royal delayed arrival of the plaguing bus. Whoa, did the sky to fall down yet? Cash payment for single trip rides is rendered prior to the bus’s departure from the pickup point and a separate fee is required for guests. Drivers appear extremely chaotic for adhering to their set schedules. The hot line number falls perilous prey to endless loops of hold and automated transfers before ultimately speaking to a human being. My call inquiring the status of the bus’s whereabouts whom the dispatch operator abruptly hangup without bidding a proper goodbye to expose one’s vile telephone manners. Inbound call operators surely require Emily Post Etiquette on how to hone their communication skills for phone manners. Various drivers are more sprightly willing to back the van closer to the curb and/​or lower the wheelchair ramp for passengers who have physical limitations, mainly by request.
Nevertheless, drivers exhibit great patience and attention with care for physically assisting passengers into and out of the van– because in life as humans we all need a little help.

Acess-​a-​Ride -
This review is SPECIFICALLY about the application process and the timing of receiving approvals or denials for Access-​A-​Ride. This reveiw is not about the «service» but more about the application process itself.
Someone needs to straighten out the process of this company or corporation.
It takes at least 21 days to get approval here –when you are legitimately qualified for the service. So, stands to reason that the time you might apply is when you are IN the hospital so that you can have their services AFTER you leave the hospital. If you do not have their services after, and you have no way to get around, you are forced to pay top dollar for ambulettes and ambulances for visits to doctors, hospitals etc. and personal appointments.
Problem is this, that you can apply while you are in a hospital or facility but the catch is that you have to be PHYSICALLY present to apply for this service. Most people in the hospital cannot be physically present at an office for an interview. (Picture someone in there, whether they are on oxygen or whether they recently had an operation). However, even though physically challenged, they still need Access-​a-​Ride services after they are discharged from the hospital.
Access-​a-​Ride demands that EVERYONE, yes that’s everyone, even those who are presently in hospital or nursing home beds –come down to physically apply for this service.
Of course that limits people from applying and it saves the company major money since less people will be able to physically apply and then they will have to be another month or more –while their application is in limbo –after they have already come from the hospital.
We should ask the politicians to change the laws regarding Acess-​a-​Ride and let people who are officially hospitalized or in rehabs or nursing homes –apply without being physically present. This will save them hundreds of dollars in transportation costs after their hospitalization.
If a person lives alone and has no way of transporting themselves then they are less likely to go to follow-​up doctors appointments and more likely to have medical relapses due to lack of care when they are at home.
We need changes in Access-​A-​Ride laws or processes.
It should be enough to have doctors, surgeons or hospital workers fill out the papers for people who are unable to be transported while hospitalized.
This catch is just red tape and this red tape is just to ensure that less people apply for Access-​a-​Ride — a service which most (who apply) are eligible for.
So, here are some helpful hints for you:
1. APPLY for access-​a-​ride when you are in the hospital. It will take at least two weeks for them to mail an application to you and on that letter that they send with the application, there will be an appointment for you to come down.
2. Tell the hospital or nursing home that your appointment is on such and such a day, AND try to keep that appointment. Cancelling that appointment makes you lose your transportation to and from Access-​a-​Ride .
3. Remember that Access-​A-​Ride WILL PROVIDE transportation to and from your appointment (as long as you do not cancel) –for a small fee such as $ 2.00 (if you need car service there).
4. Fight all the red tape and make sure that your applications are totally complete –along with photographs; You need two photographs (and instructions are in the letter you will receive).
5. Remember that if your application is incomplete or if it is missing the photographs, your application will be put at the back of the bunch and you will lose your application time.
Completeness is the best way to win with Access-​a-​Ride. ALways double and triple check the application and send whatever else you need to send along with it.
Good luck.
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