With no indication her daughter’s scheduled ride would arrive at the adult day camp as scheduled, Junie Wolfe and her husband started the drive across town to pick her up.
The couple made it halfway to the camp, Special Connexions, when they got a call saying their driver had arrived.
“What do you mean they’re there?” Wolfe recalled saying. “In the meantime, I had already called … to find out what happened. Why wasn’t she on the list? Why wasn’t she scheduled?”
People like Wolfe have used Handitran, the city’s transportation service for people with disabilities and older residents, for over a decade to get their family members to camp. However, a software change in early October created problems for residents trying to get to and from the Special Connexion camps offered by the nonprofit Advocates for Special People, Inc.
City officials switched Handitran’s software to Via on Oct. 9 to create a more cohesive transportation service run by one vendor, according to Alicia Winkelblech, transportation director. She said in the long run, the city and Via expect the service will work more efficiently and offer more rides to Handitran riders.
The city and company have addressed technical issues and have created accommodations for groups including Advocates for Special People. Both will continue outreach and education efforts with groups and riders into the new year.
“I think any technology switch has, you know, some bumps and takes time because the algorithms and all of the back-end information and just the way the technology works is a little bit different from vendor to vendor,” Winkelblech said. “But I think once we get settled in, I think we’ll actually be seeing probably some benefits to the system.”
Steve Brooks, the group’s executive director, said campers’ rides showed up hours late during the first few weeks. The switch left parents to scramble — and his employees to stay late to supervise. Some users' automatically booked trips did not initially transfer from the provider Ecolane to Via.
Via also operates the city’s on-demand rideshare service.
“Initially, folks were having to call in because rides weren’t showing up or one thing or another and so scheduled rides weren’t there that they were expecting,” Brooks said. “Everybody was having to call in, you know, because it was a bit chaotic.”
Brooks said Handitran, which has operated in town since 1981, has made life easier for him and his clients. However, the issues his nonprofit faced could have been avoided through consultation before the switch.
“We should have gotten some heads up and some consultation, you know, prior to just rolling out a program that, quite frankly, hasn’t worked very well,” he said.
Handitran adjustments for groups
Via officials have started sending groups, including Advocates for Special People, a rundown of rides scheduled to and from their four locations, as well as booked windows for groups in order to avoid early drop-offs, according to Sara-Jessica Dilks, a company spokesperson.
Via has also created a tagging system to note riders who need a specific type of vehicle or for riders who need more time to enter or exit a vehicle.
“Via is having near-daily conversations with them and we’re making tweaks to reflect the diversity of Handitran riders and their unique needs and experiences,” Dilks wrote in an email.
Brooks said his organization previously had an understanding with Handitran that pickups should arrive between 2:30 and 3 p.m. However, after the software change, cars started arriving well before and after the window. The group experienced the same issues with its morning pickup times.
In some instances, riders are still arriving outside of the window, Brooks said – an issue largely in part to a limited amount of rides available during peak times. Handitran users can schedule rides up to two weeks in advance.
“I would say most probably do that. But there’s a few individuals that try to keep up with it themselves. What we’re hearing is that there’s never any rides like in the hour span coming or going that we’re looking for,” Brooks said.
Few or no available rides during peak hours is not a new issue, Winkelblech said, nor is it unique to Advocates for Special People.
“We’ve got more demand than we do capacity. And so, you know, if you know you’re going to need a ride, people have got to jump in that two-week window kind of early enough to make sure they can get their ride,” she said.
Some of Brooks’ clients don’t have to worry about booking rides in advance: they are automatically enrolled for rides during certain dates and times. Brooks said his clients would have an easier time if they could automatically be registered for automatic bookings.
Winkelblech said that Handitran cannot overuse the subscription service. The feature is used for people with repeat appointments, especially for medical issues such as dialysis.
“Those are a top priority for us, obviously, but then we wouldn’t have any kind of capacity for anyone else that wanted to, you know, add in a trip that was not a regular trip,” she said.
Mobile app use and education
Via representatives said they’ll continue community outreach to provide education about the services and gather feedback about adjustments. Dilks said the company has identified groups in addition to Special Connexions to visit with and offer education about the service.
“Part of that has included a little bit of, like, a short-term learning curve, but the goal is that longer term, this will actually be a better service than we’ve ever seen,” Dilks said.
Dilks wrote in a follow-up email that ridership has increased since Via took over operations. Handitran logged 3,000 rides the week before Thanksgiving. App adoption is above 30% - a number Dilks said is “very strong for a paratransit program,” and riders are taking advantage of the new ability to book a ride via web browser.
Via sent out emails, mailed pamphlets and advertised the change on Handitran buses in the month before the software change. Still, the change took some parents by surprise.
Tracy Webster, who has used Handitran to transport her son to Special Connexions for over a decade, said she could not figure out the new app herself, let alone teach her son how to use it. She called to schedule rides and sometimes took her son to camp herself until she could learn how to use the new app.
“It turns out that that new app is actually better than the old app … there was a learning curve,” she said.
Company and city employees will visit with families who participate with Special Connexions’ parent meeting Jan. 11. Brooks said he hopes the meeting is educational for both parents and transit operators.
“I guess on the parents’ part, I hope to get a better understanding. I hope for the folks from the city and Via to get a better firsthand look at what causes frustration,” Brooks said.
Got a tip? Email Kailey Broussard at kbroussard@kera.org.
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