Speaker 0 00:00:01 Kpi.
Speaker 2 00:00:59 This is Kfa I, 90.3 fm, Minneapolis and kfa i.org. This is Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about, and discussions on disability topics. We want to hear from you. Please give us an email at Disability and
[email protected]. This show works by your feedback. So please let us know what you'd like to hear or tell us what you think of the show. We welcome all feedback. My name is Sam, I'm the host of this show. Charlene Doll is my research woman. Erin is my podcaster. Miguel is today's engineer. Thank you all. This week we're speaking with Andy Reek. Andy is the customer service manager for Metro Mobility. Hello, Andy.
Speaker 3 00:01:49 Hi, Sam. Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 2 00:01:52 Hi. Thanks for being with us. Well, I always feel like, you know, at least once or so, maybe slightly more a year, we need to have Metro Mobility on, because you guys do do different changes and things, you know, change a little bit and you do, um, some trials of different things. So I'd like to kind of keep people up to date. So we're gonna step back a little bit so people who don't know you can get to know you. First of all, can you give a brief definition of what Metro Mobility is?
Speaker 3 00:02:25 Sure. We are the a d a para transit provider for the Twin Cities metro area, which means that, uh, we are a version of the city bus system, uh, and rail system for folks who can't take conventional public transit, at least sometimes because of the symptoms of their disabilities.
Speaker 2 00:02:47 And or it could be proximity too, right? And how the buses is run.
Speaker 3 00:02:53 No, technically, uh, proximity to buses or, uh, limitations to fixed route scheduling. Do not qualify somebody for paratransit.
Speaker 2 00:03:03 Ah, okay. And how long have you been with Metro Mobility?
Speaker 3 00:03:09 Uh, gosh, somehow over 18 years now. <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:03:13 And you're still there, <laugh>? That's
Speaker 3 00:03:15 Right.
Speaker 2 00:03:16 Um, excellent. Uh, so what is the area that, um, Metro Mobility covers?
Speaker 3 00:03:25 Uh, we serve essentially, uh, west to east from Mound to Stillwater and from north to south from Anoka to Lakeville.
Speaker 2 00:03:37 So people who are local here can kind of understand that. I realize some those who live out of state will not, but do most states have some kind of paratransit like this?
Speaker 3 00:03:52 Uh, it is mandated under the a d a that, uh, because governments provide public busing and rail, uh, those governments also provide paratransit. So if there is a city bus and a municipality, then they will also have an a d a paratransit.
Speaker 2 00:04:10 Excellent. And this mental mobility works with, um, calling ahead of time and scheduling a ride. And how many days can you call ahead and schedule your ride?
Speaker 3 00:04:21 You can call up to four days in advance on the Metro mobility system, and you have to call at least one day in advance.
Speaker 2 00:04:27 Gotcha. Not same days. Um, as you know, and many people who take the bus system that they have varied their routes and times and the amount of buses, especially through covid. And now, um, does Metro Mobility have any plans of changing the area that they cover or the times?
Speaker 3 00:04:59 Uh, well, the overall service area, uh, uh, that we serve, uh, is unlikely to change anytime soon. Um, but the hours they serve that we serve and the way that we serve them, uh, may fluctuate over the next few years with changes to the City bus system. Um, Metro Mobility is kind of unique in that our system actually predates the ada. We've been around since the late seventies, Uhhuh <affirmative>, um, and largely with the exception of Lakeville, that was added within the last few years. We've been serving the same geographical footprint all that time. Um, when the ADA came out, uh, uh, it defined the area that we should serve as being somewhat smaller than, than what we were already serving. Uh, that being, uh, three quarters of a mile, uh, from where the city bus is running at any given time or the, or the rail system.
Speaker 3 00:05:56 Uh, and obviously the council had no interest in responding to landmark civil rights legislation like the ADA by curtailing service. Uh, so essentially, uh, we kept on doing what we had been doing, um, uh, for that broader service area that was extra, you know, not covered by the A D A. And then we implemented the federal a d a regulations within that area that's within three quarters of a mile of the city bus. So, uh, we serve both an a d a service area, uh, which is within three quarters of a mile of where the bus and rail are going. And then that broader non ADA service area, which are suburbs that we serve that are not within three quarters of a mile of the city bus, but we serve them anyway. So it's possible that as city bus service may constrict, an area could go from federally mandated ADA service to non ADA service Uhhuh <affirmative>, but it's very unlikely that Metro Mobility would ever, uh, constrict, uh, its overall service area. That's been the same since the late seventies, again, with the exception of adding Lakeville.
Speaker 2 00:07:10 So you wouldn't take Lakeville away per se, but you might change the hours.
Speaker 3 00:07:17 Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:07:20 How does one qualify for Metro Mobility?
Speaker 3 00:07:26 Uh, we have an application form that's available at, uh, www.metromobility.org. And it is a, uh, three-part form if you count the instructions, uh, besides the instructions. The other two parts are a certification questionnaire, uh, which an applicant can fill out themselves or someone can fill it out on the applicant's behalf. And then there is a professional verification form, uh, that a medical professional or other disability professional, uh, can fill out. And then both of those are submitted back to us at the Metro Mobility Service Center and downtown St. Paul and will get that processed within 21 calendar days.
Speaker 2 00:08:11 So it does depend on maybe what the disability they have or what does it depend on that they would get mental mobility?
Speaker 3 00:08:21 Yeah. What we're really trying to determine what that SAM is less, what somebody's clinical diagnoses might be, and more how those diagnoses, uh, might prevent somebody from taking Metro Transit. Um, so, uh, two people might have the exact same set of clinical diagnoses, um, all the same measurables in terms of, um, you know, say an IQ score or what somebody's formal diagnosis might be. Um, but somebody might be eligible for metro mobility and one person might not based on things like life experience and opportunities to develop independent living skills and those types of things. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So really what we're looking at is, uh, right now can this person take the city bus? Um, or does their disability prevent them from doing that? Mm. Or to the point you raised earlier, really the question we're asking is, would this person be able to take the city bus if it served the area that they would need it to serve?
Speaker 2 00:09:26 And what is, if once you get on Metro Mobility, what is the purpose of the renewing? Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:09:34 Uh, well, federal guidelines say that it is best practice to have, uh, people renew, uh, every one to three years. Uh, we're a little bit more lenient than that here. We, we do about every four years typically. Uh, the reasons for that are twofold. One, of course, um, some functional, uh, limitations might change even if someone's disability is static. Um, I'll give you my example. I've got cerebral palsy,
Speaker 2 00:10:06 Uhhuh <affirmative>,
Speaker 3 00:10:07 And as you probably know, CP uh, is not degenerative. You know, the, the actual symptoms of my CP stay the same. Okay. But, um, you know, as I get closer to 50 years old, I have dislocated enough knees and ruptured enough Achilles, uh, from, from falling down so that I don't walk as well as I used to. Uh, and therefore, while at one time I was not eligible for Metro Mobility because I was always able to take the city bus, uh, now I am eligible, uh, similarly if I had gotten certified with conditional eligibility, which just means that sometimes somebody with conditional eligibility can take the city bus with certain factors in place. Other times maybe they can't. Uh, I may at some point go from someone who is conditionally eligible to being fully eligible, meaning that I can never really take the city bus by myself because of my disability.
Speaker 3 00:11:07 So part of the reason for getting, uh, uh, recertified every few years is to gauge those types of changes. The other reason is that, uh, accessibility features on the fixed route change, uh, since the passage of the A d a, uh, buses have things like lifts, uh, regionally, we have established a much more accessible, uh, walking and rolling environment, uh, with curb cuts and longer streetlights, those types of things. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and of course there are things like enunciators on the bus that didn't used to be there. So as those types of accessibility features are rolled out by Metro Transit, that can also impact whether or not some people are eligible as well as what type of eligibility they might have.
Speaker 2 00:11:58 And who can you have sign your renewal when you're getting your
Speaker 3 00:12:06 Yeah. Yeah. There, uh, there is a lengthy list. We've tried to be as inclusive as possible, uh, with that, essentially, um, we're looking for a professional within the disability field who is at like a master's level, uh, education standard with some type of, um, uh, certifying exam as part of that credential and someone who has the ability to both treat and diagnose. Uh, and if you go to our application online and look at, uh, the instructions, there is an all, uh, inclusive list of, uh, medical professionals we've found that meet, uh, those credentials.
Speaker 2 00:12:56 So I wanna talk about the, some of the tough things, um, during this winter, as you know, <laugh>, uh, the me, some of the Metro mobility writers, well, many of them actually experienced sometimes when the phones went down and the system crashed, and it was really hard to get a hold of, you know, contact with their provider to see where their driver was or, or what the schedule was. Talk a little bit about what happened and are there fixes in place to help this not happen next winter?
Speaker 3 00:13:30 Yeah, thanks, Sam. There, there are fixes in place. Um, and, uh, in a, in a short answer, you know, kind of what happened is, uh, the pandemic, and not only did it disrupt our supply line in terms of, uh, some of the, the hardware, uh, and the tech stuff that we need, uh, from a server standpoint to be able to be where we'd like to be, uh, but it obviously severely impacted everybody's, uh, ability to hire. So, uh, our ability to have IT staff available to address concerns, our ability to make sure that the providers have been adequately staffed, uh, all those things have been impacted, uh, post pandemic. Uh, we have been able to address those with things like hiring bonuses, uh, referral bonuses, uh, uh, and thankfully our procurement staff, uh, both throughout the, the Met Council and specifically for us at Metro Mobility, have done a really good job of trying to be creative in terms of, of getting stuff and using stuff, uh, longer than our, our procurement rules might otherwise suggest.
Speaker 3 00:14:43 So we are in good shape at this point. With regard to tech, I would say that, uh, the place that we are still struggling a bit on the supply line side, uh, and probably also, uh, on the staffing side is with vehicles and drivers. At this point, you know, we, uh, uh, have, uh, a tremendous, uh, portion of our fleet that is, uh, out on the road, uh, that would not be in a, in a typical environment with our typical procurement rules. Mm. Uh, because we simply can't get enough vehicles. And I know you know this already, but, uh, just to alert listeners, uh, one of the things Metro Mobility is looking at doing as a short term kind of stop gap to help with vehicles, uh, as we are exploring alternative types, including an accessible S U V, uh, that will allow folks in wheelchairs and scooters to ride, um, that we can get right now when supply lines are such that we can't really get buses the way that we would like to be able to get buses.
Speaker 2 00:15:49 Right. And I think that's an interesting thing. You know, one never really thinks about buses, but the whole buying a car thing is just really messed up. I can't imagine what the buying a bus is like. Um, I wanna talk about, because you did some very interesting and fascinating things, I think during the pandemic and through it that really helped people. And you discovered, actually it helped you guys too, but you're doing another interesting thing. Can you talk a little bit about what is a, um, Metro Transit micro ride?
Speaker 3 00:16:22 Sure. This year, Metro Transit is doing a, uh, year long pilot, uh, for the year of 2023, where there's about a, uh, two mile corridor in North Minneapolis where customers can call, uh, for a same day on-demand ride or can use the app. And they are really encouraging and, and pushing people towards the app. And if a ride begins and ends within that, uh, north Minneapolis corridor, uh, roughly bounded by, uh, 34th Avenue to the north, um, and Dunwoody Boulevard to the south, uh, uh, than a, a small vehicle similar to a Metro mobility bus can show up and, and bring folks on a shared ride, uh, to their destination and back.
Speaker 2 00:17:15 And how does that work?
Speaker 3 00:17:19 Uh, folks just use the app, um, or they call and, uh, they say, I'd like to get picked up, and a bus comes and gets them.
Speaker 2 00:17:28 Can they do same day of,
Speaker 3 00:17:30 Same day? Is all you can do for that? It is designed to be demand response. So it is same day only.
Speaker 2 00:17:37 How do they rate <laugh> such a small area? How did you decide on the area?
Speaker 3 00:17:43 Well, it was, uh, you know, obviously the nature of the pilot, uh, is such to kind of evaluate whether or not micro transit might be useful for the region on a, on a broader scale. So they were looking for a dense, uh, urban area that would have adequate ridership to get some usage. Uh, despite the fact that, again, given our vehicle limitations and our driver limitations, we were gonna have to look at a very, very small geographic area. So the question was, you know, where can we look at something that is small, somewhere around a two mile corridor, but still get dense ridership, still have bank for the buck? Um, and so far, you know, we've gotten some pretty good take up. They're kind of, you know, has it rolls here and people become more familiar with it. Every month is kind of breaking, uh, the record of the previous month for usage. And I think last month, uh, micro chant has had about, uh, 35 k, uh, riders, or that there were, uh, uh, 35,000 rides on micro transit last month.
Speaker 2 00:18:52 And this costs the same as a Metro Mobility ride? Yes.
Speaker 3 00:18:56 No, it costs the same as fixed route. It's a metro transit. Oh, oh,
Speaker 2 00:18:59 Oh.
Speaker 3 00:18:59 Uh, ride. So the normal Metro Transit Fair applies whatever that might be for somebody.
Speaker 2 00:19:04 Okay. So what's the goal of this? If it goes really well, what will you do?
Speaker 3 00:19:11 Well, that's really a question for Metro Transit. Uh, it is their program. Um, but some municipalities have found that micro transit, uh, provides a good sort of, um, uh, supplement to fixed route. So if you have a nice robust, uh, bus and rail system, micro transit can kind of help fuel some of those gaps and serve a clientele that might be less willing, uh, to take other types of public transit.
Speaker 2 00:19:40 Ah, so during the pandemic and or partway through or somewhere in there, you, you developed a really great, um, thing called Curb to Curb. Um, are you still doing that?
Speaker 3 00:19:53 Uh, uh, curbside?
Speaker 2 00:19:54 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:19:55 Yeah. Uh, we are still doing that. Uh, curbside rides, um, developed really for, for kind of two reasons out of the pandemic. One, um, banks started all closing their lobbies, uh, and saying to folks, look, just use the ATMs. We'll leave our ATMs open. And pharmacies and dispensaries stopped letting people in the buildings for a while, uh, and started saying, look, if you need your prescription, uh, just come to the parking lot and give us a call and we'll, we'll bring out your script. Um, and how Metro Mobility has typically worked is, uh, we will bring you someplace, uh, one bus will drop you off, and then after about an hour, uh, another bus can, can come and get you and bring you back home. Uh, that works less well, right. When Right. Uh, you've got, uh,
Speaker 2 00:20:54 Something waiting out like an
Speaker 3 00:20:55 M Exactly. You know, we're talking about Minnesota and we're talking about Minnesota during a pandemic, when people, um, disproportionately that use our service, uh, either have, uh, uh, immunodeficiencies that make them more susceptible to things like Covid, uh, may have, uh, sensory disabilities that impact their ability to tell whether or not other people are masking or, uh, maintaining appropriate physical distances. So, I mean, we get that our ridership, uh, had caused to be even more concerned in a pandemic environment than the general populace. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, what we did to try to address that is develop this curb curbside system where essentially you can book a round trip ride, it will still be two rides, you still pay two fares, uh, but the bus will drop you off and wait for up to 20 minutes for you to do your business. 20 minutes.
Speaker 2 00:21:56 Cool.
Speaker 3 00:21:56 And then, uh, you know, you just get back on that same bus, pay the driver again, uh, and head on back home,
Speaker 2 00:22:05 And that presumably is not same day. Yes,
Speaker 3 00:22:09 That's correct. Those are normal metro mobility rides, so you have to book 'em at least one day in advance. And no more than four days in advance, I should say. There are two limitations, uh, one that's always in place and one that will go into place. Seven one, um, uh, each customer can only book one curbside ride a day. Uh, and, uh, starting on July 1st, uh, we are not doing curbside rides in the peak. So when you schedule 'em, you're just gonna wanna, ah, make sure that, uh, the initial pickup, uh, for your curbside ride mm-hmm. <affirmative> takes place in the non rush hour times.
Speaker 2 00:22:47 Gotcha. So are you finding that you got a good response to this, and do you plan on keeping it?
Speaker 3 00:22:55 Yeah, you know, uh, we do plan on keeping it, um, you know, with, with anything new, there's a little bit of growing pain as, uh, uh, drivers try to figure out, uh, what makes the most sense. You know, how long do you wait for somebody if they don't show up after the 20 minutes? Mm. Uh, is it okay to have another customer on board while you're waiting that 20 minutes? Uh, the answer to which is yes, as long as it doesn't violate that customer's max on board time. But, you know, tho those types of things, there've been, uh, some growing pains, but for the most part, it works pretty well, uh, because the provider does not have to worry about trying to find a different bus to schedule to come back and get somebody, you know, that bus is, uh, right there already waiting for the customer.
Speaker 2 00:23:46 Gotcha. What's
Speaker 4 00:23:47 The def, what's the definition of peak hours?
Speaker 3 00:23:52 Oh, good. Uh, good question, Charlene. Um, uh, those are defined as Monday through Friday only, uh, from 6:00 AM uh, to 9:00 AM and from 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM And for those of you that take Metro Transit, you will note that those are the same rush hours, uh, that Metro Transit uses to establish their peak fairs.
Speaker 2 00:24:20 Gotcha. Thank you for that. Uh, talk a little bit about your online booking and how that works.
Speaker 3 00:24:29 Sure. Uh, a customer interested in enrolling for online booking will email us at Metro Mobility at mtc like Marvin, Edward Thomas, Charlie dot state dot mmn us, or they can call 6 5 1 6 0 2 11 11, uh, and get a password. Uh, your username is always your Metro Mobility ID number. Uh, and then once you're there, you can access, uh, online booking through metro mobility.org, uh, and go in, log in and book a ride. Uh, cancel a ride, uh, view your rides to make sure that you did schedule if you can't remember whether or not you called and, and scheduled a ride. And also, uh, within an hour of when your ride is coming, uh, track a bus in real time to see about how long it'll be before it shows up.
Speaker 2 00:25:32 So how accurate is tracking the bus?
Speaker 3 00:25:37 Uh, well, it is real time based, but, um, uh, I would caution folks not to rely exclusively on it, because of course, sometimes we're, we're switching buses, we're, we're moving people from bus to bus. Mm. If it looks like we're gonna be late to get 'em. And the system doesn't always pick up on that immediately. So if it looks like on the online system we're going to arrive 35 minutes after your requested pickup time, we may switch you to a different bus so we can get you on time, and it may take the system a while to pick up on that change. So, ah, of course, customers are still responsible for being someplace where they can see the bus pull up, uh, within the pickup window. Uh, but this is a nice supplemental tool that people can use to help assist them in that.
Speaker 2 00:26:28 So that brings me to the 10 minute call. Metro Mobility offers a 10 minute call service that we'll call approximately, and the give or take 10 minutes before your ride and alert you that your ride is on its way. Um, so I wanna talk a little bit about that, how it works and what happens, like what causes you not to get a 10 minute call? Because sometimes that does happen where for whatever reason, the 10 minute call is not received or doesn't doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 00:27:02 Yeah. If it, if it doesn't come at all. Uh, one of two things happened. Uh, there was some sort of a server either hiccup or overload where there were too many calls going out at a, at a given time, um, or there was some kind of a server error where no calls went out for a few minutes. Um, or we've, uh, realized that if a bus is running early enough, it may not issue, uh, the 10 minute arrival call. So if the bus arrives, for example, 20 minutes before, uh, your negotiated pickup time, uh, that may not generate a call reliably, um, if a call is generated, but it is not accurate, uh, because, um, you know, you, you go out 10 minutes later and your bus still isn't there. Um, that's usually because either, again, we're moving folks all the time from one bus to another.
Speaker 3 00:28:00 So if we added somebody else to the same bus that you are scheduled to get on, uh, the bus might have been on the way to you and within 10 minutes of you, but then had another passenger added for their next pickup in order to get them on time, uh, which would mean all of a sudden you're waiting for longer than 10 minutes while, uh, that driver goes and picks up that passenger. Um, uh, certainly if we're switching the bus that you're on, uh, just like with the online vehicle tracking, uh, that can take a few minutes for the system to catch up with. And depending on the timing, that can impact the accuracy of the 10 minute arrival call too.
Speaker 2 00:28:42 I wanna talk, uh, go back just briefly about the online booking and where you say you can track the rides. I'm curious, cuz I'm, I've been, I know, you know, I've been harping about this, but I'm just so waiting for the day that not only can you do that with the online booking, but people who schedule their rides with by calling in, um, can track their rides. How come you can't do that now?
Speaker 3 00:29:13 Uh, you, you can, Sam, you can
Speaker 2 00:29:16 Now.
Speaker 3 00:29:16 Yeah. You don't need to have scheduled the ride on the online booking, uh, to track the rides if you schedule a ride on the phone, you know, say I call now and book a ride for tomorrow. Okay. Uh, to tomorrow, within an hour of my ride, I can log into the online trip booking site, uh, and, uh, see a countdown of, of when that bus will arrive.
Speaker 2 00:29:41 Oh, my, I think I need to get with it and get on there. So I don't think I realized you could still do that with that way. So if I, I would just need to get a l a password. Right?
Speaker 3 00:29:55 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:29:55 And, and I use my ID and I log in and I can track that ride for approximately where they are, no matter how you book the ride.
Speaker 3 00:30:06 That's correct.
Speaker 2 00:30:07 Cool. All right. Something learned. Excellent. Um, you were for a while, uh, piloting with Ira. Uh, are you still doing that?
Speaker 3 00:30:25 Yes. That's another Metro Transit initiative. Uh, and they are kind of still working on that, that, uh, IRA, uh, pilot, um, uh, folks probably in the region are, are most familiar with that technology around, uh, its usage at the airport. Uh, Uhhuh, s p has used that pretty successfully. Um, and Metro Transit is attempting to utilize that, uh, to, uh, help folks with any disabilities and obviously, uh, was developed and is mostly targeted at, uh, people in the blind and low vision communities. Um, but really anybody who has challenges navigating be that because of a developmental disability or just because they're new to the area, whatever the case might be, uh, it could potentially be useful for those folks as well.
Speaker 2 00:31:19 So can you talk a little bit about how it works? IRA is a live, um, system that you can call into and get a live person. Talk a little bit about what, how you can use this.
Speaker 3 00:31:31 Yeah. You know, since it's not Metro Mobility Initiative, I can't go into great detail, but essentially you call in and you have, uh, a person who is able to use mapping technology to help you physically navigate and help you recognize where you are as it relates to where you need to get to.
Speaker 2 00:31:52 So generally, um, Metro Mobility is door to door. What would they be helping you with
Speaker 3 00:32:01 In the case of Metro Mobility? Uh, you know, for that reason, the use is fairly limited, but could still be important. You know, I'll use the example of Mall of America. Ah, um, we have, yes. Uh, one spot that the mall allows us to pick up and drop off folks at. And the mall is obviously a sizeable facility. So, uh, somebody who might have difficulty navigating to, uh, the pickup point, you know, maybe they got dropped off and, uh, started going around the mall and all of a sudden they're a little bit turned around and they're unsure how to get back to, uh, that, that pickup point they could use IRA to, uh, help them navigate back there.
Speaker 2 00:32:47 Ah, okay. All right. And I suppose the, um, curbside that could, I could see how that could be helpful too, and the curb to curb, cuz you're actually not being helped to the door necessarily, right?
Speaker 3 00:33:02 No, with curbside, um, uh, assuming that there is a door you can go into, our drivers are still gonna escort you, so. Okay. Um, you know, if, for example, I booked a curbside ride, uh, tomorrow at 10:00 AM to run in and grab something from the office, uh, the driver would still escort me through that first door.
Speaker 2 00:33:24 And is that the same with the curb to curb with that, um, little pilot North Minneapolis thing you're doing?
Speaker 3 00:33:32 Oh, no. Micro Transit is a Metro transit, uh, program. They, uh, they do not escort. Uh, it is, it is a pure curb to curb system.
Speaker 2 00:33:44 And can they still use IRA with that?
Speaker 3 00:33:46 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:33:48 Okay. Can you talk a little bit about, because I, I always find this, I'll, I'll be talking to somebody and I'll talk about the on demand rides with the, the T plus, and they'll say, what's that? I'm, I'm always amazed with how many people don't know about it and don't know how to use it. Can you talk a little bit about what that is and how people can use that?
Speaker 3 00:34:15 Sure. Uh, we already covered the fact that, uh, under federal regulations, uh, people need to call at least one day in advance to book a Metro Mobility ride. Um, we have also talked about driver and vehicle shortages. You can probably extrapolate from that, that we really are not in a position to be able to provide any extra service right now. So, uh, if someone were to try to call and book a same day ride on Metro Mobility, uh, they would just be told, in all likelihood, I'm sorry, we can't do that. Um, in an effort to kind of assist, uh, with that need, uh, recognizing that, you know, life happens and maybe your kid gets sick at daycare and all of a sudden you've gotta go pick up your child from daycare, for example mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, we offer Premium on Demand or P o D service, which is really just a fancy name for a subsidized taxi ride for folks who are Metro Mobility certified.
Speaker 3 00:35:17 Um, uh, that vendor for us right now is, uh, transportation Plus. Uh, and essentially you call them directly, uh, (612) 888-8888. Uh, explain that you are a Metro Mobility customer who wishes to book a premium on demand ride, and they'll book that ride for you. And Metro Mobility will pay up to $15 after the customer pays the first $5 of the metered fair. So, uh, think about a taxi fair and how that works. Essentially, the customer is on the hook for the first five bucks. Uh, we would pay, uh, up to the next 15, and then the customer is, uh, back on the hook for anything over the total metered fare, uh, of $20.
Speaker 2 00:36:11 Gotcha. A great deal, actually.
Speaker 3 00:36:15 And since we're talking about it, I will add, uh, that later on this year, uh, because of some legislation that passed, I believe in September, uh, Metro Mobility is increasing their subsidy, uh, of, uh, the, uh, p o D program, uh, to the point where we pay up to $20. So the customer at that point will be paying, uh, the first five bucks and then we will pay up to the next 20 after that in September.
Speaker 2 00:36:42 Yes. Oh my gosh, this is so cool. I use that. So I I I, anybody who doesn't use it, um, we, they need to understand and learn about it. The, the thing now is I, I, I hope we can get the on demand people a little more responsive so that to make sure the rides are se more secure, that that would be my next issue to hopefully have to, you know, to be able to do.
Speaker 3 00:37:16 Yeah. You know, I should, oh, go ahead, Charlene. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 00:37:18 Uh, I would use it more, but it's a crapshoot and excuse my language, but, uh, I have a guy dog, and either they don't come the d the driver doesn't come at all, or they pull up and say, no dog. And that's still happening.
Speaker 3 00:37:39 Yeah. Please do, uh, report that whenever that happens. Uh, obviously that's a federal law violation. Uh, t plus knows that that's a federal law violation. Uh, they can, uh, aggressively correct that with drivers. They recognize their, uh, obligations and their culpability, uh, with failures of that nature. So they do take that seriously. It's something we've talked about with them at length. Um, and they, they are aware that folks cannot, uh, refuse taxi service to people based on usage of a service animal.
Speaker 2 00:38:15 But I will say this, you do have to call and you do have to follow up and do the reporting because, um, if you don't, nothing will happen. And I, I will talk about that. I feel comfortable talking about that. First of all, I have rarely had that happen anymore with, now I know it happens with Uber <laugh> a lot, but I rarely have it happen with Tier T plus. And the one time I did have it not too, too long ago, I really pressed hard and Andy, you know, about that situation and that driver was released from the job. So, um, I, I think that that is a really important thing that they can have consequences, but you do have to follow through. Thank you for talking about that, that increase with the, um, premium same day. I, I do wanna in, um, really make sure people understand that that is the same day ride situation that you can call same day if you need to, or just if you felt like going out for lunch and wanted to be like everyone else and a little spontaneous, you could do that. Um, so I'm glad to hear that, that that's increased. I think that will hopefully, um, that will be a, a good thing for people to use. Do you find that the premium same days are used a lot?
Speaker 3 00:39:42 Yes. You know, since, uh, our reservationist stopped taking those bookings, uh, a couple of years ago, I am not, uh, as looped in, uh, since they're not scheduled on our scheduling software, they're scheduled directly with the cab company. But I know anecdotally, uh, from customer reports that it is a, a popular service that is, uh, substantially utilized.
Speaker 2 00:40:08 Are there any more changes coming up or additions or anything else that will be happening in this year's time?
Speaker 3 00:40:16 Yeah, there's, there's one really big one that I'm excited about. Uh, both as, uh, somebody who's passionate about the independent living movement and as a person, uh, with this disabilities, um, uh, for a, uh, pilot here, um, at least going into to 2025, um, starting next month, all fixed route fares on, uh, commuter rail like the North Star or the, uh, light rail, the green line and the blue line or on fixed route, uh, are all gonna be free for people who are Metro Mobility certified. So instead of paying that $1 fare on the city bus and other forms of fixed route public transit, uh, folks who are Metro Mobility certified can show their metro mobility cards and ride for free. So, uh, for folks who might take the train, for example, uh, starting seven one, uh, don't tag your go-to card at the station. Uh, uh, cuz you are not responsible for paying anything. If, uh, you get asked for proof of fair payment, uh, you can just flash your Metro Mobility ID or your state ID with an a indicator on it. Uh, and that will be evidence that you are allowed to ride fixed route fair free.
Speaker 2 00:41:35 Well, that's cool, but what will this accomplish? Are you trying to lessen the load on the metro buses or because you already pay more to ride those buses, but I guess what would the goal of this be? Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:41:48 It's twofold. One, uh, or maybe threefold. One, it's absolutely, uh, to lessen the load on metro mobility to make sure that only people who are truly incapable of taking that ride on fixed route, uh, are are taking that ride. Um, uh, second to, to steal some Olmsted language, there's no question that, um, uh, fixed route public transit is public transit in its most integrated setting. So, uh, when you talk about not having people with disabilities siloed, uh, into a separate service, uh, making sure that folks can access fixed route, uh, is really important from, uh, an accessibility standpoint, from a spontaneity standpoint, the ability to go out and decide, you know, on 20 minutes notice, Hey, I'm gonna stay here a little bit late mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and there will be, uh, you know, a city bus coming 20 minutes later is just a far more flexible, uh, type of a system. And then of course the third thing is that, um, the most, uh, uh, underemployed, uh, minority group that this country has is folks with disabilities. Uh, so anything that we can do that can provide a modicum of economic relief, uh, to folks with disabilities, um, obviously is important and just
Speaker 2 00:43:15 Yes. Great. Well, I look forward to hearing about how that, when does that start? Excuse me.
Speaker 3 00:43:23 Uh, seven one. The first of next one. Ah,
Speaker 4 00:43:26 July. Okay. I'm on. Alright. <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:43:30 Charlene will be cruising the buses for free <laugh>. Um, excellent. And, and anything else that we should know?
Speaker 4 00:43:41 Oh, I wanted to ask about, uh, drivers, and I know you're always short, and how much training do the drivers get once they're hired? Because there's some chatter about driver, new drivers really not knowing what they're doing.
Speaker 3 00:43:59 Uh, yeah. Uh, they go through a lot. I, I is the short answer. Even though as a public transit provider, uh, Metro Mobility is exempt from, uh, special transportation services or s t s uh, level training, uh, for, uh, uh, Medicaid recipients. Um, uh, that is, uh, uh, the, the level of training that we employ for our drivers. So we essentially, uh, act as though we are, uh, STS liable. So the, uh, behind the wheel, the disability awareness, uh, types of training, the, uh, conflict avoidance and deescalation training, all those types of, uh, things that are required under STS legislation in Minnesota, uh, also do apply by policy to metro mobility drivers. Now, I will say that like with any job, uh, we acknowledge and recognize that, um, training is half the battle. Right? You know, people need that experience. Um, people need to be reminded of, uh, what they were exposed to in training.
Speaker 3 00:45:18 And, uh, people need to successfully absorb the training when it is administered. Um, and we have a lot of really, really wonderful drivers, but there are always challenges, uh, when, uh, driver turnover is what it is that, you know, we're bringing in new folks, um, uh, they are, uh, uh, exposed to a whole bunch of training and sometimes it takes a while for some of that to, to sink in a little bit. Um, I will say that one of the most important things, uh, that has happened in the last five, six years or so, um, our driver wages have darn near doubled in that time. Um, uh, which is, is just crucial when you consider the job that they have done there, there used to be a tremendous gap between what an A T U driver made for Metro Transit, um, and, uh, what a metro mobility driver makes.
Speaker 3 00:46:19 And we have really tried to kind of level that out. Um, it is not hyperbole to say that not too many years ago you could make more money at a fast food joint <laugh> than, than you could Yeah. Driving for a paratransit, uh, bus. And it just doesn't make sense. Scary, scary. Uh, thankfully, uh, we've been able to, uh, really address, uh, that problem. Uh, and I'm very, very glad that we've been able to do so, and it has made a difference in terms of our retention, um, and our ability, uh, to, uh, keep people who are passionate about, uh, providing folks access to their communities and help contribute to people's independence.
Speaker 2 00:47:03 So I know there are more than one, um, service provider for Metro Mobility. I'm wondering can they vary their training times or do they generally have to follow the same training regime and length of time?
Speaker 3 00:47:20 Uh, generally, uh, they need to follow at least those minimums that are spelled out in the s sts legislation. They can always add extra, uh, if they want to for everybody. They certainly are required and directed to provide extra. If there is a driver, uh, who has struggled with something, uh, you know, if we find through complaints or through random video polls that there's a driver, for example, who, uh, uh, doesn't seem to be understanding their escort obligations, uh, we will tell the provider that, and the provider has an incentive to get that addressed quickly because there is, uh, an escalating fine that happens to the contractors by driver where, uh, you, you get a pretty manageable, uh, fine the first time a particular driver performs a non escort, uh oh. But if the same driver does that over and over again, there are escalating financial damages in the contracts, um, they really help incentivize, um, the, the providers to reach out to particular vehicle operators and say, Hey, I know there's a lot to remember, uh, but, but you really gotta fix this issue before it becomes a reoccurring problem.
Speaker 2 00:48:39 And so presumably if you made the complaint, you would make the complaint to customer service, not your provider?
Speaker 3 00:48:47 Yep. That's correct. I would ask that people complain to my staff either at that email address that I gave earlier. Again, Metro Mobility met c.state.mm us or 65 1 6 0 2 11 11.
Speaker 4 00:49:05 Excellent. I have one more question. Go for it. When are you guys going to update the navigation system on the buses? <laugh>, please, please, please.
Speaker 3 00:49:17 Uh, great question. And I think that I can tell you that we are working on it now. Finally, um, uh, so this, this year or early next year, uh, we should have a system in place, uh, that allows for, uh, voting that is gonna be much more representative of what you have on your cell phone, uh, which is huge news. Um, you know, we recognize, particularly for an area like ours that serves, uh, you know, a good third of our overall total service area is non ADA is very suburban. You know, maybe bordering on ex-urban, uh, in some cases and, uh, the, the new roads, the new developments, et cetera. Right. Uh, can, can, can really render, uh, the existing Ranger based navigation, uh, outdated really quickly. So, uh, I'm excited to announce that, uh, within the next year, uh, you should see dramatic improvements on that, that vehicle navigation.
Speaker 4 00:50:22 Awesome. I do,
Speaker 2 00:50:24 I do think I also have noticed something, Andy, tell me if, um, I was riding on a bus the other day and it said something about stop at stoplights or something like that, or, and it also called somebody on like distance. Um, there must be something that they've put on now that kind of cues them if they're not totally stopping or if they're not keeping the, um, right amount of distance from another car.
Speaker 3 00:50:54 Yeah. In an effort to promote safety. Uh, now, uh, both of our major providers, uh, have software on the vehicles that is just sort of reminding drivers of those sorts of basics, you know, uh, maintain appropriate distance, uh, you know, remember to stop when appropriate. Th those types of things. And that, um, uh, we have seen good returns on that with regard to, um, preventable accidents. Uh, it seems like a, a good, uh, uh, benefit for the providers.
Speaker 2 00:51:27 Does it keep any record that shows how much the driver is having to be reminded? I'm just curious.
Speaker 3 00:51:38 You know, since that is their own, uh, software, uh, we, I, at the council, we would not have access to that if it did. So I, I can't speak to that.
Speaker 2 00:51:47 Gotcha. Well, thank you Andy. I really appreciate your time. Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with? Can you leave us with the email and phone number one more time, please?
Speaker 3 00:51:58 I absolutely can. First, I want to say again, thank you both for having me back. It's been wonderful to talk to you again. That email address is Metro Mobility, all one word, mtc like Marvin, Edward Thomas, charlie.state.mn for minnesota.us. The phone number is (651) 602-1111.
Speaker 2 00:52:30 Thank you, Andy. I really appreciate your time and thanks for coming on. We love having you on.
Speaker 3 00:52:35 Have a good one, folks. Thanks.
Speaker 2 00:52:37 You've been listening to Disability and Progress. Please remember to email us and give us your comments. You can email us at Disability and progress, sam jasmine.com. This has been Disability and Progress. The views expressed on the show are not necessarily those of K F E I or it's board of directors. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Charlene Doll is my research woman. Erin is my podcaster. Miguel is my current engineer for this show. This is kfi I, 90.3 fm, minneapolis and kfi.org. Thanks so much for listening. Goodbye
Speaker 0 00:53:32 Kpi.
