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• Feeder Service
  
  
• Stairs Restricted
  
  
• Reminder: No-Show/Late Cancellation
  
  
• Travel Training Available from NYC Transit
  
  
• Holidays When Subscription Service Cancelled
  
  
• Increased Use of Car Service/Taxis
  
  
• Taxi Reimbursement
  
  
• To Travel or Not to Travel in Extreme Weather?
  
  
• Interested in a Presentation About AAR Service?
  
  
• Interested in Improving AAR Service?
  
  
• Need More Information About AAR?
  
  
• NYC Transit Customer Services
  
  
• Available Publications
  
  
• On The Move in Braille
  
  
• Access-A-Ride Quick-and-Easy Phone Tips

Feeder Service

Beginning on or shortly after April 1, 2011, MTA New York City Transit Paratransit Division will introduce the next phase of Access-A-Ride (AAR) feeder service for some customers with a conditional eligibility determination who are able to travel by bus, but who face physical or environmental barriers that prevent their traveling to or from bus stops. Some examples of barriers: the lack of curb-cuts; the distance from the trip origin to the bus stop; steep terrain; snow and/or ice; extremes in temperature (hot or cold); major intersections, or other difficulties negotiating architectural barriers.

Your AAR ID card indicates the eligibility determination that applies to you. Paratransit references this information when you call to make your reservation. The system will evaluate your trip from origin to destination and determine whether you can use the bus for part of your trip. When you call to reserve a trip, the reservationist will tell you if your trip request will be a feeder trip.  If your specific trip request is a feeder trip, it will remain as your only option for that trip request. 

Please be assured that you will continue to be eligible for AAR trips that are beyond your travel limitations at the pick-up or drop-off location.  If your medical condition has changed significantly since your last in-person assessment, you may reapply to receive another in-person assessment. However, feeder service will use the eligibility determination status on record when you call to reserve a trip.

This phase of feeder service refers to two groups of conditionally eligible customers:

1. Conditionally eligible AAR customers who can take AAR to a bus stop and proceed via bus to a bus stop near their destination.  The distance from the bus stop to their destination is within their travel limitations.
2. Conditionally eligible customers who can reach the bus stop at the beginning of their trip but need AAR to complete the trip to their destination.   

An example of a feeder service trip would be a customer who cannot walk more than five blocks, and the bus stop is six blocks away. The customer uses AAR to get to the bus stop, and then takes the bus for the remainder of the trip, provided the bus stop near his/her destination is within his/her travel limitations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) always required an eligibility determination in anticipation that paratransit could address travel limitations as accessibility in public transportation increased.  Feeder service is a step closer toward the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which says that individuals who are able to travel via bus or subway do so.  At this time, only bus service will be used for the fixed-route portion of your trip.  

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“Stairs Restricted” was formerly referred to as “Interborough” Conditional Eligibility

“Stairs Restricted” means that customers found eligible for AAR service under this category are unable to go up and down stairs. Therefore, they may use AAR when their only option for travel is the subway, and there is no available fixed-route bus or ADA-accessible subway station that they have been determined able to use. An individual may be stairs restricted and have distance limitations. Thus, a particular station could be ADA accessible but too far away for the customer to use.

This definition acknowledges that when an accessible fixed-route bus or ADA-accessible subway station is available, customers with stairs-restricted service may be able to travel on public transit.  Requiring stairs-restricted individuals to use available accessible buses or subways brings us a step closer to the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which says that individuals who are able to travel via bus or subway do so.  Currently, customers with “Stairs Restricted” eligibility are not required to use accessible subway stations. 

Please be assured that you will continue to be eligible for trips that are beyond your travel limitations.  If you have questions, please call 877-337-2017; press 1 for English, then press 1 for Eligibility.

Customers may read our newsletter, On The Move, the Guide to Access-A-Ride Service, and our policies by choosing from the menu on the AAR Paratransit home page.

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Reminder

In case you missed it, AAR's No-Show/Late Cancellation Policy was revised and became effective on September 1, 2010.  Customers reserving seven or more trips within a month, and late-cancelling or no-showing 20 percent of them, not to exceed seven trips, may be suspended for two months for a first suspension and up to three years for a fourth suspension.  If you want a copy, use the previous link to read and download or print the policy, or call the Eligibility Determination Unit (EDU) at 877-377-2017, press 1 for English, then press 1 for EDU.

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Travel Training Available from New York City Transit
Free to qualified Access-A-Ride customers, ages 18 and older!

During the next three years, as many as 270 Access-A-Ride customers will have the chance to learn to travel safely and confidently via bus or subway, perhaps for the first time in their lives. Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State, funded by MTA New York City Transit, will provide one-on-one travel training at no cost to trainees.

Imagine using the bus or subway to travel to and from work, visit friends, or go shopping.  You wouldn’t need to make reservations in advance. You could change your travel destination, even during your trip.

Trainees master the following skills:
• Planning a trip (use of schedules, signs, telephone, information services and landmarks)
• Remembering and following directions
• Requesting information/help from appropriate sources, (e.g., if the trainee is lost)
• Identifying the correct destination stop
• Coping with planned service changes, delays and emergencies
• Using mobility aids (e.g., wheelchairs and scooters) correctly on accessible public transportation
•The training concludes when the trainer and the trainee determine that the trainee can travel safely and   independently on a specific route.

For more information, call: Michael Levy, Director, Travel Training MTA New York City Transit 718-393-4148	Michael Levy

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Holidays When Subscription Service is Automatically Cancelled

If you are traveling on these holidays, you must call to reserve a trip.

New Year's Eve Day; New Year's Day; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Presidents' Day; Good Friday; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day; Veterans Day; Thanksgiving Day; Day after Thanksgiving; Christmas Eve Day; Christmas Day.

Increased Use of Taxis/Car Service

More customers will be able to travel by taxis/car service in the near future. When customers have taken 75 percent of their trips via taxis/car service, they will be placed on a “no-taxi” list for a period of approximately
one-and-a-half months.

Taxi Reimbursement
Due to increased use of taxis, customers should anticipate receiving reimbursement checks two months after the date their reimbursement request is submitted. We are diligently working to reduce this time to less than four weeks.

When the weather forecast predicts snow, ice, torrential rain, high winds or a hurricane, keep in mind that AAR may pick you up, but we may be unable to transport you back home when weather conditions make driving difficult.

Immediate rescue is not always possible.  During the blizzard, even some ambulances were unable to reach critically ill people. 

Drivers may not be able to assist you over mounds of snow or across ice, keep you upright in high winds or protect you from falling debris.  Your power chair, scooter, wheelchair, walker, cane, or guide dogs may prove useless in three-foot snow drifts. 

If your trip is not medically necessary or otherwise urgent, ask yourself these questions: “Am I prepared to stay away from home for a majority of the day?”  “Is the trip worth the risk of being injured?”  If the answer to either of these questions is “No,” please don’t travel.

Is Your Organization Interested in a Presentation About AAR Service?

If your organization has 15 or more people interested in learning more about AAR service, please call Donna Fredericksen at 718-393-4147 or Russell Schmid at 718-393-4130 to arrange a presentation.

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Interested in Working to Improve AAR Service?

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Need More Information About AAR?

Go to the AAR Paratransit home page, and bookmark it for future reference.  You can access the Guide to Access-A-Ride as well as AAR policies and archived newsletters. You can also go to www.mta.info  and click on the Accessibility tab at the top of the home page to reach the MTA Guide to Accessible Transit.  Go to New York State Paratransit Services, then scroll down and click on Access-A-Ride, New York City Transit, Paratransit Division.

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NYC Transit Customer Services

Available Publications

• How to Apply or Recertify for Access-A-Ride Paratransit Service
  
  
• Guide to Access-A-Ride Service
  
  
• Drivers and Customers Can Make Everyone’s Ride Better
  
  
• Access-A-Ride Quick-and-Easy Phone Tips
  
  
• On The Move (additional copies)
  
  
• Subway Map for Customers with Disabilities

On The Move is also available in Braille or on cassette by calling Michael Levy at 718-393-4148, or you may download it from the AAR Paratransit home page

Your questions and comments about this publication are welcome.  Please send them to: 

On The Move
MTA NYC Transit
Department of Buses
Paratransit Division
130 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

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