Access-A-Ride

 Access-A-Ride

By Kami-Leigh Agard

After going through countless challenges, disappointments and frustrations with my daughter’s school bussing provided by NYC Department of Education’s Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT), her dad and I started exploring other transportation options, and happened upon Access-A-Ride. I knew of one local parent, Ivonne Colon, who utilizes the service for her adult son’s daily transport to his day program, recreational trips, even to attend Rockaway Beach Autism Families’ (RBAF) family support group meetings, but I was curious to learn if Access-A-Ride could be used as a consistent mode of school transport for my daughter, and also most importantly, if her appointed school bus paraprofessional could accompany her on the ride. Here’s what we learned.

First off dear readers, I’m not one to lambast a school, a teacher, a program—as there’s no such thing as perfection. However, with the host of school bussing challenges that have been ongoing with (OPT), I’m putting the department on blast. They should instead be called: Office of Pupil Motionless Transportation. Since last fall, our 16-year-old daughter’s attendance at school has evolved from sporadic to nil. Soanirina (“Soa”) has been riding on a small yellow school bus since preschool. However, fast forward to September 2024—though throughout the years we’ve intermittently experienced both good and not-so-good school bussing, this past fall was indubitably the worst, resulting in Soa being out of school since November 20. We filed countless complaints with OPT regarding the egregious behavior of the bus team, not to mention Soa’s commute continuously exceeded her Individualized Education Program (IEP) travel time limit of one hour. So, Access-A-Ride appears to be the game-changer we were desperate for.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) program, Access-a-Ride (AAR), was created in 1991 after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the year prior. It is NYC’s paratransit service providing shared-ride transportation for the nearly one million residents with a range of disabilities. The fare ($2.90.) is the same as subway or bus trips. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days per week, and serves all five boroughs and parts of Nassau and Westchester counties. The eligibility requirement is riders must have a disability that substantially prevents them from independently using the subway or bus.

Depending on the disability, some AAR riders have door-to-door service, while others have “feeder service” (in which AAR only drops them off at the nearest accessible bus stop). Eligibility is not limited to people with physical disabilities; people with intellectual, developmental or psychiatric disabilities are also eligible. To be eligible, the individual must experience one or more of the following types of barriers:

(1) Unable to independently board, ride, or get off of an accessible subway or bus; (2) Able to independently board, ride, and get off of an accessible subway or bus, but want to travel on a route that is not ADA compliant.

After taking a deep dive into researching the eligibility requirements, Soa’s dad and I reached out to her school, and were elated to confirm that AAR could indeed be an option and her paraprofessional could accompany her on the commute to and from school. Also, interesting to note, the para rides for free as her designated parent care provider (PCA).

To apply for AAR, call: (877) 337-2017 to schedule an appointment for an assessment. Approximately within one week, an application and appointment date will arrive in the mail. Bring the completed application and supporting documents to the appointment. Note that supporting documents are crucial to prove your case! They include doctors’ letters, and a log of notes detailing all the traveling barriers the individual faces. Regarding the doctor’s letter, it must not only confirm the diagnosis or disability, but also explain in detail the connection between the disability and inability to travel by subway or bus. I found the Manhattan Developmental Disabilities Council website quite resourceful: https://www.manhattanddcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/january-2018-presentation-aar-powerpoint.pdf. Also, for more info, visit: https://new.mta.info/accessibility/access-a-ride

Join Rockaway Beach Autism Families’ (RBAF) at this month’s family support group happening today—Thursday, January 23, 7 p.m. at Knights of Columbus (333 Beach 90th Street). For RBAF’s rollout of special events for April’s Autism Awareness Month, including our 3rd Annual Walk for Autism and Radio Bingo Fundraiser for the autism community affected by LA’s wildfires, visit: Rockaway Beach Autism Families on Facebook/ Instagram.

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