By Matt Roy, Independent Newsmedia

Getting to doctor’s visits and other important appointments reliably and on time continues to elude some local seniors and disabled people.

Officials apprised leaders last week on ongoing challenges to delivering transit services to vulnerable populations in parts of the West Valley, which lack regular mass transit service.

“We’re here tonight to give you an update based on our last work session,” said Surprise Public Works Manager David Kohlbeck David Kohlbeck.

Claiming improvements while facing a barrage of questions from the panel, Mr. Kohlbeck and Valley Metro Chief Operating Officer Rob Antoniak shared performance data and survey results at the Dec. 19 City Council workshop session at City Hall, 16000 N. Civic Center Plaza.

Paratransit and RideChoice

Riders certified through the Americans with Disabilities Act qualify for subsidized van service to get to appointments, school and work. The RideChoice program supplements paratransit by offering subsidized cab-service to augment options available to disabled riders.

Both programs have faced a backlash from dissatisfied Surprise clients.

Since Valley Metro contracted Transdev, a France-based international transportation operator, to take over the program last February, riders have issued a litany of complaints about difficulty booking trips, late pickups, missed appointments and poor customer service.

Responding to criticism, Transdev has since added an intermediary lot during the summer to dispatch vans from West Valley and improve response times. But many clients say the problems persist.

Mr. Kohlbeck acknowledge the failures, but reported service has improved during the first quarter of fiscal year 2017-18.

“We did have a bit of a rocky start, but on-time performance did increase every month,” he said. “We are still not up to the contract standard.”

Per Transdev’s contract, vans should arrive on time for 93 percent of booking. The on-time percentage for July, August and September were 57, 68 and 71 percent respectively for riders coming from Surprise, while the regional on-time average is 82 percent. With the rollout of new dispatch software, performance should continue to improve, Mr. Kohlbeck said.

“As they transitioned also to a new software in October, we expect that on-time performance to continue to grow and catch up with the region and then, eventually, hopefully, hit the standard in the contract,” Mr. Kohlbeck said.

Mr. Antoniak said the contractor looks at provide a phone application in the future, which will allow for easier trip booking and real-time scheduling and dispatch – similar to the app used by popular ride-share companies – but he offered no specific date for when that might happen.

“Part of the technology shift is getting into a space that will allow us to get things like being able to call ahead and check on the timing of the arrival of your vehicle automatically, get a reminder call if you want to do that, set up subscriptions … be able to book online,” Mr. Antoniak said. “We’re working towards that, anticipating that to occur in calendar year ’18.”

Despite claims of improved service, Vice Mayor Todd Tande suggested the numbers may have improved, in part, because some clients have given up or found other ways to get around.

“Some of this tells me a story that maybe of that increased on-time percentage might be because maybe some of the riders have gotten frustrated and they’re dropping out,” Mr. Tande suggested. “I would expect it to go up, the percentage on time, if we have fewer riders.”

Councilman Skip Hall confirmed that assertion and said Valley Metro needs to do more.

“I’ve talked to people that have actually stopped using the service,” Mr. Hall said. “And they ought to be using the service. We need to win them back somehow.”

Kathy Chandler is executive director of Northwest Valley Connect, a Surprise-based non-profit, volunteer-driven agency serving Surprise, the Sun Cities and Peoria, which is helping fill the service gaps by providing free and reduced-fare rides.

She stated despite improvements, problems still persist and many of those in need remain underserved.

“We are hearing fewer complaints and we haven’t heard a complaint about anyone not being able to get through to the reservationist at Transdev in more than a month. But we are still hearing of service issues, such as long waits and being left stranded,” Ms. Chandler stated by email. “We have a number of clients who refuse to try paratransit again because they had such a bad experience.”

Incidents and accidents

Ms. Chandler also related an example of one bad client experience, which occurred the week prior.

“I spoke to a Mom of a 19-year-old girl, who is disabled and takes paratransit from Surprise to employment in Glendale and was pretty unhappy with the service,” Ms. Chandler said. “She said her daughter is left waiting at the end of her work day for up to three hours and has been left there without a ride home also.”

Surprise resident Linda Carolyn spoke at the Dec. 19 to recounted he own difficulties with the transit program.

“I’ve had several – and I mean maybe 6, 7, 8 – not good experiences with RideChoice and I’ve documented and reported most of them,” Ms. Carolyn said. “But this last one that I’ve run into I think was beyond the pale.”

She said she booked a RideChoice trip the week prior to get from Midwest University in Glendale back home. Though she carefully explained during the booking she would be using the RideChoice card for the ride, the driver demanded she pay full fair and behaved aggressively when she refused, Ms. Carolyn said.

“That’s not the way it works. I owe $3 and in addition to that, I don’t owe you anything because your fare is not over $21. I’m only responsible for anything over $21,” she said she told the driver. “He wasn’t happy with me. I wasn’t happy with him.”

As she went to exit the van, the side door slid close too soon, trapping her in the doorway momentarily, she said.

“He closed his door and hit me in the back and got me trapped between the doorpost and the door,” Ms. Carolyn said. “It scared me to death. I thought I was being dragged down the street for a second. It was so disconcerting. He told me I was cheating him out of his fare, I was stealing his pay.”

A day later she filed a police report over the incident, asserting the driver’s behavior constituted assault. Either he was too poorly trained to operate the vehicles door mechanism or he intended her harm, she asserted.

“I’m pretty unhappy about the whole thing and I think RideChoice needs to be terminated,” Ms. Carolyn added. “The caliber of the drivers has been down, down, down.”

A road forward

Councilman Roland J. Winters Jr., who regularly uses paratransit services in Surprise, suggested Transdev needs to localize its management to fix the problems.

“Among a couple of things that I may suggest is to get somebody here in Surprise to oversee this,” Mr. Winters said. “I don’t feel somebody in the East Valley what we in the West Valley are up against … it’s a Surprise program. It’s for Surprise residents. They should be right here in Surprise to keep a handle on what’s happening.”

He said using the service requires long hold times on the phone and drivers routinely arrive 30 minutes late or worse. Customer service complaints routed to call centers in foreign countries just add to his frustration, Mr. Winters said.

“The whole thing is just a complete nightmare, it really is,” Mr. Winters added. “I’m right in the thick of it every day and I see it every day. And you really got to get some improvement.”

Mr. Tande suggested the contractor’s additional of the West Valley staging lot was a good first step, but – located near the intersection of 99th and Olive avenues – was still too far from Surprise to provide appropriate response times.

“I want to applaud the thought that you’re staging vehicles closer,” Mr. Tande said. “It can take a half an hour just to drive from one end of our city to the other. So, I’d like to see some consideration at least for maybe a better staging place.”

A centrally located dispatch lot would serve Surprise better, he said.

“I think because we are the size we are, we deserve some service where maybe the staging comes right out of the center of the city somewhere,” Mr. Tande said.

Ms. Chandler said her agency is working with county officials, West Valley leaders and legislators to push to expand regular bus service for the whole region.

“We are leading a regional effort at bringing public transportation to the northwest valley. Our efforts now are in putting together the Northwest Valley Consortium that is called for in the MAG 2013 Transit Study,” Ms. Chandler explained. “The consortium will include the cities and county along with Rick Gray from SCHOA’s board, representative’s Payne and Toma and Bonnie Boyce-Wilson and Sharon Hettick from the Northwest Valley Connect board.”

Mr. Antoniak assured the panel that improvements realized so far will continue and Valley Metro remains committed to fixing the problems, though solutions will take time.

“I’m sure when we come back with October-November-December numbers and then into the first half of calendar year, that you will see those arrows trending up,” Mr. Antoniak said. “I’m hope that as we come back to visit next year, that it’s a much more pleasurable experience.”