Wilhelmina Melrose might be disabled, but she’s no homebody.
Whether it was trips to the mall, church, or her exercise class for diabetics, she was always game to venture out, until now. With last summer’s increase in fares for The Ride, the T’s door-to-door service for seniors and people with disabilities, she can no longer afford to take more than one or two trips per week.
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Unfortunate, but this costly service should be done by volunteers and not by the T.
"The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
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Unfortunately the Ride was so abused by people that had cars and could drive but used it a cheaper way to do shopping and going into Boston than using their own car and parking fees. Only those that seriously need the service and don't have cars should be able to use the Ride. The ones that really need the service are the ones that are suffering now.
You have to qualify to use the Ride. A friend of mine qualifies, and she told me about the interview process--it is not casual.
How do you know how badly the Ride was abused? I admit it - I have a defensive attitude when it comes to denying services for people who are not fully able bodied. You try to live as someone who happens to live with a disablity that limits income, where you live, how you live, how you travel, not to mention, quite often, loneliness.
I happen to agree that it is quite unfortunate. $4.00 is still quite a bargain though and will assist people who really do need a ride. The State is broke. The Country is broke. We just can't afford things anymore and people will need to depend on the family members just like when we were growing up.
But things aren't the same now as when we were growing up. People work longer hours for less money, for instance. The middle and lower classes have less money to spend overall. We're working so much just trying to make ends meet that often we don't know our own neighbors.
Not everyone has family in the area on which they can depend.
Reduction of costs by the T has been done by further marginalizing our most vulnerable citizens. In addition to some fare increases to $4.00, those outside Boston are paying $10.00 for many of their medical trips, clearly a hardship that would eliminate many quality of life choices.
The other change made buy the T, not mentioned in the article, and little publicized is the change in the application process. Instead of a paper application, signEd by a medical doctor, attesting to the individual's disability, each and every elder and disabled person must go in person to one central site in Charlestown, MA
Geez,you would think that they would accept a medical doctor's signature as evidence that the person is disabled.
I really wonder why they have to show up in person in Charlestown? Many can't do that very easily.
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At the Charlestown site, the person will be interviewed by a staff member and tested for their mobility. Charlestown is a long way from much of the catchment area serviced by The Ride, a major journey for those with severe handicaps and a real deterrent to many who live in areas with the fewest transportation options The T readily admits all these new plans are part of their methods Thor cost reduction. Again, the harshest measures taken against those with thr weakest voices. How about satellite interviewing sites, even once a week?
Thank you for letting everyone know how it goes down! That's awful and whoever came up with that plan (Charlestown mandatory visit) needs to have her or his head examined.
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The policy of charging a higher ”premium” fare if the destination is close to public transit is disgusting. It might be a good policy for transit systems such as the Washington Metro that work but the T is a disaster.
I was in a bad car accident 2 years ago and commuted on the Red Line with impaired mobility. Commuting on the T is a pretty miserable experience when you are healthy but it is much worse with impaired mobility.
Any regular commuter knows that you can’t depend on the T and especially the Red Line. The multiple disabled trains and signal systems failures that occur every day mean that you will most likely be standing for prolonged periods of time. Even when it is running, service is very erratic. The T likes to run trains in packs with long pauses in between. This makes things very difficult if you have an injury or physical impairment.
Overcrowding means intense completion for seats. Many riders will not give up their seat to someone with a disability even if they are getting off at the next stop. The T makes this problem worse on the Red Line by running its seat less “Big Red” cattle cars. Of course it really becomes a nightmare when the train breaks down and hundreds of people are dumped on a platform to fight to get on the next train.
Implementing polices to discourage use of the ride and push more disabled people onto regular T services would be fine if the was a function transit system. Of course the T is not a functioning transit system.
I commute daily on the red line - yes there are occasional problems and the T should be investing more into the system which they have been doing in the last year - I would guess I experience a delay about once or twice a month - and this is during rush hour - I rarely see a big red car and i wish i saw them more often during the crowded rush hours - and I am an able-bodied grey haired 58 year old who is offered a seat once or twice a month and I'm not looking for a seat - I don't think it would be too difficult to get a seat if you ask
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Repoza's daughter couldn't cough up a few bucks for the mom for the ride instead of taking the day off from work?
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Someone has to pay. It was a fair increase and I'm sure if the IG did a little peeking he would find ongoing fraud. This is only the beginning of all the cut backs throughout the whole country.
Please. Just raise the fare to 6 or 7 $$ forvthose with incomensurável more than $50,oponha year. In the ínterim put a voluntária contrutions box on every car or van. The barganha is a great program and a barganha. The perefentagevof abuseis is very loucas in other Public programas Don Davies
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Here's the line from the article that caught my eye: "On average, each trip costs the state $40 ..." You've got to be kidding me! Giving all the ride users cab vouchers would be cheaper than that. Or we could cut that cost in half -- and put a dent in the unemployment rate at the same time -- by signing up the jobless to provide the service for $20 per trip.
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Has it ever occured to you that many disabled people need a wheelchair lift or other assist and a cab ride means no ride for them?
The ride is abused by people that are more than capable of taking public transportation. I work in healthcare and unfortunately I see completely able bodied you g people that abuse SSDI by saying they have anxiety, PTSD and a host of other mental disorders and they are given full benefits that include the RIDE. The poor elderly deserve the ride
The reporter failed to mention what effect the more careful screeening had on the number applying and available funds.
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its always easier to look the other way and say that programs that help seniors are abused. But what they are really saying is they dont care one bit about the plight of anyone including seniors. Totally against anything that doesnt help. Seniors don't have the Koch brothers pumping millions in there case , so they stay home. What goes around comes around. You will see.
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How do you think the poor/lower middle class elderly and disabled get around in rural or even suburban areas? With free door to door limo rides? They don't even have the option of using public transportation of ANY kind. Apparently living in an urban area gives you the right to free limo rides.
You mean we are supposed to rely on what the poor do in rural areas? And in suburban areas, they DO have free door to door limo rides. My blind aunt got free van rides for the elderly and disabled in a town just outside of Worcester so that she could visit my late uncle in the nursing home.
OK, everybody sing-along: "Things they do look awful cold (talkin' 'bout my generation"); hope I die before I get old..." Now smash your guitar.
16% decline is not drastically more than a 10% decline from the previous year According to your chart rides are up from 2 and 3 years ago, not down
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"Whether it was trips to the mall, church, or her exercise class for diabetics, she was always game to venture out"
At forty bucks a ride..... it cost the taxpayer $80 every time she went to the mall, or church or just felt like getting out.
Most taxpayers don't make $40/hr....and she's complaining about it going from $2 to $4?
Sorry folks....but as one of those tax PAYERS.... I can't pay anymore... too much!
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If a resident wanted to volunteer to give rides how would they go about it?
Most of my patients depend on The RIDE to get back and forth from their dialysis treatments. It's sad.