(A
Grassroots Disability Coalition located in Albany, New York's Capital
Region)
Members
of:
The
Council for Community Service of NYS, (CCSNYS)
The
National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates, (NAPTA)
Americans
for Transportation Mobility, (ATM)
Updated:
April 14
2008
Top
news:
v Access Transit is now
providing Ambulette service nights, weekends and holidays (during
hours Access is normally closed for business.) for people using power
chairs and scooters or who can't transfer from their wheelchair.
v
4/14/08 STAR has a completely new STAR certification policy, including
new forms. They also have added a in-person accessment to make applying and
getting STAR even more difficult and to discourage people from even going
through the process. We are meeting with them on this and will
continue to work on this unacceptable burden on people applying for STAR.
One word of advice. You SHOULD ALWAYS bring someone with you to any
physical meeting with STAR/CDTA and to any physical assessmentthey want you to
go to. These assessment are to rule out people that "don't need
STAR" and to give out less service. The problem is that we fear is
this company will rule out people that "DO NEED STAR " as well or
offer only "sometimes" service. If you need someone to go to a
physical assessment , please call us at (518) 273-1110.
We help with STAR appeals for
free. Call us if you are turned down for STAR or given only limited service!
Click on our NEW
Access Transit button on the left. We appreciate the hard work Access
Transit employees did to accomplish this!
v4/14/08
We hope to here this week that Frank Tarantino from MTM
has a signed contract signed with
an ambulette company that will provide Ambulette service
nights, weekends and holidays for people using power chairs and scooters or who
can't transfer from a wheelchair to use regular taxis. Albany customers
can also call MTM 24 hours a day to schedule your medical rides. MTM is late
with this. We were told they would have this service by the end of March.
vImportant! - STAR
just held a meeting on March 10th to let customers give feedback on the STAR Rider's Guide booklet
rules and policies. You can still submit written feedback on policy issues
like the 25 minute arrival window.
Please submit any thoughts or ideas you have for changing
the STAR Rider's Guide (25 minute arrival time, trip scheduling, no show
policies, late cancellation policies) to CDCAT so we can be SURE all
suggestions are received! (email them to info
@mobilityfreedom.org and please title them STAR Rider's Guide
v
We are still working on our website. You'll notice some new buttons to
the left shortly - including a traveler's information area for disabled travelers, a new
comprehensive STAR link, and a much better organized home page here. We
are continuing to update some of the newer pages so please check back
frequently.
Business
Travel? Conference? Vacation?
Planning a trip to Albany NY or the Capital Region? Call us at (518)
273-1110 or email if
you have disability related transportation questions. It's best to plan your
transportation for your trip or conference as far in
advance as a month. If you use paratransit service, it is available
here. Make sure you have your paratransit ID or certification letter, and you
should fax this to STAR, CDTA's paratransit office, at least 2 weeks in advance
of your arrival. There is more information on our Traveler's
Help page!
We've
also just begun a project named Accessible Albany - This is an ongoing
project to help travelers to our Capital Region - not only to Albany!
We're working on a new link just for this so you can see our progress and so
tourists and business travelers and seniors can access the draft information
document this summer.
Have
good or bad information about your trip to Albany or the Capital Region?
Please email it to us. We want to KNOW what happened, good or bad, so we
can work to make your trip better the next time, or commend the hotel or
business that gave excellent service!
CDTA
STAR Ticket and Line bus Half Fare Swipers - Online STORE
STAR
Coupons and Reduced
Fare Swipers are
available ON LINE at the CDTA E-STORE! Just click on the link below!
NEW
Please Note: The
Coalition has asked CDTA to allow purchasing half-fare Swipers AND STAR tickets
in one area so that customers don't have to purchase them separately and retype
all the address information. CDTA responded that they will look into
setting this up in the near future for customer convenience.
CDTA
Service to Saratoga for both line buses and STAR!
Buses
now go to and from Saratoga daily. Both line buses and STAR are available
to go to Saratoga. STAR also has service in Saratoga.
To
read more, at least on line bus service, check out the CDTA link below.
Check
out our available NEW forms and
brochures on
our Forms page. We have forms for STAR to
prove you didn't no-show. We also have STAR application forms available,
an appeal guide, complaint forms and a helpful STAR scheduling log - all free of
course.
CDCAT Outreach and Training Program Available
CDCAT has a new outreach and training program. We will be assisting
agency and organization training of case coordinators, case workers and other
staff on transportation advocacy and various methods of transportation for
people with disabilities. There's also a training and support program in
the works on 'How to obtain transportation to meet your clients needs'. More on
this soon. Remember, we will help explain and train on all areas of
transportation including Medicaid, Public transportation including both line bus
and STAR, rail, long distance bus, and air. We can provide advocacy and
assistance in cases of transportation denials. We assist customers with
appeals for free.
Generous donation of
services from Hyperoffice.com
Hyperoffice donated an intranet for our
Coalition's board of directors'
use. We are very excited about this as it allows a place for our
board to work on issues and plan future agendas. This very
generous donation by HyperOffice shows their commitment to the
public needs and concern for people with disabilities.
We wish to publicly thank them as well as to send business
their way. If your organization is looking for a fantastic
intranet, HyperOffice is the way to go. It's easy to understand,
has a variety of options and you can upload entire folders into the
documents area. (Some intranets don't have this option so you
must spend countless time uploading each FILE). There's email, a
calendar, different groups for various projects - the list of features
is so long. I've never advertised here but - I'm making an
exception with these guys, not only because they donated our intranet
but because I BELIEVE they are the best!
2007
CDCAT
Community Meetings
Coalition Community Meetings are held every other month between March and
December only. (There is no January Meeting due to extreme weather
conditions.) These meetings are to offer assistance with problems and
paratransit appeals and to discuss any
transportation issues
relating to those of us with disabilities in the Capital District.
Our next Coalition Community
Meeting will be on:
When : Tue,
March 25, 2008
Time: 6:30pm
-
8:00pm
Where: Albany
Public Library (Main Branch)
1st. Floor, back auditorium
DOOR PRIZE Awarded every meeting
For more information and
future meeting dates
(518) 273-1110 or check with the Albany Library.
Important
Note: We DO NOT have meetings if there are extreme weather
conditions.
Board
Member's Reminder:
"Please
do not forget that the best way to address injustice is to become involved
and take action against whatever it is that you feel is not being done the
way that it should be. To complain but not be prepared to take action
toward a possible resolution or at least to minimize the situation is in
part, part of the problem. So, please consider becoming involved and
together we can accomplish almost anything."
Cliff
Perez
CDCAT
Board Member
&
Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley's
Systems Advocate
CDTA Public Code of Conduct
This code
is for all CDTA passengers. We've given CDTA a letter that also
states
that the part of the code requiring ID's for service animals is
violating
Federal laws. So far CDTA hasn't bothered to change it in the last year
since even though the Office of Civil Rights agrees that the information
on service animals is incorrect.
Accessible
Wheelchairs available at Rensselaer Train Station & the Albany Airport!
Albany Airport
There should
be 2 "wheelchair accessible" taxis (A taxi with a ramp so someone
doesn't have to get out of their wheelchair and transfer to a seat)
available at the airport and from the Rensselaer Train
Station.
Capitaland Taxi has both the
Airport and Train Station taxi contract. Anyone coming into the area should
contact Capitaland Taxi and let them know the date and time they will
arrive and that they need a wheelchair accessible taxi and can't transfer
to a seat or have a power chair that can't fold and be placed in a trunk.
If possible, try to call about 24 hours advance so you don't have to wait for a taxi.
We suggest you take their number with you to call in if you find your plain or
train is running earlier or later than you wanted. You still
can though just call from the station but expect a possible wait.
Please let us know if you have
difficulty getting an accessible taxi to or from the Airport or
Renesselaer Train Station or if you have any associated problems with
these taxis (overcharging etc.)
Tips:
Taxis are metered at the
Airport and Train station. Make sure they use the meter.
Accessible taxis cost
the same as any taxi.
Service animals can not be
refused nor do they have to be licensed.
Ambulettes
vs Wheelchair Accessible Taxi
Watch out for
"Bait and
Switch" when you are trying to find an accessible taxi. We've
seen taxi companies with accessibility symbols listed in the phone book
that advertising accessible taxis. These companies do not always have any real accessible taxis. They
will send out something called an "ambulette". These are the wheelchair
accessible vehicles (look just like a taxi sometimes) that these companies use to transport customers to
Medicaid
medical appointments. Should they send this, (They may try to call it an accessible taxi), you'll end up
paying up
to 4 times the normal cab fare! Make sure to ask the price UP
FRONT.
True
accessible
taxis DO NOT COST 4 times the amount of a regular taxi.
Federal law prohibits it! Call
the police (and the Coalition) if you are told that you are being sent
an accessible taxi
and you
are instead sent an ambulette and charged more than you should be!
Get
a RECEIPT for your payment or refuse to pay till you GET a receipt
should the
cost seem too high. (This is your proof for
later if
you find out you were overcharged.)
Call the
Coalition!
Call the Coalition, We don't have CDTA's resources
and only
volunteers but we try to answer our phones, and return calls promptly.
If we're
unavailable, leave be sure to leave a message on our voice mail and we'll promptly return your
call.Call (518) 273-1110
Disability Rights Online News
The
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division has news articles of interest to people with disabilities. Check
out the
link below.
Problems using this web
site? E-Mail the Webmaster Important: The Webmaster
e-mail link is only for technical problems (as when you receive an
error page or message or for dead/broken links) It is not for
information or about web page contents.
Accessible
Wheelchairs available at Rensselaer Train Station & the Albany Airport!
