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Capital District Coalition for Accessible Transportation
(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)
WE ARE NOT OWNED, MANAGED, OPERATED OR AFFILIATED WITH CDTA OR STAR PARATRANSIT.
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STAR Paratransit Information and Updates Updated: December 6, 2008
STAR Town Meetings reduced to one per year As of the Fall of 2008 CDTA stated that they will no longer have semi-annual STAR Town Meetings. We heard a rumor or reason being passed around from the STAR office was financial constraints, but Carm Basile denied this is the reason for the decrease from 2 STAR Town Meetings per year to only one meeting per year. Mr. Basile statedWe are working on a better solution so that CDTA customers that use STAR may have more opportunity to get new information about STAR, ask questions and keep a dialogue going with the people who actually use the system.
The STAR Complaint Hoops
Dispatchers (these complaints, made over the phone from an irate customer, many times aren't reported to anyone. These never reach the "complaint database" and you won't see a tracking number from them (unless some drastic change occurs after writing this). - The supervisor (which seems to be most dispatchers) may to the driver or send a bus to the customer (waiting on a late bus or tell them the ride is free and that's it. Unfortunately, if these complaints don't make it into the database, STAR is unable to accurately track them.
Public relations: These calls are taken by someone in the PR department. They tend to generate a "generic PR letter" saying the complaint was received, CDTA cares, and something not mentioned will be done or it will be looked into. It is rare when customers received a response that says " we're sorry" and THIS is what we did to hopefully stop this from happening again. Sometimes customers say they call and no one calls back (from their voicemail) or that they never receive any letter back. Again, tracking numbers are supposed to be given where the customer can call in and get the status on their complaint. There are so many times tracking numbers are not issued that this can't possibly be an effective system.
STAR management: People report not getting answers at all from immediate STAR management. Complaints are reported via email, phone and in writing. Sometimes no one writes back. Sometimes the answer is "Received". and there is no follow up to tell the customer how their complaint was settled. Sometimes multiple calls produce no results. Some complaint emails we've sent in end up with 2nd request - 3rd and even 4th requests.
Sometimes the questions asked generate answers that don't match or answer the question. The question gets side-stepped.
Late 2007 we decided we will address many of these complaints by tracking them and dealing with them on a systemic level since STAR especially doesn't seem to take individual complaints seriously enough to give a proper answer and resolve the complaints. Even we didn't receive tracking numbers most of the time.
We have found that STAR customers are simply most of the time told they are wrong if they tell STAR that they did not no show a bus trip or had an issue either with a dispatcher or a driver. STAR mostly believes their staff over customers, many times even if a customer has a witness. Again, it's rare to receive a tracking number without actually asking for one.
One more thing, a customer calling up CDTA management explains their problem and sometimes the manager says they will handle it. That's great, but again, these complaints don't get written down much of the time (maybe an email from the manager to a subordinate only) and don't get a tracking number. A manager who has a meeting in 2 minutes probably isn't going to write up the complaint and get it a tracking number. The reason we are pushing the tracking numbers is that it allows customers to track their complaint, and will also give real statistics on complaints.
Random staff : There are a few other random offices that take complaints. Same applies here. Customers report problems with all of these above systems.
CDTA states a complaint policy that answers complaints within 10 days but this is far from the case. Also, while CDTA may respond to a complaint, they many times do nothing to actually resolve the complaint. CDTA policy states that a tracking number will be issued for the complaint. This is mostly not the case that we've seen.
If you make a complaint, please insist on a tracking number! Even if the complaint is solved, it's good to email in and state that it was solved quickly (and thank them for it) and ask that it be given a tracking number so that you can have a record in case the problem happens again! Having 5 past complaint tracking numbers if something happens yet again will show that the main problem was never solved.
 STAR and Saratoga Little if any information has been given out about STAR service to Saratoga, so we'll give you the details we know so far. 1. You can get to Saratoga on STAR. It's a long trip by line bus or STAR, at least a 1 - 2 hour trip one way. 2. You may not have service on a STAR bus. This will probably not be a one bus trip. By this I mean this trip could be a combination of STAR bus, line bus or "stub bus" or taxi or all of the above. STAR may transfer you to a "stub bus". That is a smaller line bus with more seats available for mobility devices. You may also be transferred to a taxi or wheelchair accessible taxi along the way. 3. CDCAT was told at our meeting with STAR management that it is your eligibility information that determines if STAR sends you to Saratoga via fixed route, taxi, STAR straight trip or whatever. In other words, someone with conditional eligibility where they can use STAR only at night, would probably have to use line bus service in the day to go to Saratoga but if they went home that night, they could use accessible taxi or STAR or some combination. This is a guess from the info we received which was a bit on the vague side at points. Someone who can't independently use a line bus though should not be told they must to get to Saratoga by a convoluted method though. CDTA though did not stated that everyone with unconditional eligibility would get a direct STAR ride even. If anything, they stated that there are people with unconditional eligibility who can use regular buses at least a times. STAR is basically using something called "feeder-service" which is something new to CDTA. Feeder service means that the STAR bus will connect the customer to a line bus directly that takes them where they want to go. The STAR bus drops the customer off at the location where a "stub bus" or taxi meets it. According to STAR dispatch, there will be "CDTA Ambassadors" to assist customers who can't independently use the service. We have no idea how long the Ambassador service will be available. All of this makes us worry. It's already been said by both customers and drivers that this is all being done to discourage use of STAR to get to Saratoga. Considering I don't see any of their advertising (aside from a tiny mention in a brochure mainly about line buses to Saratoga, I can't say I don't agree. While CDTA has had a media campaign about Saratoga service on the radio and TV, none of these even remotely mention STAR. Please contact us if you have problems getting to Saratoga on a line bus and especially those using STAR. We're concerned that STAR service will be overly restrictive when it comes to determining the method of travel for STAR customers with and without unconditional service with no limitations. STAR also states they do origin to destination service. We are researching how "origin-to-destination "service, which can be door to door if the customer needs the additional assistance or is curb to curb from the place of origin to the place of destination under normal circumstances would work in the case of Saratoga service. This may take a bit of time. We need to know how these trips work out for you. Please write down the details and call us so we can see if this is working properly or not. Tip1: Ask for an itinerary. If the trip has more than 2 stops/transfers, and especially if you are going to an area you are unfamiliar with for the Saratoga trip, make sure to ask for an itinerary over the phone or by mail or email. Bring this with you on your trip so you can refer to it just the same as if you were taking a train or plane. Tip 2: If you intend to use Saratoga service and you use STAR, please make sure that STAR knows if your health or conditions have changed since you were certified. We would not suggest just sending in a letter as they will likely tell you to re-certify. You though should not have to do a full re-certification. We believe this can be done as an update. Since this will depend on your individual circumstances, please call the coalition at 273-1110 and ask us how.
STAR Paratransit Service problems v
25
minute on time performance window
v
2
hour cancellation policy
v STAR Mapping software can be wrong! Customers may be told trip is outside of CDTA bus limits when in fact,
it is within the limits and the software just doesn't show the change.
v Poor on-time performance, despite promise of change for years and despite the hype about STAR's 12/06
policy changes making things better for customers.
v
New Policies make on time performance worse for customers but great for
CDTA's records.
v
Customers not notified of changes to policy, meetings, new areas of
travel etc.
v STAR applicants may be eligible for unlimited approval but receive a denial letter anyway or may be told they have limited or conditional eligibility when they should have full eligibility. Decisions are still arbitrary despite the in person assessment.. v Long and multiple hold times can make STAR difficult to reach during peek times.
v Unfriendly customer attitudes that foster fear of retaliation and distrust. CDTA has outright stated that "STAR is not a customer friendly service."
v STAR has CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS that are being denied and ignored.
v Visitor's Policy only states part of the Federal law for visitor service.
v No-show policy is extreme and unfair to customers. Customer's ADA rights pertaining to no-shows not stated.
v STAR uses everything they can to "legally" reduce customers from using STAR including making the application process so difficult, stressful and burdensome that it discourages people who need the service from even applying for STAR instead of obeying the laws and actually budgeting to have enough buses and drivers to serve the number of paratransit eligible customers.
v STAR has a covert policy of observing customers at meetings, orientations and keeps little notes on customer's mobility. Something simple like someone lifting a walker a foot or two, or walking a few feet, may later be used against the customer when they attempt recertify. This is not just a statement, we've done appeals and seen the paperwork.
No-Shows and blame
We believe there is MORE to CDTA's on time performance problems and efficiency than they are saying! There's many more reasons for their difficulties.
Telephone ADA violation - After many promises that the new phone system will correct all STAR complaints, there are still long holds at times (5 + minutes), long ring times and outages where STAR customers simply can't get through to schedule or cancel trips or call in about a bus that did not show up. While CDTA is telling the Office of Civil Rights and their board members that their phone system is corrected, this is still a capacity constraint. (How can you have a 20 minute ringing phone, even during a shift change at 5pm??) Long ring and hold times are not allowed by Federal law.
CDTA has hired more schedulers for STAR but this hasn't been enough to correct the problem. They need more call takers to answer phones at busy times. Their phone lines discourage STAR use and that's a violation of Federal law.
Automated Cancellation line -We've also asked CDTA to make their automated cancellation system easier to understand. They did take our advice and allow for a cancellation number but there are letters along with the number that are very difficult to understand even if you are not hard of hearing.
STAR Driver Radios STILL aren't working! - After over 4 years, the STAR radios. Drivers have actually used pay phones (or borrowed a cell phone from someone) to call STAR to ask about a customer's trip at times! This is ridiculous! Now, tell me again - Why does STAR believe customers are the problem here with on time performance? Seems to me they need to fix their radios - among other things.
3rd party cancellations and subscription service - When STAR talks about customer no-shows they are adding in all the no shows for subscription service too- This is where they pick up people routinely every day for work for instance. The person doesn't have to call in to schedule the trip, they simply are picked up daily. If they don't cancel, the bus will arrive. This isn't quite fair and skews the statistics. For instance, STAR may have 10 people to pick up at a group home but only 5 get on the bus. STAR would have picked up people anyway from the group home, it isn't a wasted trip, but they will still show statistically that there were only 5 people picked up. For nursing homes and group homes especially, many times it isn't the customer's fault the trip wasn't canceled, it could be a case worker who schedules trips for the entire facility that couldn't reach STAR easily or a fax that didn't go through correctly. This isn't the same as the average customer who no shows. CDTA actually said those numbers for no-shows were low. Then why make such an extreme no-show policy?
There are also social workers, case coordinators and others who schedule for their clients. Sometimes this information on the trip doesn't reach the client or the client can't go and the social worker forgets to call. This constitutes a no show for the customer and for STAR's records.
Doctor offices and staff - There is no way to know if a medical appointment will run late. Short of running out to catch STAR in a paper gown, the customer many times has no fast way to notify STAR. Most medical office staff are busy and can't call for customers - especially if there is a long hold time.
Driver error - Drivers, especially new drivers, still go to incorrect addresses or the wrong door to pick people up - regularly (this isn't even an odd occurrence.
GPS Bus Tracking - STAR will tell a customer that their GPS tracking proves the driver did show up. That GPS tracking just doesn't prove that. It may prove the driver was in the vicinity of the address but it won't show if the driver went to the correct house or building door. It isn't that finely tuned. There are also places where there are outages, just like cell phones where the GPS bus tracking doesn't work. Don't let someone try to dazzle you with technology.
Confusion over trip times - STAR no longer calls the customer to confirm their pickup time. They imply that they will do this in the new STAR Rider's Guide (Now called the STAR Easy Guide) but they say they will call back only in the following situations,
That "Timeframe" changes the entire meaning of statement #1. It means STAR will only call if they change a pickup over 25 minutes one way or the other.
Late STAR buses - If STAR is not there at the confirmed time, a customer could go inside to call them and inquire about the trip. Since the STAR phone lines can take forever to be answered and then the customer can be put on hold while staff tries to reach the driver on the (non working) radios, calls can take longer than needed. If STAR shows up and doesn't see the customer outside, they could mark the customer as a no show and leave.
Driver inaccuracy - We've seen and know that sometimes STAR buses don't show up but STAR claims they did. Customers even had witnesses such as the Dean of a college, a nun, 2 employees from an agency. The customer STILL wasn't believed. More than one driver has outright lied claiming they were there and weren not or that they waited the mandatory 5 minutes when they didn't.
Summary: STAR on time performance and efficiency can be increased by drivers knowing the locations of where they are going (they are supposed to map out their trips before they drive to them). Telling drivers when someone canceled, radios that work, better scheduling, and not sending 2 buses to pick up 2 customers living in the same area 10 minutes away from one another. STAR can put more than one customer on a bus at a time to increase efficiency. None of these things have anything to do with customer fault.
Some info:
STAR claims that they have 6000+ people in the STAR database.
Well, they do - because they didn't remove inactive customers!
We guess there are 1/2 the 6000+ currently certified, around 3,500; and probably 1/2 of them don't use STAR at all or use STAR infrequently (car breakdowns etc). STAR in no way could provide service even for 2000 different customers a day with 30 buses.
Come on, you didn't really believe those 30 buses could do STAR trips for 6000+ people daily, right? :)
There actually are about 300 ACTIVE STAR Customers daily or less
Why is this a big deal? Because they have always claimed 6000+ in the past. It Why inflate the number to make it look like more are active?
We get half truths all the time from CDTA.
Ever look at the CDTA budget on line? I'm sure that CDTA figures most people won't bother. It's available at http://www.cdta.org/CDTA%20Budget%20Document%202006.pdf
STAR equals 4.8% of CDTA's entire budget. They always tell us they get no money "to run" STAR. That's side stepping the question. Don't kid yourselves. If CDTA didn't run STAR they couldn't get Federal Grants so there IS money coming in - It's their choice how they use it.
Ask CDTA just HOW they compute STAR's cost - we did. They add in all kinds of things, including administrative costs. We were asking specifically how much a one way trip costs. They added in administrative cost, their salaries, maintenance etc and then divided it into a per trip cost. No wonder the number sounds a bit inflated.
STAR's cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the ENTIRE budget. Even compared to some other expenses, STAR just isn't costing enough for the moaning and groaning going on at CDTA.
Why does CDTA complain about STAR's cost?
It's because they really want people to use the regular buses which are less expensive. No kidding, there are studies and reports put out on how to get paratransit riders to use regular buses. This makes us scratch our head in confusion because paratransit (STAR) is stated as for customers who CAN'T use regular buses.
We've heard statements like, "If we make STAR better, it will make it more attractive" (and people will want to use it more) from one executive director! Well, isn't that the same with anything? Imagine if other businesses thought that way.
STAR could, if they wanted, be the best paratransit service in the U.S. and be an example in this country of how customers with disabilities SHOULD be treated. They could provide FAIR and flexible service aimed at improving the quality of life of Seniors and people with disabilities. They could use the information in all of the Best Practices reports.
Instead, they skimp on it and BARELY provide the bare minimum level allowed by the ADA transportation regulations - Federal law. They reduce their cost by discouraging customers from even wanting to use STAR by making simple but inflexible scheduling times, no-show policies, condescending attitudes that many times treat customers with disabilities as if we are children and just about anything else they can find.
CDTA's goal for STAR is the least EXPENSIVE service that doesn't violate the ADA transit regulation.
The Coalition's goal is that when STAR is compared to using regular buses, it's comparable to using them. It's bad enough we must schedule our lives in advance to use STAR. We shouldn't have to live in fear of being suspended from using STAR because it's easier to administer a harsh no-show policy rather than a fair one or be told that STAR is on time when in the real world WE live in, STAR is 25 minutes late - Our jobs and appointments don't subscribe to the same time policy as STAR.
They blame all their problems on their customers and don't accept THEIR accountability.
Their Survey of the month
Their surveys tend to praise everything they do - READ THEM. They survey only a small percentage (around 20 or so people out of that 3,500).
STAR Town Meetings - We've been told they invite a "random sampling". Why are mostly the same people usually there each time then? I know people who are invited every time. Shouldn't ALL STAR users receive invitations to EVERY meeting? (We were told that costs too much) Truth is, they are worried about being able to provide service if more people than normal attend. Remember, they have to provide normal STAR service too.
Fear and STAR - Many times, customers are afraid to say more than compliments at STAR Town Meetings for fear of getting worse service than they already have or because they are very "nice" people that don't think they should complain. This is why the Coalition always attends and speaks up about problems, complaints and issues!
New STAR Customers - Sometimes, newer STAR customers think STAR is "ok" and don't realize all the work it's taken to get them to improve their service even THIS much. It's 100% better than before 2000 largely because of ADVOCACY and drastically improved just before that little Federal ADA compliance Review in June 2005.
Customers sometimes think of STAR as charity service and are "grateful for all their effort". Well, we do appreciate good drivers and work too. But this is NOT charity and we shouldn't be any more grateful for this service than the service at a grocery, movie theater or any other business. THOSE employees work hard too.
We have Federal Rights for STAR (paratransit) guaranteed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A lot of people, including local people, fought HARD for all of the ADA rights for people with disabilities. This didn't happen in the stone ages, it was only 14-15 years ago. STAR MUST provide paratransit at a minimum level (at least, they are allowed by law to do more if they want to.) They provide minimum level service mostly at best and this new policy wants to severely limit us further and penalize us heavily for no-shows when they haven't even corrected THEIR DEFICIENCIES/Capacity Constraints.
Did you know -
Customers with wheelchairs do not have to back onto the lift. You have the right to enter the bus facing forward. You can not be forced to back on.
You can tell STAR you can't leave before a certain time when scheduling a trip, even if the trip is an appointment. Don't let them tell you that you can't - you though have to allow enough time for the trip (including picking others up). Tip, most trips can be made in 45 minutes even Albany to Troy.
Example: (not rush time). Say you have an appointment in Troy and you live in Albany. We suggest you allow about 45 min - 1 hour (depending on your experiences and where in Troy the appointment is) to get to an appointment like this including that 25 minute window. "I can leave "NO EARLER THAN" 10am " This allows them plenty of time to get you to your appointment (and even pick up a person or two along the way. Mornings from 7:00am-9:00am or 3:00am-5:30pm, you may have to allow a bit longer for trips scheduled in this way. STAR should though be willing to NEGOTIATE your trip time within your NEEDS as well as theirs.
Tip of the Month
Record your calls to STAR so you can prove who you spoke with, that you really did schedule that trip they didn't put in correctly and Yes, they have to fix it because you can prove it was THEIR error! Or that you really did cancel that trip and were not a no-show! It's legal to record your phone conversations in NYS!
It's really sad to have to even suggest that you do this, but it has helped prove what was said should you not be believed.
About No-shows and late cancelations:
Origin to destination service in detail The Office of Civil Rights issues guidance on the ADA transportation regulations from time to time. An important "guidance" was issued last September about paratransit service that effects STAR.
STAR is considered "curb to curb" service. But, the interpretation from the Office of Civil Rights has made it very clear that in some cases, should a person need some assistance from their door to the bus, that it MUST be provided by paratransit service (STAR).
The full text (for those legally inclined) is at the link below this article. For the rest of us, I'll give you the highlights.
1. STAR now must provide assistance from the DOOR to the Curb to assist people in boarding STAR. 2. STAR does NOT have to provide this service for EVERYONE. It is ONLY on request and ONLY if the customer NEEDS the assistance.
Examples of origin to destination service can include:
Helping someone physically disabled from their door to the curb or around small obstacles in the way or a bumpy walkway. Helping someone in a wheelchair from outside their door, down a ramp, to the bus. Assisting someone with a mobility aid or difficulty walking, around snow banks or ice. Assisting someone with vision disabilities from the curb to their door.
Examples of things NOT included in this service include:
Assisting with personal services like helping someone brush their hair or put on clothes. Going into the mall to look for a customer Leaving the bus for long periods of time or leaving the bus out of sight to get the customer. Parking in a dangerous area Carrying a customer or having to bring a wheelchair down stairs or a broken ramp. Ring the doorbell to let you know STAR is there (unless you have a vision disabilitiy - in which this may be acceptable.)
To arrange for special assistance according to "Origin to Destination Service" you should let the scheduler know that you need assistance from your DOOR to the bus when you call in to schedule your trips. Tell them what you need the driver to do to assist you. Make sure to do this for EACH trip you need help with. (Remember, STAR will NOT go into your home to assist you. You must be at your door. They will hold your front door open for you to leave and shut it but they can't go inside.)
Should STAR refuse this assistance to you, please let us know! We can advocate for you. You are entitled to use public transportation. If this service is needed for you to be independent and use it, then it must be provided.
STAR Compliance Review! Star Compliance Review is available on the web. There are actually 2 reviews. One is for STAR Paratransit and if you scroll down on the list to the bottom you'll see another review for CDTA's Fixed Route (line buses) for not calling out stops for people with vision disabilities. Even though the date of the STAR review was in 2005, all the paperwork between CDTA and the Office of Civil Rights has been ongoing for the last 2 years. CDTA now must make quarterly reports on their progress towards ADA compliance. Federal Compliance review final reports
Last Updated: 02/02/2010
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STAR
costs so much for CDTA!
ADA
Regulations for STAR