good afternoon the meeting of the housing human services and transportation committee would all come to order it is about one thirty three p m on thursday march fifth twenty fifteen and i am the chairs the secret fellow before we begin may i please request that we all turn off our silence our cell phones or other noise making devices at this time i'd like to introduce our committee voting paratransit vendor and basically also our human services partner you know with our department of transportation because of all of you know we do purchase transportation we don't run the department ourselves thank you and of course i had my committee staff our committee secretary excuse me to me for years and our legislative we've had some concerns that have come in i believe to all of us from our current transit clients this time would like to have an opportunity to hear your testimony as well as a presentation that will be set before us for the meal so i first of all like to start by introducing our district office chamber door if you will be testifying from the remote testimony location specified on the meeting agenda please sign up with the council staff at that location testimony will be limited to the items listed on the agenda today and pursuant to the rules of the council each testifier will be allowed to testify for up to three minutes per item with one minute to conclude i testifying please state your name and the name of any organization you are representing at this time i'd like to call on our first testifier the first person as victor  happens when we lose our ride they take off another thing is as far as drop off points there's some places that there's the next testifier is officer and who has been using the parrot trance a bus now for about a year and i would say that i have three issues that i want to bring up and one is it kind of connects with what the gentleman before me victor was saying about the lateness of the bus larry rides the bus five times a week and i would say that not a week goes by that the bus is not late we have never received a call saying we're going to be late and so when i call for an explanation as to why you usually get the you know the traffic is not too is  well there's a lot of traffic that's what they say so that's one issue that we have is that lateness all the time and when you call you usually on the average your caller number three and so you would have to wait to get to be caller number one and then explain what's going on that's my first issue lateness of the bus the second one was something that happened last week bus number one o four and i didn't catch what the name of the driver was because he was fairly new picked up larry at home and was to take him to kaiser eighty and i confirmed with larry and with the bus driver that i would be meeting them at kaiser a loop so the bus left before i did i got down there and bus wasn't there yet so i thought ok they have somebody else to pick up then  if maybe about ten minutes went by and the bus i saw a number one o four pulled into maui loni and i thought oh that's why they're late because they had to drop off somebody pick up somebody drop them off of my lawn in they'll be up to to drop larry off while the bus continued on and didn't come to a little off and i thought ok i called the bus company this time i was call her number six and i thought no this is kind of an emergency because i'm trying to find out what happened to larry so i thought i can't wait so i went inside the jail there at kaiser called down to the security guard a nd he said yes larry was sitting there and was looking for me and he was very upset so the security guard walked larry up and i don't know if you're familiar with how and then a little there are actually next to each other however to get from one to the other unless you can really go down the little hill there you've got to walk all the way around and come around to the parking lot so luckily the guard was very nice about it when larry got up there he was very shook up and he said that the driver asked him are we at a lua larry cannot see out of his left eye now his vision is very limited and he said i don't know i can't tell so i'm thinking that the bus driver should have perhaps a little more education as to where they're taking people and so they don't ask the client who doesn't necessarily always know exactly where they're going so i was upset about the whole thing so i tried calling the bus company when i got home and i asked to speak to the person in and it was hairy and they gals said you'll have to leave a message and harry will call you well harry i'm still waiting for the call nobody ever called to explain what happened so i'm saying that they need more training and the third one was a gal yesterday who said to larry when she picked him up you need to help your wife get you on to the lift larry can't do that he's in a one arm wheelchair using one arm and one leg and it's not up to the person the driver to tell the client that they need to do something so i think you need to train your people better so i thank you very much for listening to my three arrivals are generally late yes stations in most cases right i'd say on an average at least once or twice a week out of five times ok thank you for the clarification and then the next issue is when you call go and one of the bus drivers said to my husband i understand you live under the bridge and my husband goes under the bridge but are you talking about he said oh yeah the g p s shows you live under the bridge and it's like we live and have lived there for his family's been there for almost two hundred years so i understand and again you bring up a bunch and we will talk with the department about it but thank you very very much is that we have a very difficult times in scheduling reservations based on when we want to leave for somewhere frequently we're asked what time you want to be there as i find out that there's getting ri based on the time you want to go all the time you want to be there this is something that the general ridership has no knowledge of they know what i want to leave at one o'clock you know what i know want to be there it depends on what you're going to  and they're bait they're doing pick ups and drop offs based on two different time frames the general ridership has no working knowledge of how to do that the other thing that determine i've discovered is that army hospital a time that i couldn't change i tried to call in to get a reservation so that i could catch a bus to get me to the airport in time to catch the plane that they had reserved for me except i couldn't do that because they say well the first bus that leaves key to go to central maui is six thirty but buses were running in kiev six o'clock in the morning but i couldn't because the drought didn't go to six thirty i can get a transit to go until then it took me by phone calls back and forth to the a and their transportation all of us to schedule a later flight going over and i barely made my times they catch a bus when we're not going to catch a bus we don't have the benefit of same day reservations if something gets cancelled reschedule we're just out of luck either have to give up our ride and we have to go extremely difficult to get a right set for when you need to go make sure enough they are allowed to negotiate for rides but every time and i'm assuming that a but very seldom can i get at a park your time in the area that i want and then the way they air in the thirty minute wait window i asked for a nine o'clock so we got a nine o'clock your a ride between nine and nine thirty thank you should we have any testifiers now i ask that you e mail our staff here at the net i won't be checking in with you until we wrap it up i will continue  regarding age sex nationality religion or religion create visual images of your in your mind discover the people living with him with physical and mental impairment having this vision disability and having hearing disability the list is endless there for  our lives this is your life you've seen the writer on the molly bus paratransit scheduled to be picked up at walmart to shop at times your scoundrel don't negotiate a time is eleven thirty with a pick up time at one fifteen p m going home taken into consideration the half an hour wait time without paying just hanging around waiting to work well other drivers are on the road driving around as headless chickens is this good paratransit where i live by hope chapel at holly my whole who it isn't feasible for me to be able to walk to the public transportation in order to get to school so this has been blessing in my life i have been using it for three years and that's how i get to school and get back home the issue that i would like to try and find some solution for  we used to be able to be picked up at six a m in the morning i would always schedule my ride to be the very first because it is a shared ride service then i don't want to get later in the day so that then i would be late for class so i'm a very conscientious student on the honor roll it's very important to me that i get to my classes on time and that i be to school early enough that i can take care of things and be to class on time so when it was at six am in the morning the bus would pick me up between six six thirty and i would still be able to be to my classes on time when it was changed to be comparable to the county public transportation and i spent until after midnight last night looking at the eighty a rules and looking at the easter seals interpretations of the rules and it says that from what i have read it says that the additional services can be provided exceeding what they have put down in those guidelines and that's ok you know and so that is on on the eight guidelines the so part has happened then is now they have changed it and will refuse to come and pick us up because of the new guidelines so it's not arbitrary now because of their new guidelines and so therefore the earliest that i can be picked up is that six thirty i have my first class i did everything i could to try to not have this early class but if i want to graduate in the spring i had to have a writing intensive communication one forty five class and so the only time it was offered is six seven thirty in the morning so it works like this and i'm going to high want to get this out before my time is over  do i have another minute ok works like this they pick me up at six thirty and they take me straight to why i look who even if there is another person to pick up and why look who i still get to class by seven fifteen so that's my goal is to be i mean to be to the school at seven fifteen it's you know a long time on the bus i need to go to the restroom and i need time to get to the class at seven thirty  but what happens is many many times they put me on an extended trip they call it an excessive trip link that extended trip the normal trip takes about thirty to forty minutes the excessive trip or the extended trip or they still send me to malia harbor we pick up two boys there then we have to drop each of those boys off at their school and then get me over to the college often times  t sometimes i'll be there with just five minutes to spare other times it's after seven thirty so then i'm in class late and other times i'm twenty or thirty minutes late so that is an issue that i would really like to have resolved thank you any questions comments for the testify if not thank you ms and thank you i will be calling a brief recess and nice to meet you stacy in an elevator that had a lot of members of councilman my name is sheldon robot and my concern is about going on my right when i have to pick being late i watch my window every if i get picked on schedule my ride it eleven o'clock eleven thirty eleven thirty my bus doesn't show up sometimes on time and you know because you only get the time and your window i try to schedule my boss rides and try to schedule everything but when you're late it's hard to get there and do what you have to do i don't know that sometimes it's  next person to testify is patricia i had physical therapy from eight to nine i needed to go to the bank cash my check my monthly check go to western union get my bills for my rant and electric bulb i needed to go to wal mart to get the prescriptions or must psychiatry's so i can keep up to date with them anyway the problem is you might want to take notes i started calling  monday i called at one o'clock i was number seven i waited eight minutes i was number seven at one fifty three call back i'm on the phone for four minutes because i'm still number seven at two a call that i was number four i was on the whole for five minutes hung up because i was down to number three but it was only back at three eleven and i'm number eleven for four minutes the not call back on number nine for three minutes out call back again and number eight for a levon minutes now my numbers didn't go down to the other number i was still this number after all this time please don't think you're still number so in three fifty six which is four minutes before they quit scheduling appointments because i knew i couldn't get through it took me four hours and almost an hour and forty five minutes to try to book  the next day which i didn't even get to do my physical therapy appointment was canceled because i had to take the regular hawai robert so i had to walk fifteen minutes down to the bus stop which done much more than ten then i had to go the whole bus route to get to the bank get my bills pay catch the bus to transfer at the mall to go to walmart for fifteen minutes to get my prescriptions pick them up and then wait for the bus roberts why going back a minute then i had to transfer from the so you know if they're that busy either the solution is hire more reservationist or get more phone lines in because this is worse than it was six months  ago the other thing wednesday yesterday our call for today i was number two for about four minutes and then i went down to number one well i was number one again for another two minutes i was still number one for another ten minutes so it took me six minutes is number one so that i could try and book of for today and friday once i got through the call the next time they picked up the phone thank jesus and so they scheduled me for today now after are going minutes ok after arguing for ten minutes they fuck finally booked me for my friday night which i go to hope chapel almost every friday night for the past two years church service starts at seven it's in the afterglow is from eight to eight thirty or nine o'clock i was taught can you wrap it up you just yesterday a minute ok i was i couldn't book at eight o'clock because seven thirty was the latest they could pick up which i know it's not true unless you change your guidelines in the past two months or so anyway i can't book without an address although the people know where my dogs bit is stairwells bakery they can't pull it up they can't find it that's all this is just personal stuff i want to also did a pastor valentine  good afternoon and i would like to thank the council as others do for the para transit system it's a lifeline for us they are able to drive and i've i've been a paratransit writer for fifteen years and i've been in maui paratransit now for six years i've seen the ups and downs and specifically the downs on the mainland i was a plaintiff on the mainline against the los angeles paratransit to bring about reform and we were successful my concern today is is that the office is having problems just last week i was waiting an hour in so i just had to wait so then they pick me up and we're riding home and then i see my bus coming in the opposite direction towards me so i call him up on the phone i say you have a bus out here she says no we don't have any buses out there i go i'm staring at the bus we have no buses out there the next day that driver picks me up and said she was the bus driver in the opposite direction and then they when i was talking to the person in the office they offered to transfer me to the manager which i was left on hold and no one ever called me this is just one example because we were in the timeframe here what we're seeing now is what i've seen before is basically saying whatever you have to say to get the person off the phone so they're basically lying to us and this isn't the first time but it's in the office they're lying to us to say whatever they want to say to get us off the phone because they don't want to deal with us even when we know we're right even when it's staring us right in the face even when the drivers admit they're out there they will tell us a lot i just to get us off the phone i think this is something that needs to be addressed it's an office issue  and like i said before this isn't the first time this is the be it's just started in the last six months that it's been this way and like i said before i've seen this on the mainland this is part of our problem we had with paratransit in los angeles and the you're seeing is there is no accountability there is no accountability for any you know to anybody they get paid they get their paychecks no matter how good a job they do or how bad a job they do well we installed in los angeles because we hired a law firm to come in let's say someone like madison kelly to come in and review to make sure that our civil rights and our rights under the a d a s are being properly observed and i think we need an accountability to the para transit riders for specifically office that the riders are i say are doing a terrific job i think we have the best drivers i've ever had but in the office i think we have a problem i think it needs to be addressed and i hope we take care of it and hiring someone to do it is fact the response to the right thing to do thank you  and the county of been partnering for a number of years to build a beautiful intentional community in baldwin avenue in part to provide meaningful and productive work affordable housing inclusion and a productive life for our special use in adults in maui we've come a long way and hopefully you're all up to date on all the progress we're very happy to say our bedroom group home the first of many to come past its final inspection with the department of health on friday and we're very excited and the program keeps growing and there's numerous people but we wanted to just bring take a moment to bring to your attention that there is no public bus on baldwin avenue the closest stop to la  and skill village community is a mile away that means paratransit can only go three quarters of a mile so we are not able to use public bus or paratransit without driving our participants and for the public bus we do drive some of our participants it's only a mile it would be nice for them for their independence as the population continues to grow that we could have a public bus on baldwin avenue as far as paratransit goes it's not really practical for us at all because the scheduling window is usually about a thirty minute window so if we had to take one of our participants down say for example to the pi which is three quarters of a mile we'd be sitting down there waiting and it wouldn't really work for us so i'm just requesting as you look at this i know this is a paratransit hearing but look at the possibility of bus service on baldwin avenue and maybe as care transit evolves they could include stops for example a licensed agency or a licensed care home even if it extends you know a mile from the public bus instead of three quarters of a mile that would really help block it tremendously and help which is to have a more  independent life thank you members any clarification or comments go to none they thank the next person as nathan bus rider since the beginning and i have seen it gold through many changes with emil back to back to robert's emil and it's been a very frustrating time to see hell emil when they first had it we made lots of suggestions and it got to be a pretty good service where we were able to get to many places just when it was getting very smooth  changed over to roberts and then they had to start again roberts was fairly quick on implementing great service we're very comfortable with that and then again with the bidding it went back to emil and they promised that they could take care of the service and get people that are vulnerable and really need public transportation to appointments as you've heard and i have to echo many of the complaints that people have had with that meal it started off terribly it was really really bad the first week that they took over ike lot of my rides did not show up and so i was hopeful i'm very optimistic i figured give them time it'll get better well it took forever to get better a long long time lots of problems and i will say one of the issues is there  long wait times you know when you have to wait on the phone for forty five minutes to make a reservation that's just too long i'm also part of the mallee willers now he said if independent living and other  committees and boards and we had a molly williams meeting yesterday and a lot of people it cold that lot of times only want to call you know they they really have to think about where are they going to go so a lot of times is not for fun anymore it's for medical appointments physical therapy things that have to be done and you know they they're just really disappointed with the service i amiel needs to it's been said before hire more people to answer the phones and have a separate sort group of people to take care of the dispatching could tell you how many different transportation services they are in charge of and i think it's overwhelming for them so that would be one one thing that they need to look at the second is the software that they have i think it's it was a big mistake to three minutes ago for that because like others have said also the extended excessive time that we spin on a bus is just incredible for some people you know it can be very tiring because that's just the beginning to get somewhere in the beginning of their day and then to get to all their appointments and it's  stressful people have been very you know that i think you might have seen some poor mary angry angry too and so it's not good for the well being and with that four minutes i just have to say let's you know we really need to seriously take a look at those of us that are here many can't be thank you for having it at a later time but it's serious really need to  work on getting getting it together i do have a suggestion i've been able to ride public transit and many different states and i think the county should perhaps look at acquiring and taking over having their own buses you know a county of maui bus service that way doesn't have to go back and forth because every time it just we start over again it's always reoccurring me and i'm also on the advisory committee i know we try to find solutions people come in angry and  you try to see what we can do and but it seems like it's like going in a circle like it's not really it's getting a little better and i must say the drivers are there trying to been answering early lately and i'm stunned but when you have to wait half an hour or two and sometimes i put it on speaker and then i forget that they when they answer like you know you know what it's we can come together for a solution for us and because even writing on the bus for a period of time i know if you live line a queue of country it's a given but to the last person to sign up for testimony as my hand  and i'm here today to just talk about being a new rider in or be this summer to be two years since i've been in a wheel chair and my experience with this is  a lot of frustration due to calling in for reservations that's because sometimes you won't get through it or be a long wait you could be like caller number fourteen  there are months when sometimes the wait is awesome and then there are times when the wait is grueling and other times when you're out and they're at your destination and you're waiting for a pick up this is a really important because sometimes some of us has to get to a restroom so i'm always courteous of other people so i try and call in to let in the i have to do a ten thirteen just out of courtesy i don't have to i can just leave and go but when your weight time is five minutes it makes you anxious because if you miss that five minute window you become a well call what you take anywhere up to two hours and that means you're just sitting there waiting to get to you your next destination maybe even home or t so that would put all your time frame an hour or two hours back so that means you won't get home till the later part of the evening and then also the phone etiquette calling in some of the time is you don't get somebody who's very pleasant on the other end they're frustrated or there's some kind of language unfortunately i don't think it's appropriate for me to say who it is because it you know to me it doesn't matter what matters is that you can i can remedied a problem in the office and then also  everybody who works for that company has to bear in mind that we appreciate this bus system for us this is how we get to our doctor's appointments says how we need to get to places on a daily basis and the sometimes the share rides are grueling you can be on the bus for over an hour and i fear on the bus for a whole hour and you need to go use a restroom there's no way they're going to stop and let you go to the restroom you know for medical reasons some of us can't do that you know ok and also the no shows sometimes they put jazz in those show but actually are there and the bus driver just drives on by and he doesn't see you when you're there so you become a will call too and that's eating i just wanted to hopefully something can be you know worked out a compromise between everybody you know i'm not here to say that somebody is not doing a good job or a bad job because i think what it is that we just have to find a way so that we can be accommodating you know because we our customers you know just imagine if you had your family member or if you became disabled know any anyone from here you can sit in my wheelchair and have them strap you down on the bus and see what it's like to goal on a bomb to see how bad it is for people who have spinal injuries and how painful it is and that some some of the drivers are not bearing in mind of our injuries and that's painful on some rights you know i don't know if that takes an in service to let them be aware of everybody has individual injuries and as much as just going over a bump or a pothole is painful for some of us you know so maybe if they can have it in service to can update and let's remind them you know every six months or something i don't know how if that's feasible or if that's you know they can do that then in that that's pretty much it and i thank everybody here for listening and i hope we can all compromising come to some kind of agreement instead of everybody just comes to get their flush stations out and then elites to lot of anger and then nothing you know gets done or said you know because we would all like to have this run smoothly because we know that the system is here to stay five minutes thank you thank you fine thank you members as there are no further individuals in the council chamber or district offices wishing to testify without objection i would all close public testimony thank you we won't be having our presentation so members i think would be a good time for us to take a short personal break recess for  myself committee chair stacy crew fellow transmitting the matter relating to paratransit services operated by my economic opportunity in corporate it emil so at this time i'd like to allow the department of transportation to provide background on this matter and make comments if they wish to and after we'll allow emil to proceed with their presentation yes thank you very much m council members i think that it would be really very helpful and we've been wanting to do this for quite a while to actually explain some of the services some of the challenges with providing paratransit service but i think that m e o has done of remarkable job in terms of responding to a lot of the changes that have occurred not just within our community but also in terms of the federal reporting requirements that really have begun to drive transportation nationwide as our vendor you know even some of the requirements that we had with the previous vendor things have changed so much there is fiscal accountability there's transparency there's safety reporting there's number of trips all of that data gathering has resulted in the requirement to basically use technology to reach out and try to do a better job of providing them the days when manual reporting when we had a much shorter number of riders i think it was much easier to do the advantage of course as all of us if you begin with the system and you grow with the system you have a familiarity with routes runs everything else when the council first asked us and we did do the several times putting the contract out to bid but when the council first asked us we knew it was going to be a challenge to put this particular contract as well as the commuter service and fixed route out to bid but particularly with the service so i just want to take a step back and really let people know that how this has evolved has not been easy for any of us including our department including roberts including emmy so all of it is a work in progress i believe that we can do this i believe that technology while it is really required to do a lot of these tasks it is sometimes a heartless aiming failing it doesn't seem that a computer tablet has maybe the compassion that it should have in assigning rides but i think all of these things taken into consideration not only require work on our part but also i think require us to help educate the riders about what expectations we have of them and how to schedule and how to do things in a way that will make the service more meaningful more usable and perhaps take less of the mystery and you know confusion out of the system so we're partners not only with them e o not only with roberts but with the community as well so i would just ask for your patience while we help to educate everyone who utilizes the system how to get it to work not only for you but for the benefit of all the people now and in the future that will access the system so that being said i think that one of those efforts today to do this and meo has prepared what i feel is a very good presentation there will be a real time demonstration also about some of the scheduling software so i really want to thank m e o it's not been easy for any of us a program into each individual's daily needs but we do the best that we can and we're not giving up we still process on and we'll do the best that we can and thank you harry for your he chair we're just going to be presenting a lot of ten minute powerpoint presentation on the program itself and after the presentation i also have a live demonstration on the software that is utilize and the department of transportation processes and determines process of the applications and determines their eligibility this map here is basically outlines a service haiku and also encompasses areas in between if you notice in this area it also covers them and also in this area as well this covers the highly mighty pick up is is that the nearest and safest point next to the curbside fronting public street address requested drop off is also at the nearest and safest point next to the curb side of the destination address within the service area i of service seven days a week paratransit is not an emergency vehicle and it does not provide service outside of the service area a shared ride meaning that riders will be riding along with others the right is also or prepared for the driver to make stops him of yours you may not be the first one dropped off even if you were the first one to be picked up and this comes from the east project action the share trip will take longer than if the writer were going alone so passengers need to plan accordingly based on location the maximum right time is ninety minutes this is a chart of the on board time the this line basically identifies what it would it would be if you were riding the vehicle without anyone on board the basically a ten minute trip has a twenty five minute maximum on board time while a sixty minute ideal trip has a maximum onboard time of five minutes some of the passenger rules are all passenger rules are identical to the fixed route service for instance carry on items service animals exit or a reservation requirements are provided their name and phone number  date when the service is needed the pickup location or street address the destination and or street address the appointment time based on or preferred arrival time or a return time and your mobility information reservations may be made up to fourteen days in advance and must be made at least one day in advance no later than four p m for next day service can be made for either a one way or round trip reservation reservations may be negotiated for a pick up time that is up to sixty minutes before or after the requested pickup time and must be determined if the right to speak up time is based upon a pick up time or dropoff time priority and i can kind of go into small detail with this after this reservation when they'll pick up a windle is a thirty minute window from their work quested pick up time writers must be ready at any time  windell between trips writers must be ready to pick up both must be ready at the pick up point drivers will depart after waiting five minutes within the scheduled pick up time appointment delays riders who are  within the next available bus additional requirements identify your mobility information also traveling with a personal carriage and or p c a registered with the department of transportation separate trip for each be a couple cation to each drop off destination multiple trips may be scheduled during the same phone call reservations will be scheduled with a minimum one hour window between trips or requests cancellations change cancellations cannot be changed cannot change reservations on that day of the scheduled trip cancellations may be made up to two hours prior to the scheduled pickup time no shows it occurs when a right is not at the requested pick up address and the bus operator cannot locate the rider the rider is not ready to board the vehicle within five minutes of the arrival of an on time pickup or the guidelines and the paratransit service writers guide and i'd like to present that it's a demonstration for you if you have any questions  a quick question cheri number one how many receptionists do you have on any given day on any given day we have up to ten including twelve and that includes myself as well december we had as much as six thousand calls and i don't know are we getting have that broken down but we do have that data for the month  ok we would try as much as possible to try to contact you and we're working with that process right now to get that information to us when that's possible and we are working on actually providing a call so when we are out of our window the testifiers had to say and i know how hard this is believe me i know personally that you know this is a very difficult service to try to tailor so that you know you are you are on time for people and they don't have to wait and we have a very sensitive to this special needs of the people that you're transporting so i understand all that but i'm just thinking of something on that section about multiple trips you mentioned that writers must schedule a separate trip for each pick up multiple trips maybe scheduled during the same phone call i was wondering is it possible that you could separate people calling in for something today right now because i need it now and separating them calling back for future trips so did they not in that color line holding up all that phone time respond to that i believe that the regulations say that they have up to four they can make up to fourteen days in advance and so i don't believe that we can tell them you can only make one trip or two trips they have a right to schedule trips up to fourteen days in advance and in one call actually i understand they have the right but they also have the right to complain about standing in a long call line would it be cooperative if among everybody we agreed we're going to ask you to please call in on this line at this time because you need help today and can you get another line and schedule a future trip because that's that's what's missing you well if i get on the phone and i want to schedule two or three or four trips i'm taking all that time and then everybody else is long as i'm wondering why the buses in there and standing in that call and i think you separate that it would help a  lot i hear what you're saying and i think one of the challenges is there's one phone number that you call in the system routes it to the various phones we're set we've been separated physically the last several months and that's compound of the problem we actually have a way to pull down what the wait times are on the phones an average wait time in january was three point four one minutes in february it was i mean in december it was as high as four point three seven back in july we had it down to one minute and forty four seconds so we anticipate that's an average call time so i understand there some stories that are far outside of that but this system will give us an average of what the call time is so our goal is to get it back down to at least two minutes or less and we feel we can do that once we are all together at the new transportation site just in the logistics of what you're doing kind of pass it from of take a look at you know i'm sure it's very difficult but you know anywhere that we can if it's going to get better that's great if not any way that we can hopefully cut with time you know when you're waiting on the phone it seems slow long and particularly when you're in a wheelchair and you know you're tired you're not feeling well and i certainly understand i need to get to the bathroom thing so you know just just trying to think positive is sometimes somebody else's idea just because you don't think about it until now no good that's certainly not criticism but anyway we can make this better thank you very much for all you do it's a wonderful service and i know our community really values to explore that option there were a couple things we're looking at one for just right cancellations and we actually believe that there's some software that's available where it'll go directly to a number that just pop up on the reservation is screen and so the  have to call and so we're we're in the process of exploring that and trying to implement that it's our person move back to seattle where in that we're in transition looking for a new person so as soon as we have somebody on board we plan to move forward with that thank you for that question that then brings up another thing for for cancellations especially could you have an app or so that if anybody has the ability to do computerized that they can cancel on line and be done with it you don't have to make a phone call i think if we implement this process where we have a particular number and there is only cancellation individual time to try and pull up their data that has been given to us from the department of transportation i will pull up a name and i'll just type this name as an example and hopefully i'm still alive because of the fact that we've taken a while so if i pull up a name and i really know so these are all the names that actually tie in with and then we go back to the reservation screen try this again so what i have here his her information and i would basically ask johnson and the stand you want to go to make a reservation for tomorrow as an example i would so that i ask her are you coming from your home we have a preset home address and as we continue on through the file and would ask her where do you want to go today as an example if she decides she wants to go to the modern medical group i w so i'm going to select where she's going to go tomorrow i'm going to ask her did you want to pick up t michel can i get your systems as well thank you and i'll see if i can get closer to the mike so in this example we have a client that's actually i'm going to advise a client where is she coming from so i'm going to select home as for address is a big issue for my medical group the next information going to ask is whether this is for i'm going to just select the fourteen and then i'm going to ask her did you need a pick up time or a drop off time and this is one of the key elements to the software when you select a pick up time and i'm going to select ten o'clock am versus a drop off time and i'm going to kind of show you what that what that what we go through to pick up time versus a drop off time there's a window right here that actually changes and then we try that again so the pick up time for a ten o'clock there is that negotiation right in there but on the drop off that that changes and so there's a difference between that is that if you wanted to be picked up at a certain time at ten o'clock the motive for the software is to make sure that the bus gets there by ten o'clock to pick you  up though we do have from ten to ten thirty as an example but our priority is to get you picked up now with that person already there is also as we mentioned previously that there is it is a shared ride and because of that shared right you may be on the bus anywhere from twenty minutes to forty five minutes for you in minutes now if you change that to drop off time that she needs to be at the appointment that changes everything as select a pick up time i have a date selected and now i'm just going to identify that there's no companion she takes approximately ten minutes to load her time and load on the box and everything else we have a pick up time of you from ten thirty to eleven and that's a thirty minute window and then your drop off time is estimated between ten thirty to eleven twenty six and that's that period of time that will be generated and because we have to give her that so that she understands this is the amount of time that you're going to be on board based upon you want to pick up time versus a drop off time yes yes if she doesn't want to use this i'm going to change this to an earlier time now keep in mind there are other reservations going on for that as well so as things go in the system is constantly picking up  we will be picking you up between ten and ten thirty there's an estimated time of about ten ten but your window is between ten and ten thirty she takes she suggests this is works for me this estimated time there we would pick up that person could be at ten ten so within that window from ten o'clock to ten thirty that's at thirty minute window that we have to be there to make sure that we can pick up the would i would advise you that the bus will be there between ten and ten thirty it's because of that negotiation that we just went over ok so from this point this is her this is her first trip and i'm going to ask for it she's going to ask for a return trip from that point system automatically defaults from the last known address and then back to the home and so we're going to see requests for a one o'clock i submit a trip and then what comes out is actually suggested so this is a suggested time that we present to the client we will be picking you up between one thirty and two o'clock that thirty minute window if she's if a client says this is what i'm going to use this is perfect for me i used and i advice or i repeat back the information to her and also i always go and then i go back to that client's trip for the rest of the day for the fourteenth because that's a week from now and i really i actually repeat back the order number this is her first trip from home to where do as an example and then the second trip i give her that number and basically completes her reservation for that day and this can go on and on they can make a reservation for up to two weeks on a single call so these are just the trips that the multiple ships that far as should you call back i forgot my order number typically we would just go back to the individual's name and then just pull up all of the chips for that particular day that they're asking for or future  about eight minutes or something like this and then this is without technical difficulties but a reservation can take up an average of eight minutes me for myself i have experience situations where there are clients that will book up to two weeks on one particular call and one situation took me an hour to complete all the reservations and so as you're going through the reservations then they if if a client decides hey i want to cancel one i've got to go twenty reservation is answering phone calls and all eight minutes and that's just an average they will still be on the twenty twenty or thirty reservations will still be occupying a phone and you will still have the waiting period for others that are calling in as well i see one thirty to ten to ten thirty not not always this is just an example for that particular day so on any given day of the day that you request we have reservations that are already  in the system already and these are called subscriptions basically a standing order or clients going to the same place same same time every day when as a reservation is taken everything goes into the system will compile everything going on that particular day so it's actually optimizing to try and see ok we have available or if we need to negotiate can we negotiate a certain time and that's one of the the rules o negotiating if there isn't anything that fits that client's need at that particular time yet ok just a couple of things i wanted to clarify one of the things that can be done you know when when harry put in that reservation and they were denied a clock there's there's there's no resources available it looks like during that time there's too many bookings so they recommend that you have this you know what was it ten to ten thirty verses and one thirty pick up things you can do is add more buses into the system and then that spreads it out the problem with that is what one of the baddies was saying earlier is then you have drivers that have what huge pockets of down time so it's kind of a balance so if you maybe have twenty five runs everybody wants to go at nine o'clock but then you don't have anything else until eleven o'clock what do you do with those drivers for two hours so you try so the system has that one hour negotiation in there to kind of spread it around to make it more efficient i guess for scheduling purposes and things like that is my guess if i if i take that as being have you guys ha time with the patience and the writers to discuss this because i think medical would probably be my biggest concern because you know a doctor says i want to come ten o'clock and you know it's really difficult because if you all are right just taking a nap point window of time where i can bring in a couple of people at the same time i don't know just i don't know that's something that needs to be looked at maybe because it's a challenge and medical biggest challenge shopping yeah i understand that but if  doctor sets an appointment and that's another thing you can have a ten o'clock appointment and you might wait twelve and that's another issue then the pickup time can't get from off the right and you could don't come back to us from now but what if the doctor sees you in five minutes now you see this can't be a real challenge and you know i told him no i also before you make comment on that you know why is the writer ship penalized because of the leg that your drivers are not don't have become i don't think it's that we're penalizing them we're just working within the rules that were given to us so we didn't make these rules where those were given to us those are in your count paratransit right are guidelines so that's everything in the system was set up based on those guidelines so it's up to the county to decide if they want to change that however if it's change then it changes the terms and conditions of contract that was written because things were bid based on what was in that guide saying that it's supposed to be this way this way and that way i understand what you're saying about the medical point and so we don't disagree with you but also it's our understanding under the americans with disability act that we cannot g priority to a medical over a shopping or church that everybody has to be treated equally that we're not allowed to prioritize we do that on the human services but we're not bound by the federal guidelines that the that the paratransit is percentage there's like eighty percent more users using paratransit and all but that's because of the fact that the paratransit are works for their particular situation but the thank you members it is like to make a comment you know this is a very very complicated system and i think the more we talk about it the more we realize how complicated it is you know when i was involved with this i really didn't understand when drivers would try to explain to me what they were encountering on the road and one day god intervened in the brakesman out of my car and i had to write and i was put in a situation of one of these shared rides where you go here and you go there and you go here and you go there and it was a real eye opener for me to actually sit in that bus and drive to deal with all of the returning of all these all these clients that were on the bus with me from then on i developed a huge understanding of how difficult it is and i would encourage my colleagues if you ever have a chance and you have some time call them get on a breaks down or it is a really big challenge didn't run this thing efficiently and on time and i think you know just a personal experience will change your whole perception about this thing it doesn't take that long to you know help shared running go maybe from a shopping center to a medical clinic to grocery store or whatever and you get it real quick how difficult this is i know everybody is trying to do the best they can but this is not unusual here  challenges from most far back as i can remember and everybody is trying and i'm really glad we're having the dialogue because i think it's helpful you know for us to look at it and understand it but i don't think that we're ever going to get to utopia where this operates like a whistle it just doesn't it's the nature of the big but we can keep trying to make it better thank you mr goodman anything have no questions and if members have no more comments or are questions for the emil or for the transportation services ok not a senior moment just ok all right driving in and they receive the information and they get rerouted or how does that work thank you how that works is that every driver has a tablet the tablet produces two hours we're all over our trips example people start to council and so the system is constantly generating options for the rest of the writer on that particular day they get their information constantly as things change direct to their tablet but i'm not sure that's the answer that you're looking for and what they do get the information directly through that tablet through a g p s system and it's mounted  on the wii or in within the vehicle and that information gives us data this far as to when they actually get to the destination or the arrival point and it also identifies g p s tracking for their particular route making sure that the bus is on the way the bus is actually not experiencing any mechanical failure or traffic congestion and that all plays into the whole process with this system to continually update as every trip is either completed or started  thank you thank you misplaced this one real quick comment for the sake of listening audience you know there will be doing audience many of us are seniors of course there will be watching this and when we talk about tablets i want to make sure they know what we're talking about we're not talking about a bunch of papers made of what are we talking about a computer device in the bus that the driver was right i just wanted to make one more comment about you know the drivers and the and the question you everybody else you know we're struggling to recruit and maintain good drivers and if a driver has a lot of what's called down time and you have to take them off the clock because there's no work for them it is very very difficult to maintain staff so while we're very sensitive to the needs of the clients we're just trying to work within the rules that are established under the paratransit guidelines and then with the you know taking care of our  our staff at the same time so it's it's a challenge definitely thank you members any more comments questions if not since there's no legislation for us to consider there's no objection i'm going to defer the item no objection thank you members we have completed today's agenda i'd like to thank the representatives from viet ministration and me all for their presentation would like to think the paratransit writers i know it could have been an inconvenience to come before us for their comments on the services provided and hopefully this is  transportation committee so with that the march fifth twenty fifteen meeting of the housing human services and transportation committee is now adjourn