When Jean Nandi, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, was recently discharged from the hospital, her doctors took longer than expected to release her. That meant, she said, that she missed the arrival of a wheelchair lift-equipped van she had requested and was forced to wait five hours for another ride. Daveed Mandell, a blind paratransit rider, said the ride home from Berkeley to El Cerrito once took three hours when the van driver went first to Albany, then back to Berkeley, down to Oakland, up to Richmond, and over to San Pablo, delivering other customers before finally dropping Mandell at his home. Washington, who moved to the East Bay last year after living for 24 years in San Francisco, is skeptical of giving the Muni contract to Intelitran. Everyone has some glitches, but compared to over here, I think San Francisco service is good.
Drivers know neither the area's geography nor how to assist disabled people.
A cumbersome, bureaucratic system for making reservations, requesting changes and filing complaints. It makes your life miserable because you have no dignity, you have no say. But Mark Soto, Intelitran's general manager for the East Bay, says the complaints are being blown out of proportion. They're giving us good marks. If you look hard enough at any program in any city, you'll find hard-core advocates and critics.