There’s a reason why folks who use MTA’s paratransit service “Stress A Ride” and it’s not because we all love hyperbole.

So here’s the deal: I have a mobility disability. It’s relatively minor all things considered but it does makes it impossible for me to ride the NYC subway unless I just happen to be close to one of the, oh, less than 24 percent of the subway stations that have working elevators. Are you asking how is that possible, isn’t that against some law? Oh yeah. Definitely. In fact, every day MTA is in violation of a little thing called the federal American with Disabilities Act. It was signed into law in 1990, and MTA has must have heard of it by now, because they get sued about it like, all the time. Like pretty much the MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim must be getting subpoenaed in the shower by now. MTA’s story (and they really keep sticking to it) is that they provide service for people with disabilities through the Access A Ride program. The problem with this story is that Access A Ride is what we call functionally inaccessible, in other words AAR SUCKS.

And it’s not just AAR’s beleaguered patrons who say this: NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer issued a report in 2016 that contained a severe condemnation of the Broker Car Services to whom AAR outsources most of the rides for patrons who don’t require wheelchair van service. From the report:

“Paratransit failed to effectively monitor AAR contractors’ compliance with contract requirements for reliable and timely customer service and accurate reporting of pick-up and drop-off times.  As a result, customers suffered from unreliable and unsatisfactory service.”

Shortly after this, AAR debuted the E-hail program which allows passengers to schedule service 24-48 hours beforehand and receive services from a yellow or green taxi. This program was wildly successful.

A few weeks ago, a Daily News article announced that AAR is eliminating ehail. And sure enough, that is exactly what I’ve been told NUMEROUS TIMES when I’ve called my friends at Stress A Ride. So the folks who answer the phone at AAR know that the ehail program is being eliminated; less and less ehail rides are available each day until April 30 when zero will be available. I haven’t gotten one in two weeks. But AAR Spokespeople apparently haven’t been informed of this, and they keep doing this weird (and cruel and gaslightly) thing where they refuse to admit that this is the case;. They keep talkin’ about the continuance of a very small (less than 2000 rider) pilot that allows on demand ehails. But they’re simultaneously eliminating the advanced Ehail option for the vast majority of riders. My dad used to say “don’t piss in my face and tell me it’s raining.” That applies perfectly here.

My trips since the changes took place have been exclusively with Broker Car Services and most of them have been late and the drivers have often been rude, unable to communicate and in one case, the driver WENT TO BROOKLYN to look for an address in Manhattan. Yup, for 45 minutes the driver kept insisting that he couldn’t see me even though I was standing outside. Of course the dude couldn’t see me, he was in Brooklyn and I was in Manhattan! I called the Broker Services/AAR more than 12 times to try and work it out but they told me I would need to call Access A Ride and reschedule if I wanted someone to come pick me up yknow, where I was, and not the next borough over. By that time I had been standing for over an hour. And remember that mobility issue I mentioned? It stems from getting hit by a car at age 12, I’ve had five knee replacement revisions, and it hurts like a motherfu**er to stand that long. So I told them I gave up and took a $45 dollar uber home. Eh whatev, who needs to pay their electric bill.

But that’s not all, folks, there’s more. You’re not going to believe this part. Well unless you take Access A Ride. Then you will 100 percent believe it.

I WAS STILL MARKED AS A NO SHOW. This isn’t just a labeling problem; being marked as NO SHOW too many times in a month (and believe me, it ain’t that many) can make you lose your Access A Ride service. When I lodged a complaint with MTA, they responded that in fact the driver was in Brooklyn (see screenshot below) but they will only say they passed the complaint on to the Broker Car Service. And (this is the infuriating part) I am still on-demand a no show in the system. This process of letting the broker car service investigate their own complaints against them is exactly what Scott Stringer referenced in his 2016 report!

TL:DR: AAR is gaslighting us when they say they are not eliminating ehail. They are eliminating advance ehail for all; only a small pilot program remains. And the “enhanced broker services” are clearly the same exact broker services that got them into trouble before.

WTF is this all about? Is it just my imagination, or does this city (which I love) totally hate people like me who can’t manage 5 flights of stairs just to get to work?

Can someone, anyone PLEASE take MTA to task for grossly misleading their patrons and public.

Kelli DunhamFlatbush Brooklyn NY