Days and Hours
of Service
ParaTransit
Reservations:
(914) 995-7272 (PARA)
Don't lose your standing order! Please call between the 1st - 15th of
March, June, September & December to renew your standing order.
CORE
SERVICE HOURS
ParaTransit
will provide curb-to-curb service on a space-available basis to all eligible
passengers
within
Westchester during the following CORE hours:
Mondays
through Fridays.................. 6
a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturdays...............................................
8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
ADDITIONAL
SERVICE HOURS
ParaTransit
riders whose trips begin and end in an area within 3/4 mile of a regular
Bee-Line bus route have additional hours of service depending on the hours of
the regular Bee-Line bus schedule in those areas. Generally, service will be provided on a space-available
basis during the following hours, though service may not be available in all
areas at all times. The hours
listed below are the additional service hours.
Mondays
through Fridays.................. 7
p.m. to 11 p.m.
Saturdays...............................................
6 a.m. to 8 a.m.
7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Sundays...................................................8
a.m. to 8 p.m.
After 11 p.m.: Routes 1, 2, 4, 7, 14,
20, 25, 40, and 42.
Seasonal
Routes include routes 75, 76, 90, 91, and 92
Call
the Bee-Line information Center at (914) 813-7777 for detailed route
information.
HOLIDAY
SERVICE
ParaTransit
service is not provided on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day.
Riders who wish to travel on
the day after a holiday may call their vendor(s)
directly
to request trips. Sunday
schedules will operate on the following major holidays for those ParaTransit
riders whose trips begin and end in an area within 3/4 mile of a regular
Bee-Line bus route where there is Sunday service:
New Year’s Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
People
wishing to travel on one of these holidays must call and make a special
reservation. Even if you have a
standing order for the day of the week the holiday falls on, you must make a
special call to schedule a trip on that holiday.
For example, if you have a standing order to go to dialysis on Mondays
you must call for a special reservation to go on any holiday (Memorial Day,
for example) that is celebrated on a Monday.
Fares
Since
ParaTransit is also public transit, you must pay a fare each time you ride.
These fares are established by the Commissioner of Transportation after
a public hearing.
PAYMENT
OF FARES
Fares
are currently $3.00 each way on a regular ParaTransit trip.
The fare must be paid each time you ride and paid with exact change.
Ten-ride
ticket books may be purchased for $30 a book in person at the Westchester
County Center box office (cash only) or by mail from the Department of
Transportation. If you wish to order ticket books, send a check, indicate the
number of books you are ordering and include a stamped, self-addressed
envelope. No more than 4 books
may be ordered at one time. Allow
ten days for processing. Mail to:
Department
of Transportation
100 E. 1st. Street
Mount Vernon, New York 10550
Attention: ParaTransit Ticket Books
TRANSFERS
AND SURCHARGES
Americans
with Disabilities Act regulations permit ParaTransit fares to be double the
regular transit fares, including transfers and surcharges.
ParaTransit fares do not currently include these charges, although we
reserve the right to change the policy at some time in the future.
It
is also possible that on some trips you may be using ParaTransit for part of
the trip and a regular Bee-Line bus for the remainder.
For instance, if you take ParaTransit to a regular Bee-Line bus, you
will pay full fare on ParaTransit ($3.00) and will be given a dated special
transfer which will be honored on the Bee-Line bus as payment of the fare.
If you take a regular
Bee-Line
bus for the first part of the trip, you will pay half-fare on the Bee-Line bus
($.85), as a person with a disability, and pay $.10 for transfer to
ParaTransit. Then give the
transfer to the ParaTransit driver as payment for the rest of the trip.
GUEST
POLICY
Friends
or Relatives: You may reserve a space and bring a friend or a relative with
you on the ParaTransit van if they board and exit a van with you.
However, that person must pay a fare.
Additional companions can only be accommodated on a space available
basis.
Aides: If you indicated on your original
ParaTransit application that you
must have an aide or personal care attendant
travel with you, then that
person may ride free of charge if they board and
exit the van with you.
Children:
Children under age five who accompany a fare paying adult may also ride
free. We must request that
the child ride in a car seat provided
by the passenger .
Tipping:
Since
this is public transit, tipping is not allowed.
If a driver solicits a tip from you, please notify the Office for the
Disabled by calling (914) 995-2956
Suspension
of Service To Riders
ACCEPTABLE
BEHAVIOR
ParaTransit
is public transit and riders are expected to behave appropriately when using
the service.
Individuals
who engage or threaten to engage in violent, seriously disruptive, illegal,
unsafe or seriously inappropriate conduct will be suspended from the service.
Seriously inappropriate behavior includes, but is not limited to: acts
of vandalism, physical or verbal assault of a driver or another passenger, or
of an Office for the Disabled or vendor employee. Also, sexual behavior on the vehicle, illegal behavior while
on the vehicle, refusing to wear a seatbelt on the vehicle, or eating,
drinking or smoking on the vehicle may result in suspension.
SUSPENSION
POLICY AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSIONS
If
a passenger violates any fare, safety or conduct policy or has a medical
problem affecting safety and the Office for the Disabled deems, at its sole
discretion, that the passenger’s conduct (or his/her medical problem)
presents a clear and present danger to him/herself or other passengers or
ParaTransit employees, it will result in an immediate suspension. A
passenger who is subject to an immediate suspension will be notified by phone
and certified mail of the suspension, the basis of the suspension, and how to
appeal the suspension.
Immediate
suspensions will generally be for a period up to (4) four weeks if the Office
for the Disabled deems that the passenger continues to present a significant
danger to him/herself, other passengers, or ParaTransit employees.
If the immediate suspension is based on the passenger having a medical
problem affecting safety, the suspension will continue until the problem is
addressed.
FUTURE
DATE SUSPENSIONS
Other
violations of ParaTransit policies occur when passengers fail appear for their
scheduled trips this is called a no-show, or riders who cancel a
trip less than (2) two hours before a scheduled pick up this is called cancel
at door. If a passenger has (2) two verifiable incidents with in a
30-day period the passenger will be sent a letter indicating the date of the
(2) two violations and the starting and ending date of the suspension. The
rider will have (10) ten business days from the date of the letter to appeal
the decision.
SUSPENSION
TERMS
A
person may be suspended if he/she has:
-
Two
(2) chargeable “Cancelled at Door” (CAD) citations within a 30-day
period.
PENALTY:
Two (2) weeks suspension
-
Two
(2) chargeable “CAD” or “No-Show” (NSH)* Standing Order Trips.
PENALTY: Loss of Standing
Order Trips
-
For
Other Offenses:
2nd within 12 months.......................
PENALTY: 2 weeks
suspension
3rd within 12 months.......................
PENALTY: 3 weeks
suspension
-
“No
Show” (NSH) is when a vehicle arrives for a pick-up and passenger
doesn’t appear.
APPEALS
OF SUSPENSIONS
Suspensions
may be appealed in writing or, with an appointment, in person.
No appeal of a suspension shall be accepted by telephone.
The rider may seek assistance from whomever they choose in making the
appeal. Appeals shall be
overturned only if the information that the suspension is based upon is
incorrect or incomplete, to the extent that the suspension is not supported by
the weight of the information. A
suspension may not be overturned because it causes a hardship for the
passenger. All decisions will be
made in writing and a copy placed in the passenger’s file.
Making
Trip Reservations
PLANNING
TRIPS
When
planning your trip, allow extra time for inclement weather, traffic and the
picking up and dropping off of other passengers while you are on the
ParaTransit vehicle.
You
should be ready to travel at least fifteen minutes before the scheduled
pick-up time. You may wait
indoors or under shelter but you must be in a position to observe the arrival
of the ParaTransit vehicle. Drivers will not come to the door to knock or ring a
doorbell. When you make your
personal appointments, please try to be as flexible as possible.
The high demand periods are between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to
4:30 p.m. By avoiding these peak
hours, you will be more likely to get your requested reservation time.
If
you want to travel from home to the bank, to the store and back home, this
will be scheduled as three separate trips, each of which requires a separate
fare.
If
you plan a trip with a series of stops, the vehicle will not wait for you even
if one of the stops is going to be a brief one.
You will be scheduled with a minimum of one hour between each part of
the trip. Remember ParaTransit is not a taxi service and you would
not expect a Bee-Line bus to wait while you did an errand.
GENERAL
INFORMATION ABOUT MAKING RESERVATIONS
The
Trip Reservation number for ParaTransit is (914) 995-7272 (995-PARA).
The
Office for the Disabled will try to schedule every part of a request for an
advance reservation while you are on the telephone.
Due to a high call volume passengers will be allowed (2) two round
trip reservation or (1) one round trip requiring a transfer per call.
The agent taking your call will confirm the scheduled pick-up and
drop-off times as well as the fare for each leg of the trip.
If a trip reservation request cannot be accommodated at the exact time
you wish to travel, you will be offered alternative travel time.
If the offered time is within one hour of the requested time, it is
considered a match, within the regulations of the ADA. If the
reservationist is not able to schedule your trip at the time of the request,
the passenger will be required to call their vendor(s) between the hours of
5pm and 6pm the day before their trip to confirm their reservation.
The
Office for the Disabled reserves the right to adjust your scheduled pick-up
time to achieve the most efficient scheduling possible.
Ride times can be adjusted up to 30 minutes on either side of the
requested arrival time. When a
pick-up time is adjusted more than 15 minutes, an effort is made to inform
each person of the change on the day before.
However, it may not be possible to reach the person, if they don’t
have a telephone answering machine in the event no one is at home.
ADVANCE
RESERVATION TRIPS
ParaTransit
service is not an emergency service. Reservations can be made up to (4) four days in advance.
Requests for advance reservation trips are currently accepted between 9
a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.
If the reservation is for the next day, the request must be made before
3 p.m. For
trips on a day following a holiday, the trip request must be called in to the
vendor no later than 3 p.m. on the preceding day.
When
making a reservation, you, or someone acting for you, must be prepared to
provide the following information:
-
Your
name and ParaTransit I.D. number.
-
The
date of the trip.
-
The
requested pick-up location.
-
Your
destination address and phone number.
-
The
time when you need to arrive at your destination.
-
The
time when you will be ready to return.
-
Any
special transportation needs
(e.g., use of wheelchair, companion, aide).
SAME
DAY TRIPS
The
Office for the Disabled and its vendor(s) will accommodate requests for same-day
trips on a space-available basis only.
Requests for same-day trips are accepted during service hours, and must
be made by calling Suburban ParaTransit, at (914) 421-0001. You should call at
least two hours before the time you want to travel.
When you call to make a same-day reservation, you will need to provide
the same information you do when you make an advance reservation.
(See above “Advance Reservation”).
A
rider can make no changes to an existing same-day trip, including changes in
pick-up or return times, unless it is at least two hours before the scheduled
pick-up time. These calls must be
made directly to the vendor(s). Requests
for last-minute changes will be handled on a space available basis and there
is no assurance that the vendor(s) will be able to meet the requests.
To
make any changes on same-day trips, you must call the vendor(s).
Trip changes cannot be made through requests to the driver.
STANDING
ORDERS OR SUBSCRIPTION TRIPS
A
standing order ( or subscription trip ) is one the rider takes at the same
time at least twice a week for an ongoing period of time.
Requests for standing order trips will be accepted on a space-available
basis by calling the ParaTransit reservation line only during its regular
business hours. However, there
is a waiting list so it may be several months before some requests are
accommodated. If a customer
needs to begin making this trip in the meantime, advance reservation trips
should be booked.
When
standing order trips are requested or renewed, the necessary information you
will need to provide are the days of the week you want the service, as well as
all the information listed in “Advance Reservations.”
If you request a change in a Standing Order trip, whether a change in
time, destination or additional trips, the change will be treated as a new
request and will be honored on a space-available basis in the order that the
requests are received.
If
you receive a standing order trip, you must renew the reservation on a
quarterly basis. Renewals are
done by you, or a designee, by calling the ParaTransit reservation line at
(914) 995-7272 between the 1st and 15th day of the last month of each quarter
(March, June, September, December).
CANCELLATION
PROCEDURES
Customers
who need to cancel a trip prior to the day of the trip must contact the
ParaTransit reservation agents by calling
(914) 995-7272. To cancel on the day of the trip call the vendor at
least (2) two hours before the scheduled pick up time.
Failure
to cancel a scheduled pick-up will be considered a Cancelled at Door ( CAD)
unless the passenger did not cause the Cancelled at Door.
If a passenger can document a health-related problem which occurred at
the last minute and prevented the cancellation of a trip two hours in advance,
it will not be considered a CAD. Other
examples which will not count as a CAD are if the ParaTransit vehicle was more
than 30 minutes late or if it went to the wrong address.
ParaTransit
Service and Safety Policies
CURB-TO-CURB
SERVICE
ParaTransit
is a curb-to-curb service. because
this is public transportation, vans do not enter private driveways and drivers
are not allowed to go to the door or assist the rider outside the van,
ARRIVAL
TIME
ParaTransit
vehicles will generally arrive between 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after
the pick-up time. If a vehicle
does not arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled pick-up time, the customer
should call the vendor. If the
vehicle arrives before the scheduled pick-up time, the driver must wait until
5 minutes past the scheduled time before proceeding to the next stop.
5-MINUTE
WAITING TIME
The
ParaTransit van will wait only five minutes after the scheduled arrival time
so customers must be ready to travel when
the van appears. They should be
waiting in a place where they can
see the arrival of the van and go to the curb to board the van.
BOARDING
AND EXITING THE VAN
All
passengers must enter or leave the van at the curbside, even on one-way
streets. Riders who board on the
wheelchair lift MUST back on to the lift to board and face forward when
disembarking. Whenever you are on
the lift, you should be facing OUT.
DRIVER
ASSISTANCE
ParaTransit
drivers may only assist passengers at the curbside when they are boarding or
exiting the van. On the vehicle
they will assist only by fastening seat belts or wheelchair securement
devices.
SAFETY
WHILE RIDING
Passengers
using scooters will, if possible, transfer to a seat during the ride.
Batteries on motorized wheelchairs must be safely secured and gel-type
batteries are preferred. Passengers
carrying oxygen containers must secure them.
Passengers must be seated while the vehicle is in motion.
SEAT
BELTS
Seat
belts must be worn by all passenger and wheelchairs must be securely fastened
with the tie-down devices. The
driver will assist passengers with their seat belts and each wheelchair user
who needs help with the securement devices.
EXACT
CHANGE
ParaTransit
riders must have the exact change with no pennies accepted, when boarding the
vehicle or they can purchase a ten-trip-ticket book for $30 by sending a check
and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Department of Transportation (
see above, "Payment of Fares").
PACKAGES
Each
passenger may carry on a maximum of (2) two packages.
These packages must be of a size which can be securely stored under the
seat or carried on the lap. The
driver is not allowed to assist by carrying packages.
COMPANIONS,
GUESTS AND FRIENDS
All
riders may have one companion travel with them but they must include the
companion on the reservation. Additional
companions will be accommodated on a space-available basis.
A companion pays a full fare for traveling on ParaTransit, unless the
companion is under five years of age. The
companion must board and leave the vehicle at the same location as the
customer.
AIDES
OR PERSONAL CARE ATTENDANTS
An
aide or personal care assistant is a person whose assistance is essential to
the rider. The aide must board
and leave the vehicle at the same location as the rider.
An aide or personal care attendant traveling with a customer does not
pay a fare. If an eligible
ParaTransit rider should find he or she needs an aide after approval of the original
application, the rider must notify the Office for the Disabled in writing. Unless the need for an aide is entered in the record, anyone
accompanying the rider will be viewed as a companion and will have to pay full
fare.
CHILDREN
Children
under age 5 traveling on ParaTransit must ride in a car seat.
Riders must provide their own car seats and take them when leaving the
vehicle.
INCLEMENT
WEATHER
When
a storm occurs during the night, local morning radio stations will announce
whether ParaTransit service will be suspended or delayed.
If the Department of Transportation Bee-Line buses are operating during
periods of snow and/or other adverse conditions, ParaTransit service will be
provided. While ParaTransit may
continue to operate, local or neighborhood road conditions may prevent a
ParaTransit van from reaching a particular home or destination.
If ParaTransit cannot provide safe transport home, it will arrange to
transport a passenger to some other safe destination, like a police station.
In the event that service is suspended during the day, it will be
announced over local radio stations. When
service is suspended, all transportation stops until the Department of
Transportation and the Office for the Disabled determine that road conditions
are safe.
RECERTIFICATION
ParaTransit
riders under 75 will be asked to submit new applications every three years.
Riders over the age of 75 will be sent forms every three years to
update their addresses, phone numbers, etc.
These procedures are subject to change.
COMPLAINTS,
COMPLIMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS
Customers
should feel free to contact the Office for the Disabled at
(914) 995-2956 /
5117, or (914) 995-77397 TTY to register their suggestions, complaints,
compliments, service problems or other incidents which are related to
ParaTransit service.
IMPORTANT
TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Office for the Disabled
(for applications, information , complaints) . . . . . . . . . (914)
995-2960
ParaTransit
Reservation Line
(for
advance reservations). . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. (914)
995-7272
ParaTransit
Vendor
(for
same day reservation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(914)
421-0001
Regular
Bee-Line Hotline
(for
regular Bee-Line bus information). . . . . . . . . . . . .. .(914)
813-7777
