From the NY Post:Access-A-Ride drivers are menaces to other motorists and to their own elderly or disabled passengers, according to stats that show a soaring number of complaints filed by riders since 2008.
Complaints against the drivers -- all of whom are employed by MTA contractors that are collectively paid more than $1 billion a year -- jumped 23 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to transit documents reviewed by The Post.
There were 5,062 complaints filed last year, compared with 4,128 the year before, and figures show there's been a 10 percent jump for the first three months of 2010.
The most harrowing statistics involve the growing number of complaints about van operators playing the radio or talking on a cellphone while driving -- up from 132 in 2008 to 168 in 2009. Reckless-driving complaints soared from 745 to 1,046.
An MTA spokesperson said, "We actually show a decline in the ratio of complaints to increased service."
Photo from SI Live
13 comments:
no sh&t
i deal with these jackoffs everyday
These moron's are dangerous. I have called and complained about them numerous times. They blow stop signs, drive reckless and have no regard for their passengers or other motorist.
These assholes are a menace to society!!!
Friday I took my family to Coney Island and An Access-a-ride driver was going nuts on the BQE - Honking and changing lanes without signaling. A genuine lunatic. When I see them I steer clear of them.
Among friends at the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee we joke that Access-a-Ride is trying to drum up new customers by running bicyclists and pedestrians over. Seriously, there are so many close calls -- I can't count how many times I've dodged collisions with Access-a-Ride vans. Only the private contractor garbage trucks can compete but the top spot in my road nightmares.
I ascribed the insanity to unreasonable schedules, but if other witnesses are correct about cell phone talking while driving and petty "road rage," then clearly the problem is in the hiring, screening, and training process.
Erik Baard
The Irony is, the city could do away with a lot of access-a-ride vehicles if the mta bus drivers would use their kneeling bus feature or so I'm told by one who uses access-a-ride
These drivers are paid nothing and given no benefits. I've taken Access-a-Ride with an elderly friend over 100 times and the drivers are great!
The passengers are a bunch of whiny, over-indulged seniors and fat people! The truly ill and infirm appreciate the service.
The drivers are driving like that because they're on a tight schedule! Also, cyclists and drivers like to cut them off.
I think it's an amazing service and most of the passengers suck!
"I think it's an amazing service and most of the passengers suck!"
You will probably be one of the first to sue when they run that red light and kill someone while you bang your head in the bus....
No cyclists like to cut them off. It's not a hobby. I've been nearly run off by some (naturally not all) Access-a-Ride drivers though. Too many are careless. The drivers are union, paid decently, with benefits.
A friend of mine is blind. She uses Access-a-Ride all the time. She's always telling me of the financial waste of the system. Many times she's the only passenger in the big vehicle. She's always going from 23rd Street in Manhattan to Kings Plaza in Brooklyn. There is so much waste in this program. It would be cheaper for the taxpayers for her to hail a cab for the same trip.
How many actual American citizens work as Access-a-Ride drivers? They're illegal immigrants. A friend used Stress-a-Ride as he called it. They would either show up an hour early or an hour late.
I do agree with the waste. Many disabled people, not all, are major scam artists and have learned how to milk the system for all it's worth.
These are the true parasites, this is why there is no Disability Rights movement left in this state.
They maintain their vehicles very well as evidenced by this video I shot on the Whitestone Expressway. After the sun came up and the fire was put out, it was obvious that the vehicle that burned was an access-a-ride van!
http://www.youtube.com/user/Airshipal#p/u/9
/XlV_GgMZmE8
I know somebody who works for them in Staten Island,they pay $9.00 hr for training $11.00 hr for 90 days because you are on probation and $12.00 hr after probation and the top pay is $16.00hr after 5 years.
I bet most drivers don't make it past 5 years.
I used to be a runner and a biker and a driver. Now I am in excess a ride client. The drivers aren't so bad if you talk to them nicely treated like a human being
http://whatyourdonotknowbecauseyouarenotme.blogspot.com/2015/04/i-really-havent-met-bad-excess-ride.html
Post a Comment