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Months after acknowledging inadequacies in the city’s Handi-Van service, a city official says progress has been made but more time is needed before improvements can be fully implemented.
At an August briefing before the City Council Transportation Committee, city Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka said he agreed with users who called the long wait times, inefficient scheduling and other issues "not acceptable."
"I also said this is not a fix that we can do overnight," Yoshioka said Friday. "And so while we’re making good progress on it, that’s not going to change overnight. Four months is overnight, in my book."
Users of the Handi-Van say they continue to be frustrated by the lack of progress on complaints that date back several years in some cases, and they are hopeful that a new administration and new City Council will result in some changes to resolve their issues.
"We really want to work with the new Council and (Mayor-elect Kirk) Caldwell to fix the problems with the Handi-Van service," said Donald Sakamoto, chairman of Citizens for a Fair ADA Ride, an advocacy group that meets quarterly with officials from the city and TheBus.
Passengers say their complaints about delays, overcrowding and poor maintenance have only been compounded by cutbacks in bus service and a growing number of Handi-Van users.
"It’s not the driver’s fault, but they take it out on the drivers," said Julie Belisario, a Handi-Van user and secretary for the advocacy group.
Among the reasons for rider complaints is the city’s aging Handi-Van fleet.
Sakamoto said many of the vehicles are more than 10 years old and prone to breaking down, causing further delays because of the lack of vans.
"They keep falling apart," he said. "They’re rickety. They’re so uncomfortable because they don’t have any shocks and the roads are so terrible right now."
Wait times for a van can be anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, Belisario said, while calling for a reservation can also be a challenge, with lines often busy.
"They’re so overwhelmed with people calling in for their ride," Sakamoto said.
The city has about 160 Handi-Van vehicles, Yoshioka said, and tries to keep 135 to 140 in use at any given time. The remainder are typically out with maintenance or similar issues.
"I’ve said numerous times, it’s not the number of vans we have; it’s how we use them," Yoshioka said. "I think just expanding the fleet is not the answer."
He said the city is working on completing the purchase of 99 vehicles, a move that was hindered by a protest filed by a vendor who also had sought the bid. The vendor’s protest was rejected by the city and again by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Yoshioka said.
The vendor is now taking the matter to Circuit Court, but Yoshioka said the city has not been barred by the court from pursuing the purchase.
"As long as vendors like that exist, it really stymies our efforts to try to get our fleet upgraded," Yoshioka said. "Now that DCCA has ruled against the protest, we’re moving ahead with the procurement, but we do it under the shadow that he has also appealed to Circuit Court."
Yoshioka said the city also is working on cooperating with various agencies on "subscription" ride services, in which agencies that have regularly scheduled trips to certain locations work with the city to provide service for handicapped passengers.
"Goodwill is a great example of a very good success story," he said. "We recently got Salvation Army on board as well and we intend to pursue all the large agencies and get them on that program."
The city also has contracts with taxis with a fixed rate for passengers to provide rides when vans are unavailable, he said.
"I think we’re making good progress," Yoshioka said. "These changes take a while to get fully implemented, so it takes time, but we’re making good progress on them."
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