Handi-van riders fed up with unreliable service

Debra Burrows is adamant: She doesn’t want to be seen as a "grumbler," a complainer.

Nonetheless, the Makiki resident, who’s blind and copes with a rare neuromuscular condition, has had her share of tardy Handi-Vans since 2009, when she started using the federally required public transit option for people with disabilities. Sometimes she’s waited more than an hour past the scheduled pickup — and Burrows can’t imagine how riders who rely on the service for important medical appointments, such as for kidney dialysis treatments, deal with similar delays.

"Sometimes you can’t help being late, but when it’s a pattern of practice and it isn’t rectified, then it goes on and on and on and it’s not right," Burrows, 60, said. "We need to find out where the problem is and better the situation for everybody. People are depending on it."

At a recent public meeting, Handi-Van passengers reported scheduling their rides as many as three hours in advance to make sure they get where they need to be on time.

Now, after several years of service complaints from riders, Ho­no­lulu City Councilman Breene Hari­moto says he will introduce a resolution in the next few weeks that would compel a management and operational audit of the Handi-Van system. The program is run by Oahu Transit Services, a nonprofit entity that’s partly a city entity and partly an independent operator.

Handi-Van riders "complain about the same things over and over, year after year, and somehow their concerns never get addressed," Hari­moto said recently. "I know it’s difficult, that’s why I’ve been patient," but after four or five years it’s time to make service improvements a priority, he said.

The city’s top transit official, Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby, says his agency has worked in the past nine months to make the Handi-Van system more "responsive" and that various fixes are on the way. Those changes include:

» Revising the Handi-Van’s "no-show" policy to make it more stringent, eventually suspending riders who repeatedly don’t show for scheduled pickups.

» Implementing by October new, real-time software to make the scheduling more efficient.

» Requiring that OTS provide more statistics and information, versus a "narrative," in its monthly Handi-Van reports to DTS.

» Narrow the window to make a reservation from seven to two days, aiming to reduce schedule "uncertainty," as Formby put it.

Also, by October the department hopes to have a sufficient amount of "resource groups" — the agencies that offer services to Oahu’s disabled community and use a lot of morning Handi-Van trips — using their own vans thanks to federal dollars. That will free up the Handi-Van system, Formby said.

"Audits can be a valuable management tool, but we’re in the middle of making a lot of changes right now," he said. "I think these changes will be beneficial. It’s not like we don’t recognize the problem."

OTS plans to add 99 brand-new vans to its fleet, replacing dozens of aging vans whose constant repair work takes them out of service and contributes to the delays. The first of those new vehicles are slated to arrive Friday, and the city expects to add about 10 vans every two weeks after. The first group of new vans will increase the fleet to at least 166 vans from 156, OTS President and General Manager Roger Morton said. The service averages nearly 3,500 Handi-Van trips a day.

Morton added that he had no objection to a city audit.

"They are sometimes a little painful for management, but the result is sometimes positive," Morton said. "We’re doing a lot with Handi-Van this year, obviously."

Meanwhile, Burrows says she encourages her fellow riders to report any service problems to OTS.

"There is a problem of being timely. It’s not proper," Burrows said. "I’m not complaining; I’m stating a fact. There’s a difference."