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It really shouldn’t take all of three years to improve the city’s troubled TheHandi-Van service — though it is helpful to have a fix-things-by-then deadline stated in a new U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) order.
Those fixes — so vital to support mobility and transit needs of disabled people unable to use other public transportation — are sorely needed, and long overdue. The recurring problems over recent years range from difficulties and unresponsiveness in making Handi-Van reservations; to vans arriving hours late or not showing up without notification; to nonavailability of vans. TheHandi-Van is operated by private nonprofit Oahu Transit Services Inc., under a contract with the city.
Finally, the Justice Department got involved, after a complaint that TheHandi-Van was violating Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires cities and counties like Honolulu that provide bus or rail service, to also provide paratransit. The DOJ’s investigation confirmed that the complainant and “other paratransit eligible riders were frequently unable to reach a telephone reservation agent to schedule, check on, or cancel paratransit rides in a timely fashion because their calls were met with busy signals or long wait times.”
Under the settlement agreement, steps will be taken to lessen hold times and, within three years, 95% of calls to TheHandi-Van must be answered within three minutes and 99% of calls within five minutes. Still a wait, but OK. Regularly scheduled progress reports must be submitted to the DOJ, so steady improvement must be seen, and sustained.
Guiding the fixes — again, aim for sooner rather than later — will be a plan that city Transportation Director Roger Morton said has been developed to ensure compliance. It includes hiring more reservation staff; amending rules to allow flexibility for staff to work from home; and using federal funds for new scheduling software so users can reserve trips via mobile phone or computer. That reservation technology upgrade should vastly improve functionality and accessibility for users once familiarity is achieved.
Also paving the road for improvements: the city’s recent purchase of 48 gas-powered vans for TheHandi-Van, expected to arrive in August, with federal funds paying for 80% of the $9.7 million total.
At long last, with both funding carrots and DOJ sticks, it’s time to get TheHandi-Van back on track. The people it’s meant to serve deserve responsiveness and efficiency.
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