Marguerite Woods, a 74-year-old Northwest Baltimore resident, booked a Call-A-Ride pickup for 8 a.m. Monday to get to her 9 a.m. technology class, the same class she uses to advocate for making local art galleries accessible to people with disabilities. The ride never came. She called to cancel around 9 a.m., hopped into a traditional rideshare instead, and watched a Call-A-Ride car finally pull up to her home around 9:40 a.m. — after she had taken a rideshare to her class.
Her experience was far from isolated during the first week of Maryland Transit Administration’s overhauled on-demand transportation program, according to The Baltimore Banner. Call-A-Ride users across the city reported drivers failing to show up, technical failures and scheduling mishaps throughout the week, with some riders missing medical appointments and others, according to advocates, scrambling to find rides to work or scrambling to pick up kids from school after the Monday launch. Woods said rideshares simply aren’t sustainable on her fixed income, leaving her with few backup options when the system falters.
Call-A-Ride functions like an Uber or Lyft for people with disabilities, relying on contractors that provide sedan and wheelchair-accessible vehicle service. Riders pay just $3 for most trips, and the program served about 17,000 people last year, per MTA figures cited by the Banner’s reporting. The service also frees up the agency’s larger MTA-branded paratransit vans for riders with the highest needs.
A New App Replaces Direct Driver Contact
The MTA’s new system centers on a proprietary mobile application meant to centralize bookings and simplify management for the agency, according to the Banner’s reporting. Under the old setup, riders scheduled directly with providers like WAV and Uzurv, each running its own app or call center for ride management and driver communication — arrangements that gave riders exact arrival times, vehicle information and a direct line to their driver…