Are Ride-hail Companies Serving Wheelchair Users in San Francisco?

Are Ride-hail Companies Serving Wheelchair Users in San Francisco?
By Maddy Ruvolo

woman pushing a woman in a wheelchair on Chestnut Street

Since 2013, ride-hail companies, also known as Transportation Network Companies or TNCs, have become increasingly visible on San Francisco’s streets. In the area of disability access and TNCs, while some individuals have reported increased mobility and independence because of TNCs, wheelchair users have largely been unable to use the service. Ride hailing apps generally did not offer wheelchair accessible vehicles—nor were they required to do so by the CPUC.

While the SFMTA and our sister agency, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) do not have the authority to regulate these services—a job entrusted statewide to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)—we have worked together to pay close attention to the impact they have on our transportation network and shaped our areas of studies, policies, and programs accordingly. For example, over the years, the City has documented how well these services do or do not meet San Francisco’s Guiding Principles for Emerging Mobility Services, helping to shape policy and recommendations around our congestion and disability access goals.

A move in the right direction: the TNC Access for All Act

For this reason, San Francisco was proud to support the TNC Access for All Act, signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2018. The bill requires the CPUC to develop regulations relating to accessibility for persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users who need a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV). The bill also created a financial incentive for TNCs to increase accessibility by imposing a per-trip fee on all TNC rides in the state. The funds from this fee are then used to reimburse ride hailing companies for their expenses if they demonstrate they are improving access to WAVs on their platforms. If a company does not meet the requirements established for reimbursement, or if they do not provide WAV services in a county at all, the collected fees are deposited into an “Access Fund” for other eligible providers to help provide on-demand WAV services in that area instead.

Since July 2019, TNCs have collected a 10-cent fee for every non-WAV trip in California. While the CPUC has not yet distributed funds to non-TNC providers as part of the Access Fund, we have started to receive data on how TNCs like Uber and Lyft are trying to improve WAV services in the few counties for which information has been reported.

So, how do we know if wheelchair accessible TNC services are improving in San Francisco and throughout the state?

For TNCs to keep the fees they are collecting to pay for WAV services, companies like Uber and Lyft must demonstrate to the CPUC that their WAV services are meeting certain quarterly performance requirements. The CPUC requires TNCs seeking reimbursement to submit reports, called “Advice Letters,” to the CPUC and anyone registered on the CPUC’s official “service list.” These reports are a series of PDF and Excel files that include aggregated data by county on service aspects like number of trip requests and rate of fulfillment, hours of service provided, response times (the time between requesting a trip and receiving a ride), expenses incurred, complaints received, and outreach performed.

All of the information provided in these Advice Letters is incredibly valuable for understanding the state of wheelchair accessible TNC service throughout California. However, the way CPUC requires the TNCs to file the information to a small group and in a difficult-to-read format has limited the utility of the data. Until now! In 2021, the SFMTA and SFCTA were chosen to participate in the San Francisco Office of Civic Innovation’s Civic Bridge Program. Through this program, we were matched with pro-bono partner ZS Associates to develop publicly available data dashboards to display key pieces of the data submitted by TNCs.

The dashboards, which are now hosted on our website, feature the following tabs: Total Trips Requested and Completed, Trips Requested and Completed by Operator, Average Number of WAVs Available Each Hour, Trips Requested – Completed and Cancelled, Response Time, TNC Expenses, and TNC Complaints.

The Trips tabs show requested and completed WAV trips, as well as cancellations. The Response Time tab includes a breakdown of the average time between passenger request and driver arrival. The Expenses tab includes program expenditures by spending category (and note that “Partnership Costs” include most of the direct costs of providing WAV service—usually the amount paid to a contractor who is providing WAV trips for the TNC. “Operational Costs” are primarily overhead). Finally, the Complaints tab categorizes the complaints reported about the TNCs’ WAV service. Each tab can be viewed by vendor (currently Lyft, Uber, or Nomad), county, year, and quarter.

We are pleased to make this important reporting data more publicly accessible, and encourage you to explore the dashboards.

Published January 11, 2022 at 02:51AM
https://ift.tt/3K93zzk

Comments

New top story from Time: Hurricane Ida Winds Hit 150 MPH Ahead of Louisiana Strike

https://ift.tt/3jmdoyl NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida rapidly grew in strength early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just hours before hitting the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. As Ida moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico, its top winds grew by 45 mph (72 kph) to 150 mph (230 kph) in five hours. The system was expected to make landfall Sunday afternoon, set to arrive on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The hurricane center said Ida is forecast to hit at 155 mph (250 kph), just 1 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane. Only four Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the United States: Michael in 2018, Andrew in 1992, Camille in 1969 and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Both Michael and Andrew were u...

New top story from Time: Quarantine, What Quarantine? Nicole Kidman, Expats and White Privilege

https://ift.tt/38jNJQt The unsaid but common understanding about foreigners in many parts of the non-Western world is that there is one group of them who can get away with a great deal: white people. They are mostly referred to as expats, whereas non-white aliens fall into such categories as immigrants and guest workers . And being an expat comes with a range of privileges. Call it white privilege if you want. It does not only exist in America ; it is a global phenomenon. This privilege was the subject of heated debate last week in Hong Kong, a city that has for a long time been enthralled by all things Western due to its 150 years of colonization by the British. But even in Westernized Hong Kong, outrage was sparked because the Hollywood actor Nicole Kidman was allowed into the city without quarantine (7 days for Australian travelers at the time of her arrival, but increased shortly after to 14 days for the fully vaccinated and 21 days for the unvaccinated). This waiver was...

New top story from Time: Thinking About Buying a New Car? It May Be Smarter to Wait a Year—Or Longer

https://ift.tt/3zeivWQ Before the pandemic, Earl Stewart could count over 300 new cars sitting on the lot of his family’s Toyota dealership in South Florida on any single day. The high inventory meant customers could find the exact model and color they wanted for well below sticker price. But now, Stewart’s lot has just a fraction of the cars he had before, with inventory down to 31 as of Friday. That’s because a global shortage of semiconductor chips supplied primarily from Southeast Asia—where COVID-19 cases are among the highest in the world—has forced automakers to cut production. Nearly 20 auto factories have stopped or reduced production in recent weeks due to supply chain issues, affecting plants across the globe. At Ford’s Kansas City assembly plant, which builds the F-150 pickup and Transit van, employees were temporarily laid off for one week as they continue to wait for back-ordered chips to become available. General Motors announced it will temporarily stop produc...

New top story from Time: R. Kelly Found Guilty in Sex Trafficking Trial

https://ift.tt/3kMSmKc (NEW YORK) — The R&B superstar R. Kelly was convicted Monday in a sex trafficking trial after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children. A jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty of racketeering on their second day of deliberations. The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls—and keep them obedient and quiet—amounted to a criminal enterprise. Read more: A Full Timeline of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against R. Kelly [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Several accusers testified in lurid detail during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. For years, the public and news media seemed to be more amused than horrified by allegations of inappropriate relationships with minors, starting with Kelly’s illegal marriage to the R&B phenom Aaliya...

New top story from Time: Godzilla vs. Kong Pairs Two Formidable Monster Foes—Too Bad About the People

https://ift.tt/3fqtTbb The mere concept of King Kong going up against Godzilla is, as the fancy people say, a false dichotomy. Though many of us may harbor a slight preference for one or the other, there can never be a clear winner or loser because, face it: both are awesome. In fact, the only problem with any enterprise featuring these two most enduring titans is that there is always a necessary but troublesome plot involving people. And humans in these movies—unless being held aloft from a skyscraper-top in a skimpy dress, or trampled beneath a pissed-off reptile’s clumsy, unmanicured toes—are almost always a bore. They certainly are a plot liability in Godzilla vs. Kong, though it’s not exactly the fault of the actors, who are all perfectly attractive and capable: Rebecca Hall plays brilliant person Ilene Andrews, also known as the Kong Whisperer, for obvious reasons. Alexander Skarsgård is Nathan Lind, a hottie masquerading as a slouchy academic—his specialty is a ...

How to Pay for Parking at The City's New Multi-Space Paystations

How to Pay for Parking at The City's New Multi-Space Paystations By Pamela Johnson One of San Francisco's new paystations as the city moves away from its aging parking meters. How drivers pay for street parking in San Francisco continues to evolve. In March 2022, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) began the Citywide Parking Meter Replacement Project to replace San Francisco's aging 27,000 parking meters. Half of the parking meters will be replaced with new single-space meters and the other half with multi-space paystations that use a brand-new pay-by-license-plate system. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. San Francisco uses paid parking to create curb availability in commercial districts and high-demand neighborhoods. When parking meters are in operation, drivers spend less time circling the block looking for a space. Less circling means less congestion and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. To help drivers use the new m...

New top story from Time: The Huge Cargo Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Is Now Afloat, Maritime Company Says

https://ift.tt/31pOrIH Salvage teams freed the Ever Given in the Suez Canal, according to maritime services provider Inchcape, almost a week after the giant vessel ran aground in one of the world’s most important trade paths. While the ship is floating again, it wasn’t immediately clear how soon the waterway would be open to traffic, or how long it will take to clear the logjam of more than 450 ships stuck, waiting and en route to the Suez that have identified it as their next destination. The backlog is one more strain for global supply chains already stretched by the pandemic as the canal is a conduit for about 12% of global trade. Some ships have already opted for the long and expensive trip around the southern tip of Africa instead of Suez. The breakthrough in the rescue attempt came after diggers removed 27,000 cubic meters of sand, going deep into the banks of the canal.

New top story from Time: The Global Gender Gap Will Take an Extra 36 Years to Close After the COVID-19 Pandemic, Report Says, Report Finds

https://ift.tt/3u7UBcB The time it will take for the gender gap to close grew by 36 years in the space of just 12 months, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report . The report estimates that it will take an average of 135.6 years for women and men to reach parity on a range of factors worldwide, instead of the 99.5 years outlined in the 2020 report. 36 years marks the largest gain in one year since the report started in 2006. Examining data from 156 countries, the report has used the same methodology for the past fifteen years and looks at four indicators: economic opportunity, political power, education and health. Countries are ranked according to the Global Gender Gap Index, which measures scores across these indicators on a 0 to 100 scale, and these scores are interpreted as distance to gender parity, or the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed in a country. Although the report notes some progress in education and health, the...

New top story from Time: Half of U.S. Workers Favor Employee COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates, Poll Finds

https://ift.tt/3kqAHXc (NEW YORK) — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces, according to a new poll , at a time when such mandates gain traction following the federal government’s full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 59% of remote workers favor vaccine requirements in their own workplaces, compared with 47% of those who are currently working in person. About one-quarter of workers — in person and remote — are opposed. The sentiment is similar for workplace mask mandates, with 50% of Americans working in person favoring them and 29% opposed, while 59% of remote workers are in favor. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] About 6 in 10 college graduates, who are more likely to have jobs that can be done remotely, support both mask and vaccine mandates at their workplaces, compared with about 4 in 10 workers without college degrees. Christo...

New top story from Time: Israeli Leader Naftali Bennett to Meet with Joe Biden as Mideast Tensions Grow

https://ift.tt/38dzcpq WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s meeting with President Joe Biden comes in the midst of heightened tensions with its regional arch-enemy, Iran, and as Israel grapples with a gradual resurgence of hostilities on its southern border with the Gaza Strip. Bennett, in his first state visit overseas since taking office, was scheduled to meet Wednesday with senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and on Thursday with Biden. In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office before his departure, Bennett said the top priority in his conversation with Biden would be Iran, “especially the leapfrogging in the past two to three years in the Iranian nuclear program.” He said other issues would also be discussed, including the Israeli military’s qualitative edge, the coronavirus pandemic and economic matters. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Bennett has spoken out ag...

My precise view

Search This Blog