Transportation Plan

If a client is interested in using Metro Mobility, we should reach out to the case manager to let them know. Once the client has been approved for Metro Mobility and received funds, then we can assist the individual in learning how to schedule rides for work. We can also communicate with the case manager about any concerns that come up with Metro Mobility.

You can schedule a ride over the phone 1-4 days in advance. There are different coverage area and phone numbers depending on where your client lives.

Find the coverage areas and their respective phone numbers here:
https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation/Services/Metro-Mobility-Home/Trip-Providers-Areas-Hours.aspx#ServiceProviders

Like Transit Link, Metro Mobility has a 30-minute pickup window. Clients must take that into consideration when scheduling rides

If a ride is more than 30 minutes late, the ride is free.

Standing orders are available if someone is going to and from the same place regularly.

Here is the standing order request form: https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation/Services/Metro-Mobility-Home/Forms/Standing-Order-Request-Form.aspx

When the bus arrives, clients are not required to board until the scheduled pickup time. If the bus is early, they must wait.

Clients must present a photo ID on every trip.

If a client misses a ride, that is considered a “no-show”. 4 no-shows or missing 4% of rides in 30 days will result in our client being suspended from services.

Payment is the same process as Transit Link.

Metro Mobility can accommodate almost all mobility devices.

Animals are welcome to ride with clients.

Tips for new riders:
https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation/Services/Metro-Mobility-Home/Guides/Tips-For-New-Riders.aspx

The steps to scheduling MM rides are easy. But getting the timing right is the tricky part. The rides can only be scheduled 1-4 days in advance (you can try to schedule the day of, but it’s highly likely they won’t be able to fit you in).

You want to schedule as early as possible – 4 days is ideal because rides can fill up and then they put you on “stand-by” which means if someone cancels on the route you would’ve been scheduled on, they’ll call you and let you know that you do indeed have a ride – if you don’t get a call = no ride. Standby is not something we can depend on for job interviews.

Let’s say your participant has an interview 6 days from now, the ECM would have to remember to schedule your participant's MM ride in 2 days, and that’s easy to forget when we’re serving so many clients. If the ECM remembers the day before the interview and calls for a ride, there’s a good chance your participant wouldn’t get a spot and then the interview would need to be rescheduled. Similarly, if the ECM was already set to join someone for a full day of orientation training 4 days before your participant’s interview, then she wouldn’t be able to schedule until the following day and that increases the likelihood that a ride wouldn’t be available. If a ride was needed on a Wednesday, 4 days in advance would be Saturday. Metro does take reservations on Saturday, but we don’t work on Saturdays, and calling on Monday means we’re only calling 2 days in advance and there’s a higher likelihood that a participant would be on standby since we didn’t call right at 4 days.

On the flip side, if your participant decides he doesn’t want to attend an interview and he already had a set ride or even a standby ride arranged, we’d need to be available to cancel If someone doesn’t cancel at least 1 hour before their scheduled pick-up time, MM counts that as a “No-show” and people get booted from being able to use MM for a while if they have too many “No-shows” within a certain amount of time.

So basically, MM isn’t great due to those scheduling parameters (in addition to several other reasons like leaving people out in the freezing cold for hours etc). All providers struggle to get the scheduling just right and even families of people who live at home struggle with it. There is a “Standing Order” option once someone finds a job and has a consistent schedule where they wouldn’t need to call in and schedule every ride, but then we run into issues remembering to cancel the ride if someone takes a day off of work.