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FTA: Centennial’s dial-a-ride program, provided by RTD, currently costs about $21 per one-way trip, requires advance sign-ups, and averages just a little over

FTA: Centennial’s dial-a-ride program, provided by RTD, currently costs about $21 per one-way trip, requires advance sign-ups, and averages just a little over four boardings per hour. Wow, that's scarily inefficient. I'm glad some places are trying alternatives, but I hold out little hope this will happen in California any time soon - the SEIU would shut it down faster than you could say 'competition'. -- edited for formatting

bps4484 10y ago
Another area that's scarily inefficient in transportation: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/technology/lyft-medical-rides-health-care/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/technology/lyft-medical-ride... "Typically, National Medtrans Network calls livery cab companies to book rides. Cancellations, late cars and fraud are big problems. Sometimes it can take as many as six phone calls to complete one booking. A 2005 analysis found that 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues."
- jessriedel 10y ago
  > 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues So...less than a single missed or delayed medical appointment in a person's life in expectation?
  - Spooky23 10y ago
    The population of people who qualify for taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs is significantly less than the US population. Most cab companies in non-huge cities have three lines of business: Medicaid cab, Airport cab and drunk transportation. Two of those markets are essentially captive markets (companies bid for exclusivity) and drunk people don't have discerning judgement. That's why Uber/Lyft is obliterating the industry.
    - jessriedel 10y ago
      > The population of people who qualify for taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs is significantly less than the US population. If you follow the citation for this datum, you'll find that the 3.6 million people are not drawn exclusively from those qualifying or taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs, but rather are inferred from surveying a sample of the general population. > The estimate of 3.6 million Americans who miss or delay medical care because of a lack of access to NEMT each year, derived from analysis of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), is conservative and should be seen as a lower bound estimate. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf > The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is an annual, cross-sectional survey intended to provide nationally representative estimates on a wide range of health status and utilization measures among the nonmilitary, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Interview_Survey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Interview_Surv...
  - burkaman 10y ago
    Sure, if it's a uniform distribution and everyone only goes to the doctor once a year. More likely there's a bunch of poor old people constantly missing appointments, and poor parents unable to take their kids. From the study (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf): "The estimate of 3.6 million Americans who miss or delay medical care because of a lack of access to NEMT each year [...] is conservative and should be seen as a lower bound estimate. Response bias inherent in these studies, e.g., their difficulty in surveying the homeless and other truly disadvantaged individuals, lowers the estimate, and some populations may be totally ignored in the data." "Finally, several factors and trends—disproportionate population growth of groups in the current target population; the aging of the U.S. population; more expensive, less affordable healthcare; rising disease prevalence—will conspire to dramatically increase the future projection of transportation-disadvantaged individuals at risk of missing health care, i.e., this study’s target population." "In terms of health status, the target population suffers from critical diseases at a higher rate than does the rest of the U.S. population, and it generally accesses more medical care than does the rest of the U.S. population, despite its transportation barriers, almost certainly because it is much more ill on average."
    - jessriedel 10y ago
      > in expectation I don't know what you're arguing against.
      - burkaman 10y ago
        I thought your comment was implying this statistic wasn't really a big deal when you average it over the whole population. I was trying to argue that a simple average is misleading, and it is a big deal. If "in expectation" is a well-defined statistical term or something and I misunderstood, my bad.
        jessriedel 10y ago
        No worries. "In expectation" is indeed a technical term, in the same sense of "expected value".
eel 10y ago
For what it's worth, most tech employers in the Denver area offer the "Ecopass" as an employer-paid employee benefit, which makes the buses, light rail, and call-n-ride free for the employee. Without any discounts, the cost for the call-n-ride is $2.60 to the rider, which is a good deal for a door-to-door service, I think. I am not sure where the article got the $21-- maybe the city is subsidizing most of the cost.
- teuobk 10y ago
  There's an elderly lady at the end of my block (in Denver-proper) who uses the dial-a-ride service nearly daily. The only other times I can recall seeing the service used also involved elderly or disabled people. In fact, it took me years before I realized the service was even available to normally-abled, non-elderly people -- but I still don't use it, because my car, Uber, or a walk to the nearby light rail station are all far more convenient.
blackaspen 10y ago
I'm surprised Call-N-Ride even gets that much ridership. I've never run into anyone who has _ever_ used it. I saw a Call-N-Ride bus in my neighborhood driving in circles and it was certainly a strange sight. This sounds like a good plan. But personally, I'd like to see Bike sharing to get to Light Rail (or in my case 36) as an alternative solution too.
HillaryBriss 10y ago
if it ever got started in a Cal city, an early attack on the arrangement would be a lawsuit claiming the service was unsafe

bps4484 10y ago

Another area that's scarily inefficient in transportation: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/technology/lyft-medical-rides-health-care/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/technology/lyft-medical-ride... "Typically, National Medtrans Network calls livery cab companies to book rides. Cancellations, late cars and fraud are big problems. Sometimes it can take as many as six phone calls to complete one booking. A 2005 analysis found that 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues."

jessriedel 10y ago
> 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues So...less than a single missed or delayed medical appointment in a person's life in expectation?
- Spooky23 10y ago
  The population of people who qualify for taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs is significantly less than the US population. Most cab companies in non-huge cities have three lines of business: Medicaid cab, Airport cab and drunk transportation. Two of those markets are essentially captive markets (companies bid for exclusivity) and drunk people don't have discerning judgement. That's why Uber/Lyft is obliterating the industry.
  - jessriedel 10y ago
    > The population of people who qualify for taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs is significantly less than the US population. If you follow the citation for this datum, you'll find that the 3.6 million people are not drawn exclusively from those qualifying or taxpayer subsidized Medicaid cabs, but rather are inferred from surveying a sample of the general population. > The estimate of 3.6 million Americans who miss or delay medical care because of a lack of access to NEMT each year, derived from analysis of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), is conservative and should be seen as a lower bound estimate. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf > The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is an annual, cross-sectional survey intended to provide nationally representative estimates on a wide range of health status and utilization measures among the nonmilitary, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Interview_Survey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Interview_Surv...
- burkaman 10y ago
  Sure, if it's a uniform distribution and everyone only goes to the doctor once a year. More likely there's a bunch of poor old people constantly missing appointments, and poor parents unable to take their kids. From the study (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_29.pdf): "The estimate of 3.6 million Americans who miss or delay medical care because of a lack of access to NEMT each year [...] is conservative and should be seen as a lower bound estimate. Response bias inherent in these studies, e.g., their difficulty in surveying the homeless and other truly disadvantaged individuals, lowers the estimate, and some populations may be totally ignored in the data." "Finally, several factors and trends—disproportionate population growth of groups in the current target population; the aging of the U.S. population; more expensive, less affordable healthcare; rising disease prevalence—will conspire to dramatically increase the future projection of transportation-disadvantaged individuals at risk of missing health care, i.e., this study’s target population." "In terms of health status, the target population suffers from critical diseases at a higher rate than does the rest of the U.S. population, and it generally accesses more medical care than does the rest of the U.S. population, despite its transportation barriers, almost certainly because it is much more ill on average."
  - jessriedel 10y ago
    > in expectation I don't know what you're arguing against.
    - burkaman 10y ago
      I thought your comment was implying this statistic wasn't really a big deal when you average it over the whole population. I was trying to argue that a simple average is misleading, and it is a big deal. If "in expectation" is a well-defined statistical term or something and I misunderstood, my bad.
      - jessriedel 10y ago
        No worries. "In expectation" is indeed a technical term, in the same sense of "expected value".

eel 10y ago

For what it's worth, most tech employers in the Denver area offer the "Ecopass" as an employer-paid employee benefit, which makes the buses, light rail, and call-n-ride free for the employee. Without any discounts, the cost for the call-n-ride is $2.60 to the rider, which is a good deal for a door-to-door service, I think. I am not sure where the article got the $21-- maybe the city is subsidizing most of the cost.

teuobk 10y ago
There's an elderly lady at the end of my block (in Denver-proper) who uses the dial-a-ride service nearly daily. The only other times I can recall seeing the service used also involved elderly or disabled people. In fact, it took me years before I realized the service was even available to normally-abled, non-elderly people -- but I still don't use it, because my car, Uber, or a walk to the nearby light rail station are all far more convenient.

blackaspen 10y ago

I'm surprised Call-N-Ride even gets that much ridership. I've never run into anyone who has _ever_ used it. I saw a Call-N-Ride bus in my neighborhood driving in circles and it was certainly a strange sight. This sounds like a good plan. But personally, I'd like to see Bike sharing to get to Light Rail (or in my case 36) as an alternative solution too.

HillaryBriss 10y ago

if it ever got started in a Cal city, an early attack on the arrangement would be a lawsuit claiming the service was unsafe