Dial-a-Ride Service

Dial-a-Ride provides curb-to-curb service over and above our bus service. Call us to see if we can provide service at 304-366-8177 weekdays from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Service Hours

Dial-a-Ride operates Monday through Friday. Depending on your location, trips can be scheduled for pickup as early as 8:00 a.m. and a drop-off as late as 6:00 p.m. No service is provided on Saturdays, Sundays, and the following holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Memorial Day
• 4th of July
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Day after Thanksgiving
• Christmas-Eve
• Christmas Day

Fares

We will determine the fare when you schedule the trip. A fare is charged for each leg of the trip.

Personal Care Attendants and Companions

If you require the assistance of a personal care attendant, the personal care attendant trave!s with you for free. At the time of scheduling a ride, please indicate if you will have a personal care attendant with you. Of course, the attendant must get on and off at the same locations as you do.

At least one companion, more if space is available, may accompany you. Each companion will pay a fare. At the time of scheduling a ride, please indicate the number of companions who will accompany you. Of course, companions must get on and get off at the same locations as you do.

A person requiring the services of a personal care attendant may also be accompanied by one or more companions.

Service Animals

Service animals are always welcome. The passenger must have the service animal fully under control at all times. Under the ADA, emotional support animals are not service animals. Drivers cannot and will not assume any responsibility for service animals. At the time of scheduling a ride, please indicate if a service animal will accompany you.

Scheduling Rides

Rides can be scheduled the day before the trip or up to 14 days in advance. To schedule a ride, please call 304-366-8177 weekdays 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.rn. We offer reoccurring trips when possible.

To help serve you better, we ask that you observe the following 3 tips:

• Prepare for your call.
• Note your trip information.
• Be ready to go at the scheduled time.

Prepare for your call

Please have the following information ready when you call:

• Name
• Date of travel
• Pickup address
• Destination address
• Desired pickup with the appointment time
• Whether you use a wheelchair or walker
• Whether a personal care attendant, one or more companions, or service animal will accompany you

The dispatcher will let you know your pickup time. FMCTA will make every effort to schedule your trip at the desired times. the ADA allows the ride to be scheduled up to 1 hour before or 1 hour after the requested times.

Note your trip information

Please write your pickup time down. This will help you remember them. If you have a calendar, write the times on it.

Be ready to go at the scheduled time

Please be ready to go 10 minutes before the scheduled pickup time. FMCTA makes every effort to arrive as close to the scheduled pickup time as possible. However, FMCTA may arrive up to 10 minutes before or 20 minutes after the scheduled pickup time.

Example: If you schedule a 9:30 a.m. pickup, the vehicle may arrive between 9:20 a.m. and 9:50 a.m.

This 30-minute window (of 10 minutes before to 20 minutes after the scheduled time) is called the pickup window. Drivers, after arriving within the pickup window, will wait up to 5 minutes. Any passenger, who is not at his or her scheduled pickup point and ready to go by that time, will be considered a no-show, and the driver will leave to pick up other riders. The driver may return for a second attempt, provided the passenger has been detained during a medical appointment. If you know that you will be detained during a medical appointment, please call FMCT A at 304-366-8177 as soon as possible. When you are ready, call FMCTA and we will dispatch the next available van to pick you up.

Cancellations

If you are unable to make your scheduled ride for any reason, please call the office at 304-366-8177 no later than 4:00 p.m. the day before to cancel your ride. Drivers cannot make schedule changes for you. Cancellations made within 1 hour before the scheduled trip will be considered a no-show.

No-show Policy

A no-show occurs when:

• You fail to show up for your scheduled trip
• You fail to cancel 1 hour before your scheduled trip
• You are not ready within 5 minutes of the driver's arrival during the pickup window

You may be suspended if you are a no-show.

Wheelchairs

The ADA defines a wheelchair as a mobility aid belonging to any class of 3-or more­wheeled devices, usable indoors, designed or modified for and used by individuals with mobility impairments, whether operated manually or powered. We will make every effort to transport you and your wheelchair. However, if you and your wheelchair weigh more than what our wheelchair lifts are rated to carry or the wheelchair is too big for the lift platform, we will be unable to transport you. If it appears that the vehicle lift is strained, we will not be able to provide service until we have performed an evaluation. Please call! us at 304-366-8177 for an evaluation to determine whether we can accommodate your mobility device.

All wheelchairs and other mobility devices must be secured to the floor of the vehicle using the securement equipment.

In the case where a mobility device is incapable of being properly secured by the securement devices, the driver will recommend that you transfer to a seat. In those cases, it will be up to you to decide to continue with the ride.

Driver Assistance

FMCTA drivers are specially trained to serve you. Drivers will:

Deploy lifts and ramps for persons using mobility devices and those without mobility devices who cannot navigate the bus steps.

Secure your wheelchair

To ensure your safety and the safety of our drivers, drivers will NOT:

• Assist passengers using wheelchairs up or down steps or steep/narrow ramps.
• Carry packages
• Dress passengers
• Search a passenger's body for the appropriate fare of ticket
• Clear pathways of ice, snow or other barriers

Please arrange with someone else to assist you.

General Ridership Policies

FMCTA has established the following general ridership policies for Dial-a-Ride. Many of the policies also apply to bus and ADA Paratransit service.

• If a passenger uses oxygen, the tank must be portable, i.e., the passenger must be able to carry the tank into the vehicle him or herself, even if the passenger is in a wheelchair. Once on board, the portable oxygen tank must ride in a secure location, for example, in the passenger's lap, strapped to the wheelchair, in front of the passenger on the floor between seats, or on the floor behind the modesty panel.
• All passengers must wear seatbelts.
• All passengers using a wheelchair or scooter must use the restraint system that is used to secure the wheelchair or scooter to the floor of the vehicle.
• The number of packages a passenger can have along is limited to the number of packages that the passenger can control.
• For safety reasons, FMCTA may request that passengers be accompanied by a personal care attendant.
• FMCTA may suspend or refuse service to any individual whose behavior and/or actions are violent, seriously disruptive, or illegal, cause a service interruption, or raise safety concerns.