Why is Accessible Transportation Important?
June 21, 2022 7:56 pmTransportation is often difficult. You need to be able to get to where you need to go without worrying about whether you have the means to do so.
Accessible transportation ensures that all of your needs are met. Whether you have difficulties with walking, climbing stairs, or have medical equipment that needs to accompany you, transportation should be readily available.
Finding transportation services for disabled adults is often difficult. Public transportation may get you in the vicinity of where you need to go, but it offers you limited door-to-door service. This can make it difficult for you to get to doctor’s appointments, hospital visits, special events, and more.
Around the Sound allows you to reserve a ride, whether it’s for you, a family member, or a large group of individuals with disabilities as far in advance as you want.
The Importance of Accessible Transportation
There have been a number of legislative acts passed in the United States and around the globe to ensure that Persons with Disabilities (ADA) have the same rights as everyone else.
The “right to movement” is a human right, which means that anyone who is disabled should have the ability to access every location that they wish to access – and have the necessary mobility to ensure that happens.
Particularly within aging populations, it becomes harder to access various locations without help. Not everyone has vehicles or driver’s licenses. Not everyone has the mental or physical ability to drive…or walk…or climb the stairs of a bus.
Accessible transportation becomes a requirement in order to allow people to enjoy the human right of being able to move.
How are you going to get to doctor’s offices? Special events? The airport?
All of this has to be considered because you may not have the means to take care of the transportation on your own. You have to find transportation that is capable of accommodating you – and that means looking at each and every access point from where you’re starting to where you want to go.
Whether you’re getting transported from your home, a hospital, or a nursing home, consider what is accessible.
Can you make it to a bus stop or subway station?
Are you able to board the public mode of transportation?
Do you have the means to be safe and secure while transportation is in motion?
Are you able to safely reach your destination?
These are all questions that must be answered as you explore whether you have accessible transportation. Getting only partially to your destination is not an option – and it’s most certainly not “accessible.”
It doesn’t matter whether you are part of an aging population, or you are disabled. You have the right to get to where you want to go. While strides have been made to address all of the problems that exist within a transport chain, there are still struggles – and that’s what we look to overcome with the transportation services that we offer.
What Accessible Transportation Should Include
The reality is that accessible transportation should be open to everyone, not just for a select number of disabilities. The transportation staff needs to be trained in order to meet the needs of everyone, ranging from those with disabilities to those who are elderly. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting yourself into a situation where your needs are not met – and that can lead to injury and other dangers.
Stairs into a bus may work for some, but those who are wheelchair-bound may need a ramp.
Narrow aisles can be nearly impossible to navigate with specialized hospital chairs, walkers, and more.
Accessible transportation has to be all-encompassing. It allows you to book with confidence knowing that the ride that will show up has the means to accommodate you – and anyone who may be accompanying you.
If your needs aren’t accommodated, it’s not truly accessible.
Different vehicles are often necessary for different issues. It’s why we have a fleet of many vehicles. It allows us to accommodate the different disabilities as well as small and large numbers of people alike.
Why Private Services are Often More Efficient
Public transportation often falls short. While they claim to offer accessible transportation, they don’t offer the transportation services for disabled adults that many need.
For example, if a person is unable to make it to a bus stop, the transportation service fails. If a person is unable to get to the doctor’s office from a bus stop, it is also a failure.
Private services, such as Around the Sound, ensure that you have accessible transportation that you can rely on. We provide door-to-door service for medical transportation, airport transportation, and more. Plus, we have over 80 vehicles, allowing us to accommodate individuals and groups alike.
Our professional staff can provide trustworthy care. We have worked with individuals on gurneys, scooters, and even those with memory issues. It ensures that everyone gets to where they need to go, regardless of their mobility levels or if they remember where it is they are going to or not.
Public transportation follows particular routes. The people driving the buses and the other modes of transportation are focused on doing a job for the masses. They aren’t specially trained on transportation for disabilities, which means that there isn’t as much empathy.
Particularly when you’re in the Puget Sound area of Washington, you should be able to get the transportation services that you need.
Accessible transportation isn’t just a nice thing to have – it’s a must-have, and you shouldn’t have to settle for anything less than quality, professional transportation to anywhere that you have to go.
Let Us Show You What Accessible Transportation Looks Like
Accessible transportation is all about meeting YOUR needs. Whether you have physical or cognitive disabilities, we have the staff and the equipment to provide you with dependable solutions. We have provided VA transportation, ambulatory transportation, and more.
Let us show you what high standards of transportation services can look like. Call us today to schedule your next ride.
Categorised in: accessible transportation, blog
This post was written by Around The Sound
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