Taxi Cab Rant

From Humor Me:

So even though its against the law according to the ADA, I have to put it in my info when I set up my cab rides for medical appointments that I have a service dog. This morning when I got picked up by the cab, the guy was a total dick.

The landscapers were out blowing the leaves (and dust from our last dust storm) out of the parking lot and the cab driver was having a FIT that it was taking so long for the dog and me to get loaded. HEY! You're the one that came to pick me up! You know I'm disabled, or I wouldn't HAVE a service dog! 95% of weekday pay for these guys is medical transport. If you don't like it, go out and get another job.

Right when Endless stood up to get out, she shook (which she rarely does, she usually waits till she unloads). He then rolled his eyes and complained about the HAIR! AGAIN, YOU CHOSE TO PICK UP A SERVICE DOG! Damned if I do, damned if I don't! I keep her cleaned and brushed, but short of shaving her bald and having her waxed, she is going to leave hair behind. *I* leave hair behind because I also have 2 cats! I just don't know how much more I can take of these cab drivers being total jerks to me for NO REASON.

I have called and complained to the cab company before, but it ends up going nowhere. I am basically trapped because I don't have my own mode of transportation, and with some of these appointments, even with an hour's leeway on time, it can still end up cutting it close. I am in the process of dealing with the fact that having a SD listed as part of my transportation requirements is ILLEGAL.

Another issue I have had to deal with is waiting up to 3 HOURS to get home! I call for a ride home and the cab never comes. They claim they can't find me even though I hear the receptionist give very explicit directions as to where the office is. There are even 2 foot letters with the name of my physical terrorist's office on the side of the building! I have had to wait for 3 hours no less than 4 times, and I have called multiple times trying to get a ride home. Yesterday, it took me 2-1/2 hours to get home from another procedure. I should have been in and out in two hours. I was starved, pissed and tired, but I still was way too polite to everyone. I hate being a crusty, but when a person gets treated like this, I can start seeing their side.

SD's are considered medical equipment as much as a prosthetic leg, cane, or oxygen is, and people don't have to have those listed when they set up their transportation. In AZ, Service Dogs in Training have just as many rights as fully trained Service Dogs. I would really like to hear if we have any taxi drivers and if they have ever dealt with SD's and their owners.

-- Humor Me

Comments

[Marsh Creature]

All I can think is that some drivers are allergic to or scared of dogs?

[mir]

i hope you meant physical therapist, not physical "terrorist"

[Logan]

I took it as an intentional misspelling. The physical therapy may be painful and feel like a terrorist at times.

[katt]

Sounds like typical taxi suck. I had pretty good luck in SK Canada with taxi drivers but no where else. In ON they have a special breed of taxi drives I like to call: should not be allowed their license much less to commercially drive people.

[Conspiracy Girl]

The physical terrorist thing is an old joke. When I broke my leg, my therapist called herself a physical terrorist- after a couple sessions, I was calling her one too!

[Book Baby]

Call the local consumer news editor for your paper or the television news. One of them would LOVE to jump on this. You and your service dog should not be treated like second class citizens. Hell, wave a lawyer at them; THAT should get their attention! The ACLU should be of help here and it would be FREE.

[Humor_Me]

The ACLU was not interested in the time issue and the Department of Justice handles the ADA rules and lawsuits for disability. I really don't want a lawsuit. Its a big can of worms I have been through before after another accident (totally unrelated) and even when lawyers are on your side, they still make you feel like its an inconvenience to represent you (I'm not the only one who had this experience). Can you imagine if I open that can and lose? I'll never get a ride to another medical procedure without dirty looks or comments. I will have to move to another state and I don't have money at the end of the month for toilet paper let alone rent for a U-Haul.

And yes, "physical terrorist" was a joke. As much as I love the guy who treats me, we always meet because I am in pain. That's the sad fact of our relationship. I wouldn't trade any of the ones I've had for the world though, especially the one after my rotator cuff surgery. It healed back to 98% normal.

[Tarat]

Never been in a taxi, but I just wanted to chime in on my physical therapist experience...The PT I went to after I broke my leg looks very similar to Vladimir Putin. It amused me. I never told him this, but my inside joke made it easier to get through the session...We watched Strange Foods on NatGeo every session. I enjoyed watching him and the students get grossed out. =D

[Humor_Me]

I forgot to add that drivers that are afraid of or allergic to dogs may call another taxi to replace them. That was CLEARLY NOT the problem with my last experience! He was just a fucking anal-retentive asshole. Since I'm still required to have listed that I have a service dog, he KNEW he was picking up a patient with a SERVICE DOG! That pretty well negated his rights to complain about the hair! Not to mention that I own 2 cats. Even if I didn't have my dog with me, I'm sure I left cat hair in the car. How many pet owners does he take in a day that forget to sticky-roller themselves before they walk out the door? After what I've read here, I'm willing to bet there are a few. But I can tell you that my dog gets brushed EVERY SINGLE DAY, and bathed EVERY TWO WEEKS in the summer. I only bathe her once every month in the winter because of the prohibitive cost of the hot water.

Now let me ask you this? If he picked up ANYONE, and they suddenly felt sick, would he be allowed to complain? What about a cancer patient taking chemo? What about someone who didn't know they had eaten bad food the night before? What if a mother with a small child is going to the doctor and the child gets sick so suddenly they can't tell the parent? What about a teething baby that drools and snots all over the place? You can bet in this entitled day and age that if the driver had come off with the same attitude that the mother would have had him for breakfast, lunch AND dinner, then called the taxi company demanding that the company fire him/her on the spot!

[Aunty]

You should tear into them! This behavior is absolutely sickening.
I know you don't want to do a lawsuit, but maybe you can go to a news station and do an anonymous interview? Tell them to pretend to be disabled, hire a service dog (or just a well-behaved pet) and film the service they get. News stations love this kind of stuff. They might even pay you for the story.

[KitKat]

I can understand about needing to tell them about the service dog initially so they would have an idea of what type of car to send (in case your service animal happens to be tiny) but shouldn't that fact get put on the record? People never cease to amaze me. When I used to work retail, my best customers were the ones with some type of disability. And the service animals would curl up somewhere out of the way of the rest of the people who wanted to shop.

[MrSpellcheck]

It is obvious that the bigger companies are making you wait so you won't call back.

Call around and see if you can find a small, independent cab driver who will be your go-to person for rides. If you become a regular customer and develop a working relationship, you can avoid all the other issues and get better service.

No, you shouldn't have to do this, but your stress level will drop if you can work around the conflict. Then you can quietly and serenely write letters to the Dept. of Justice without going through the hassle and expense of a lawsuit.

I like the news program approach as well. Busts the companies without you being involved.

Hope it works out.

[Transporter]

Having worked for MetroAccess in DC, which is paratransit for people with all sorts of disabilities and thus run according to ADA procedures, I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to require that you mention there will be a service dog.

It would be illegal to deny service because you had a service dog, absolutely. But not illegal to want to know, if only so that they can send a driver who isn't allergic to dogs so that you don't have to wait several hours for a replacement and end up missing your appointments.

People with oxygen and wheelchairs are required to list those as well. The first because it can pose an explosion hazard, the second so that the transit authority can make sure they send a vehicle which can accomodate a wheelchair.

I'm sorry that your driver was an ass. That was wrong of him. And having to wait three hours for a ride is a violation of your rights under the ADA transit laws. If you're just using a cab company rather than a public transit type situation, maybe look at using a different company? But please don't assume they're asking if you have a dog just to screw you over. It very well may not be true.

[Humor_Me]

There is only one group of taxis that has a contract with the AHCCCS medical transport. There are several different companies involved within that group. If I don't use them, I would have to pay for transportation myself. If I could afford to do that, I could afford to keep up the payments and insurance on a vehicle.

Not all people using wheelchairs need to ride them into a specially equipped van. When I was using one after my knee surgery, I just need it doorway to doorway. I don't think I would have needed to tell a taxi company to send anything more than a regular car. So not all situations require that the cab driver need that they know what you have. Would they need to know that I have crutches? a prosthetic leg? a colostomy bag?

I have contacted the Department of Justice, and they have informed me that the medical transport that sets up my appointments can NOT force me to have a service dog on my record. It is a violation of my rights. If I get a driver that is allergic to dogs, then how does he survive with all of the other passengers he carries that have pet dogs and leave their hair behind? My dog is in the back seat away from the cab driver. I'm doing the best that I can short of shrink-wrapping her.

So you're telling me that all those times that I have had to wait for 2-1/2 to 3 hours are a violation of the ADA laws? Wow. I wish I had known, I would have started documenting this from the first time. The secretary at my PT's office was so incensed that she even got on the phone, contacted a supervisor at the taxi company and reamed him out!

I have been discussing this situation with one of my online SD groups also, and have decided to just document from here on out. What I'm going to do with it from there, I haven't decided, but I am working with someone from a disability awareness advocate and they sent me booklets that I could hand to cab drivers as I saw fit. It is VERY informative on ADA laws, especially transportation.

[Stockroom Slave]

Humor_Me, while I'm absolutely furious on your behalf for the way you've been treated (in particular that it seems not to be an isolated incident, but an extremely extended period of mistreatment), I think the issue of the driver needing to know in advance if you have a service dog is getting blown slightly out of proportion. As someone else has mentioned, it's definitely not ok for them to discriminate against you based on the presence of the dog, but if their reason for asking is genuinely driver allergies or phobias then I can relate to their concerns. My mother is so allergic to animal hair that after merely being in the same house as an animal for a few minutes - including buildings where the animal is not normally resident - she becomes almost unable to breathe and certainly couldn't drive safely. This is even the case for those specific dog breeds which are supposed to be hypoallergenic. Now, I do see where you're coming from with the whole pet hair on clothes thing, but the fact is that animal allergies are much more pronounced when the animal is actually present.

Please don't feel that I'm running you down - as I said, I am horrified that you should be dismissed so flippantly by the people who are trusted to see you safely to and from your appointments when you have no other options - but personally I don't think that their asking to know if you have a dog is such an onerous request.

[Lad]

That's a smart way of thninkig about it.

[Inocencio]

I see, I suppsoe that would have to be the case.