This story was commissioned by the River City Journalism Fund
Seyoon Choi walks down South Grand Boulevard — a dog harness in one hand, a cell phone in the other. His shift at West County Mall begins at 4 p.m. and he needs to get to the MetroLink.
A black labrador guides Choi through crosswalks and down steps until he reaches the Grand Station platform. He takes the 2:40 p.m. Blue Line west before transferring to a bus at the Maplewood-Manchester MetroLink station. Then he’s on the road for another 25 minutes to the mall.
“I’m lucky that I can use a hybrid of transportation options, because a lot of people can’t,” says Choi.
Choi, 23, has been blind since birth due to a retinal disease. But he has not been able to use St. Louis’ paratransit service, Call-A-Ride, to get to his job. No vans are available, or the pickup windows being offered are hours before his shift starts. What would be a 20-minute drive on Call-A-Ride is 75 minutes via MetroLink plus bus, not counting the time he must spend walking to and from stops.
“Call-A-Ride would be a lot more ideal for me because the bus runs so infrequently,” said Choi. “If you miss it, you’re out of luck.”
Choi is one of many people affected by problems with St. Louis’ Call-A-Ride. Service area cuts that began in April are just one of the issues encountered by users, who are people with disabilities for whom fixed-route transit isn’t always an option.
Under federal law, these people are supposed to be able to get rides that take them from home to work or to run errands. Instead, they often find themselves struggling with an outdated, unreliable system that leaves them stranded.
‘We Keep Losing More and More Service’
When area advocates first learned of potential cuts to Call-A-Ride service areas in March, they asked Metro Transit to postpone them and consider alternative solutions.
They didn’t.
Metro Transit cited labor shortages as the reason for the cuts. More than a third of 47,000 Call-A-Ride trips requested in January 2023 had to be canceled, they said. Less than half of the open positions for van operators were filled.
“What we’re trying to do, especially with the service change, is match up our resources with our ability to provide service to our region,” says Charles Stewart, executive director of St. Louis Metro Transit, the regional system operated by Bi-State Development.
Metro Transit had cut bus service over the years but not adjusted Call-A-Ride service since 2016.
Adjusting the service area affected about 250 regular customers, according to Metro. However, advocates say the cuts impacted Call-A-Ride customers traveling into and out of those areas on top of the people living there.
According to federal law, Metro must provide Call-A-Ride service within three-fourths of a mile around existing MetroBus and MetroLink routes. That means some customers living in areas where bus service has been reduced faced a double blow of no longer being able to use Call-A-Ride, either.
“It’s really frustrating because we keep losing more and more service, and this is at the expense of people who need transportation the most,” says Robyn Wallen, the Transportation Committee chair of Missouri Council of the Blind.
Wallen, who is blind, is one of many advocates who filed a complaint in April with the U.S. Department of Justice and sent a letter to the Federal Transit Administration, citing numerous issues with local paratransit service.
These issues included pickup and drop-off windows that can vary by several hours, a requirement that riders pay for trips with cash and the requirement that users call to schedule rides between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., a time when many people are working. Most Call-A-Ride trips must also be scheduled three days in advance, Wallen says, when only one day in advance is required according to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. Lastly, riders are expected to be ready 15 minutes before their pickup time, which falls outside FTA guidelines.
In June, advocates met with Metro Transit representatives to discuss potential solutions, like bringing in consultants and allowing members of the public in-person attendance at Bi-State commissioners’ meetings so that commissioners can better understand the challenges that people with disabilities face. They also discussed the possibility of better wages and benefits for drivers.
Call-A-Ride van operators make less than bus and MetroLink drivers, with a starting pay of $17.85 an hour and $19.32 for more experienced employees. However, bus drivers make $28.49 an hour, and MetroLink operators make $29.23 an hour.
A $5,000 hiring bonus offered in July for essential transit positions has helped increase the number of Call-A-Ride driver trainees. Since then, Stewart says trip denials have decreased 50 percent and more than half of the budgeted positions have been filled.
“Things are coming along,” Stewart says.
But many riders say they’re still experiencing problems or have given up using the paratransit service.
‘Transportation That’s Not Reliable’
With seasons changing, some customers are nervous about slick sidewalks and extreme cold, as well as new cuts to existing bus routes.
Choi experienced this problem last winter.
He missed the 57 Manchester bus, an hourly bus that he takes as part of his commute to and from work. Choi then waited more than an hour outside after the mall had closed for the next bus to arrive. Unfortunately, the scheduled last bus never came that night.
“I felt kind of trapped,” says Choi, who eventually took Uber home at more than $20 for a single one-way trip. “My fear for this coming winter is that more routes will be canceled and having transportation that’s not reliable really adds to that barrier.”
While some Call-A-Ride customers splurge on Uber and Lyft to get around, for most it’s not affordable. Americans with disabilities tend to earn less than those without a disability, according to 2021 statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. People with a disability earned a median of $28,438 compared to those without a disability at $40,948.
As an alternative option to Call-A-Ride, Metro offers Via, a ride-share service that charges a flat fee of $2 for a one-way trip, the same as Call-A-Ride. However, it is only available in three parts of St. Louis County, the service will not cross into other Via areas, and for some, it may not provide accessible pickups or drop offs.
For Barbara Fletcher of Florissant, Via does not provide an accessible drop-off to visit her grandchildren.
“Call-A-Ride used to take me right to the steps of my grandkids’ apartment, but now Via drops me off on the opposite side of North Hanley,” says Fletcher, who uses a wheelchair after a stroke. “I can’t get across there.”
Keasha Orban of Hazelwood has also struggled to get around following service area cuts to Call-A-Ride. Orban is blind and currently recovering from knee surgery.
Parts of Orban’s neighborhood still fall within the Call-A-Ride service area. However, her house was taken off the map. Orban must now walk one-third of a mile down the street and wait in front of a neighbor's house to be picked up by Call-A-Ride.
“Walking down there was extremely painful,” says Orban, adding that there are no sidewalks in her neighborhood.
Running a ‘Modern, Efficient Transit System’
Staff from Paraquad, a disability services and support organization in St. Louis, and STL Metropolitan Alliance for Reliable Transit (SMART) were interviewed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Regan Hildebrand in September.
Hildebrand, who is part of the staff of federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Missouri, is investigating complaints made by Call-A-Ride users who feel Metro has failed to comply with transit requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. That includes such issues as having to call service lines hundreds of times before getting a ride or having to book a ride several days in advance.
Since then, the two advocacy organizations have compiled surveys that focus on Call-A-Ride users’ experiences as well as those navigating public transit.
Paraquad staff planned to start giving out surveys at FestAbility, an event held at the Missouri History Museum on October 7 that celebrated the disability community through education, empowerment and unity. However, two recent cyberattacks targeting Metro Transit brought down phone lines for booking Call-A-Ride trips; this prevented many people from attending the event, as well as other activities and errands.
Some are concerned that Metro may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks and other issues because of outdated software. They note that the paratransit service plan has also not been updated since 1992. (Metro Transit wouldn’t discuss the specifics of its software; however, Stewart says, “We are continuing to seek opportunities to enhance our operating procedures.”)
Jeanette Mott Oxford, Paraquad’s public policy and advocacy manager, wonders why consultants have not been brought in to alleviate issues, citing places where paratransit passengers have better experiences such as UZURV in Richmond, Virginia, and IRIS in Kansas City, Missouri.
“If you don’t have the capacity to build a system that works, why not bring in a consultant?” asks Oxford, a former state representative known for feisty advocacy work. “Why not run a modern, efficient transit system?”
Metro leaders say they are not considering consultants at this time. Bi-State President and Chief Operating Officer Taulby Roach defended that decision in an email to Paraquad in June.
“Outside consultants can be valuable, but in this case, we believe they would simply validate what we already know: the workforce shortage is negatively impacting our ability to recruit enough drivers to deliver the level of service our community needs and deserves,” Roach wrote. “We are in contact with other paratransit operations
across the country to learn best practices, ideas and new trends in mobility solutions that improve the services provided to our paratransit customers.”
Down the Road
Choi, who is working on a Master’s degree in social work at St. Louis University, also started an internship with Paraquad in August.
“What I’m doing right now is collecting data involving trip denials, and I’m flagging those in a document,” he says.
On a good day, Choi says he can use Call-A-Ride to get to Paraquad’s office — a 30-minute ride for what would be about an 8-minute drive from his apartment. But oftentimes, he says there are no vans going to or from Paraquad and his request is denied.
In an effort to dismantle barriers, Metro Transit plans to expand a smartphone pilot program that would allow passengers to pay without cash. In addition, Via service areas may also be expanded.
Some of these adjustments depend on staffing, though, and for those who depend on paratransit, they’re not enough.
“I think the biggest problem is that you have to plan your life around it [paratransit],” says Choi. “And it really shows how neglectful Metro is with Call-A-Ride.”
