For some Tallahassee residents with disabilities, getting to work has become significantly more difficult after the shuttering of i-Enable, a ride service for the Florida capital that offered a low-cost, door-to-door option with pickups within 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
Here’s what to know<\/p>\n
According to WTXL<\/a>, after Gov. Ron DeSantis cut $6 million in state support for the Innovative Service Development Grant Program, i-Enable ended its transportation program on July 1.<\/p>\n A 15-minute pickup window had made commuting more predictable for riders with disabilities who used i-Enable.<\/p>\n Rider Matt Blair said the service’s loss hit him hard.<\/p>\n “I was really upset. I was really mad,” Blair said.<\/p>\n Blair said the replacement options have been less dependable for getting him to work on time.<\/p>\n “With Dial-A-Ride or StarMetro they’re always late, and I can’t be late for work. Like for example, one day I was late for work on a Sunday. I almost got in trouble with my boss out that Sunday,” he said.<\/p>\n Another rider, Walker Bullington, said the closure has left him paying more out of pocket at times, especially when public transit is not available.<\/p>\n “Especially on a Sunday morning when StarMetro doesn’t run till 10:30, and it’s like my Uber ride yesterday was like $37,” Bullington said.<\/p>\n “That’s the issue. Ubers are really expensive. Why so expensive? Like for people, especially people with disabilities like us, like they should be for free,” Blair said.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n According to Amanda Lewis, a co-owner of Future Pathways, the loss of i-Enable has added transportation difficulties for some clients, WTXL reported. Future Pathways is a Tallahassee organization that helps people with disabilities find jobs and build independence.<\/p>\n “Some of the difficulties have been just learning a new program like Dial-A-Ride. So they had to go through an application, that took a while. So some of them had a gap in transportation, and I mean they have jobs in the community. So if their parents are working all day every day, how are they going to get to and from work?” Lewis said.<\/p>\n In a written statement, i-Enable said in part: “Through our experience with the Innovation and Service Development Grant, i-Enable has seen firsthand that Florida and some of its most vulnerable residents would benefit from a secondary transportation option specifically designed to meet the unique transportation needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n These stories explore transportation access issues similar to the ones Tallahassee riders are dealing with now that i-Enable has shut down. They cover transit design problems, car dependence, and lower-cost fare programs.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Los Angeles, riders say rail lines remain too disconnected<\/a> for transit to work well.<\/p>\n \u2022 Across the U.S., rankings show unwalkable neighborhoods leave residents<\/a> dependent on cars for everyday trips.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Seoul, the new Climate Pass lets residents<\/a> commute more cheaply on public transit.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some Tallahassee residents with disabilities, getting to work has become significantly more difficult after the shuttering of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[161048,36854,57470,162124,161049,26881,232,234,233,162125,5855,562],"class_list":["post-408152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-amanda-lewis","tag-disabilities","tag-florida-capital","tag-innovative-service-development-grant-program","tag-matt-blair","tag-starmetro","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-transportation-program","tag-vulnerable-residents","tag-wtxl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}