Call and Ride: AMA transport for those who cannot board a bus

It is door-to-door transport for those the regular bus does not serve. The difference from AMA’s fixed-route service is that there is no stop and no fixed timetable: you book a trip, a vehicle comes to collect you within a thirty-minute window, and takes you. That is why the programme has two pieces people underestimate. The first is certification: having a disability is not enough, you must go through an assessment measuring whether you can use accessible public transport, and that assessment may include a functional test — walking to a stop, reading signs. The second is booking discipline: because each booked trip blocks a slot another client could not use, AMA has a written no-show policy with numeric thresholds and suspensions.

AMA’s document describes it thus: paratransit service is limited to people who cannot use fixed-route public transport systems unaided, occasionally or always, because of a disability or a related health condition. Eligibility is determined case by case and you must be certified before using the service. As part of the assessment, AMA may contact you by telephone, schedule a personal interview, carry out a functional ability evaluation, or consult your doctor, health professional or another specialist about your condition and abilities. If you are certified eligible, you will be eligible to travel within the service zone.

• Being unable to use fixed-route public transport systems unaided, occasionally or always, because of a disability or a related health condition.Verified against the official source
• Being certified as eligible: eligibility is determined case by case and the application form must be completed in full.Verified against the official source
• Being available, if required, for a second assessment, which may include a telephone interview, medical verification, or a personal interview with a functional test.Verified against the official source

• The Call and Ride Programme Eligibility Certification Application form, completed in full.
• AMA also publishes the No Show Policy and the programme Regulation, and an OSAC-001 form to file complaints or reports about the use of AMA or the Call and Ride Programme.

1. 1

   Step 1: Get the form and complete it in full

   The document says it plainly: to apply for eligibility you must complete the attached form in full, and the application must be properly filled in. If you need the material in Braille, large print, audio tape or computer disc, AMA publishes a number to request it: 787-294-0500, extensions 1400 or 1402, or 787-274-1032.

2. 2

   Step 2: Count 21 business days, and know what happens if they pass

   Once received, the application is processed within 21 business days. You will receive written notice of the determination by mail. And here is the part almost nobody knows: if an eligibility determination takes more than 21 business days, you may receive eligibility allowing you to use the paratransit service until a final determination is reached. If the term has passed with no answer, do not wait in silence: call and ask about that provisional eligibility.

3. 3

   Step 3: If you are denied, you have the right to appeal

   The document is explicit: if you disagree with the eligibility determination, you have the right to appeal, and information on how to appeal is included with your eligibility notice. Do not look for it elsewhere: it arrives with the letter.

4. 4

   Step 4: Cancel two hours ahead: that is the line

   The policy defines three types of cancellation. Advance cancellation: you call and cancel a scheduled trip at least two hours before the pickup window, and that carries no penalty. For morning trips scheduled for pickup before 8:00 a.m., you must leave a cancellation message before 6:00 a.m. or use the automated system. Late cancellation: you do not call with those two hours’ notice, and it is treated as a no-show. Cancelling at the door: the vehicle arrives within the thirty-minute pickup period and you tell the driver you no longer need the trip; that counts as a no-show too. And mind this: the driver is not responsible for cancelling the other trips you have booked that day; you must call to do that.

5. 5

   Step 5: A no-show on the outbound does not cancel the return

   This detail doubles the strikes without people realising. The Call and Ride Programme schedules pickup and return trips separately, and assumes every scheduled return trip is needed unless the client or their representative says otherwise. If a pickup trip results in a no-show, AMA will not automatically cancel the return trip, and a no-show on the return counts as a second no-show that day. If you are going to miss it, cancel both.

6. 6

   Step 6: Know the suspension numbers

   The policy is arithmetic. In any calendar month, a client who booked ten or more trips and has no-shows or late cancellations on at least 20% of those trips receives a warning notice. So that only habitual offenders are suspended, three or more warning notices must accumulate before a suspension. All suspension periods begin on a Monday, and after three warning letters the duration is: first infraction in a calendar year, seven days; second infraction, seven days; third infraction, fourteen days. And there is an important relief: trips cancelled for reasons beyond the client’s control are not counted as no-shows — sudden illness, family or personal emergency, transit connection delay, appointment delay, extreme weather, operator error, paratransit delay or other unforeseen reasons. But it is your responsibility to contact the programme to explain why you did not cancel, as soon as possible; failure to make contact results in a no-show being issued.

AMA’s Call and Ride Programme publishes its documents on the AMA page at dtop.pr.gov. For reservations, cancellations, status and “will call”, the published telephones are 787-294-0500 and 787-274-1032. The physical address is 37 Ave. De Diego, Urb. San Francisco, Río Piedras, and the postal one Box 195349, San Juan, PR 00919-5349; the published fax is 787-751-0527. For service complaints, AMA publishes form OSAC-001.

• Believing having a disability is enough: eligibility is certified case by case after assessing functional ability.
• Waiting silently when the 21 business days pass, instead of asking about the provisional eligibility the document contemplates.
• Looking elsewhere for how to appeal a denial: the information comes with the eligibility notice.
• Cancelling with less than two hours’ notice without knowing it counts as a no-show.
• Cancelling the outbound trip and assuming the return cancels itself: it counts as a second no-show.
• Telling the driver to cancel your other trips that day: you must call the programme.
• Not telling the programme when you missed a trip because of an emergency: without contact, the strike is issued anyway.
• For trips with pickup before 8:00 a.m., cancelling after 6:00 a.m.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  www.dtop.pr.gov

• Call and Ride Programme Eligibility Certification Application

  dtop

  docs.pr.gov

• Call and Ride Programme No-Show Policy

  dtop

  docs.pr.gov