FORT MITCHELL, Ky. — A new transportation service in northern Kentucky is taking people with disabilities where they need to go. Other rideshare programs have offered service to people with disabilities, but one customer tells Spectrum News 1 those services have often fallen short of expectation.
For most people, satisfying an ice cream craving is as simple as getting in the car and driving to their favorite spot. But as a blind woman, Jennifer Holladay has to plan out those simple trips.
“Transportation has always been a struggle. I’ve taken the paratransit,” Holladay said. “Sometimes you don’t always know if you’re going to get picked up when you’re supposed to, or how long you’re going to have to wait.”
In fact, there’s a long list of struggles she’s encountered using other transportation services.
“Sometimes the drivers won’t come look for you, so you don’t know where the car’s going to be. I have had rideshares that have left me because they wouldn’t take instructions to be able to find where I was at and I would explain: I’m blind, I can’t see you, and they would just leave and not try to come find me,” she said. “And I’ve also taken rideshare services, where I’ve been denied a ride because of my seeing-eye dog, which they’re not supposed to do, but they do anyway.”
That’s a deal-breaker when it comes to her service dog, Lulu, who Holladay said “goes everywhere I go.”
That’s not a problem for Allen Hebel and Lori Meininger, who brought Ride A Wav to northern Kentucky a few months ago. Wav stands for wheelchair accessible vehicle.
“There is a need for transportation for people that want to go places other than doctor appointments or medical appointments,” Meininger said. “Places such as a wedding or a family gathering, or a funeral or a ballgame.”
Or it could be a trip to Graeter’s to get a cone of Holladay’s favorite, double chocolate chip.
“Just the security of having someone make sure that you come to the door and meet me and make sure that I get in the car and get safely to where I need to go and not just leave me randomly somewhere stranded,” Holladay said. “I feel like it’s really helpful.”
Hebel, who has years of experience transporting people with disabilities, said the door-to-door service sets them apart.
“We’re gonna get you to the vehicle. We’re gonna make sure that we find you, if you’re not in the exact space you’re supposed to be. And we’re gonna go and get you inside where you’re supposed to be going,” he said.
Right now, the business is just him, Meininger and one other driver. They’ve been staying busy.
“We thought that this would be an opportunity for us to make life a little bit better for people that have special needs,” Meininger said. “The joy that it brings to people is extremely gratifying for both of us. People have been just super happy to be able to access things that they haven’t been able to for a very long time.”
In regard to feedback, Hebel said, “I haven’t had one person say to me, eh, it was alright.”
Holladay said she’ll definitely use the service again. Lulu seemed to be a satisfied customer as well.
Ride a Wav was started in New York. Hebel and Meininger said they hope to expand.
Appointments can be made by phone at (859) 918-9900, and they also have an app called “Limo Anywhere.” Rides cost $48 and an additional $2.40 per mile.