Punishment by Overpricing and Poor Service

Being disabled is tough enough without experiencing added cost when individuals in wheelchairs decide to travel within their metropolitan area. 

By Stephen Tennial

Hi, I am Stephen Tennial, and I am a wheelchair user who decided to start using cab companies for my transportation needs after many bad experiences with MATAplus. After the onset of COVID service with MATAplus got even worse.

Prior to the beginning of the pandemic I had begun to slow my usage of MATAplus. Instead of scheduling several trips at once, which some included recreation, I only scheduled trips related to work. Then the Pandemic happened, and I stopped using MATA services altogether because MATAplus is a shared ride and I was afraid of coming in contact with someone who had COVID.

I still had transportation needs, so I decided to start using a privately owned cab. At first, the prices were reasonable. I mean I would pay what I thought was 20 dollars more than an abled-bodied individual. An example of this would be a trip from Raleigh to Whitehaven would cost me 60 dollars. 

However, as time went on I began using different drivers due to various reasons i.e. (mechanical

issues, and scheduling conflicts). It was about this time that I saw a price increase across the board. The trip that I would pay 60 to go from Raleigh to Whitehaven increased to 100 dollars. The payment of 100 dollars would be the norm for any trip that I would schedule, unless I went to the Wolf Chase Mall, and that was 120.

My worst encounter with using cabs for transportation was actually my first experience with the Yellow Cab Company. This incident occurred in 2016 at the University of Memphis. Around 7:00 P.M. I had just gotten out of class on February 14. It was cold and raining, and I had a dinner reservation (which I made one month in advance) to go from the U of M to a nearby restaurant. When I contacted the company to ask where was my ride, they told me they had 3 drivers in wheelchair accessible vans, and none would be available. I explained to the cab company that I was in a wheelchair, and that I had made my reservation one month earlier. 

All I received was an apology, and I had to wait until 11:PM before I was picked up. Having a disability does not mean that one should be penalized by experiencing overpriced, and poor service.