Winning the battle one driver/passenger at a time

[scotty1024]

Got my first take off before the Segway was secure operator today on my way home.

I'd just gotten the seat up and was guiding the Segway into place when he up and took off. I step back hanging on to the Segway and trying to remain balanced as I said "Operator, we are not secure!"

He kept going.

I yelled asking if he'd leave with an unsecured wheelchair. That got his attention. He stopped, spiked the bus and I had the Segway secured before he could un-buckle and come back (I'm getting fast now.)

I gave him my best hairy eyeball and said "I'm disabled, I'm not Superman. We're secure operator."

I sat down, he buckled back up and proceeded to test my work by having to panic stop because of a car he didn't see.

We get to my stop and he follows me off the bus and proceeds to lecture me! "I don't know what that thing is!" "You didn't ask, other operators ask if they want to know." yabba yabba no apology everything was my fault.

As I had been warned: don't get angry, you won't like who you are when you're angry. I didn't disengage quickly enough, he got me angry and the meds made me wobbly. I did a full back plant on take off. My balance was just gone, like slipping on ice.

My wrist is still painful, I pulled something right where the wrist meets the palm. More Advil, more ice.

Can't let them wear me down. But at this rate I'll have gone through every driver Sound Transit has before Metro comes online. I mean do none of these folks read memos?

The morning commute was another caller, everyone got to wait. Driver wouldn't help with the passengers. As usual the women were the problem. So far its always been the women whom never want to give up an ADA reserved seat.

My new technique du jour: reach under and pull the latch on the seat. When the seat moves: she moved. When she protested I pointed to the placard swinging from the accessory bar and then to the "passengers must surrender these seats" sign and said "Thank you for your cooperation." and straped the Segway down. I'm panting hard enough after securing the Segway, I really don't have the energy to do the driver's clearance job as well.

[scotty1024]

This morning my wrist hurts so badly there is no way I could strap down the Segway. I'm back to personal turtle mode trying not to trip over anything as I walk to/from the Metro bus, with rest breaks.

[Eric Payne]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

This morning my wrist hurts so badly there is no way I could strap down the Segway. I'm back to personal turtle mode trying not to trip over anything as I walk to/from the Metro bus, with rest breaks.

Scotty,

When I was using the Maricopa County (AZ) transit system to "fill-in" for me, I secured the Segway I was using in a different way - and it worked especially well with The Professor, the i2 that replaced Gilligan, my Gen1.

In Maricopa County, the "disabled seating" area was right inside the back door. In fact, the back door was frequently where the wheelchair ramp was located. The back entrance area folded out into a ramp.

The seats there were two bench-type seats mounted along the side of the bus, with the seats, themselves, facing into the aisle of the bus. At the end of the bench seats, there'd be a single "suicide seat," generally a seat facing forward that was right up against the divider right at the rear door. All of these would fold up, so that a person in a wheelchair strap themself in - but the bench seating was not limited to the disabled.

I'd roll in, fold up one side of the bench seating and "suicide seat" on one side of the bus. I'd then lay my Segway flat, making sure the base was in that space where the "suicide seat" was folded up. I'd secure The Professor to the floor via the safety belt set up on the floor, wrapping them around the LSF, then buckling them in place. Under the "suicide seat" there was usually another set of straps with a hook on the end of them - these are used to secure a wheelchair by it's frame, once the wheelchair's wheels have also locked into place in the track(s) under the folded up seat. I'd secure those hooks somewhere on the frame of The Professor.

Then I'd fold down the bench style seat, so there was still room for people to sit; The Professor was tied down underneath that seating. To further secure The Professor, I would stand with my feet/legs in front of the base, and hold on to the straps that dangled from the ceiling.

Because of the side cargo bag, there was a little sticking out into the aisle, but only an inch or so. Standing in front of the base - and I do mean directly in front of the base, in stationary position before the bus took off after I got on and secured The Professor, my ankles/calfs were right against the power base - prevented it from sliding in any direction - my legs just stopped it.

Plus, I never had a problem with people on the bench seat when I needed to get off; most of them (especially at/near rush hours) were used to losing their seat when a handicapped person got on... and to not lose their seat, they didn't mind standing for a minute or two for me to unsecure The Professor when it was time for me to get off.

Eric Payne
Lawrenceville, GA

[Gihgehls]

I'm loving your little blog here. Keep up the good stories!

[stephen58]

Scotty

You sir, have the patience of a saint. Now I’m probably the most un-confrontational person you would ever meet, but what you are putting up with in using the buses is to me unbelievable.

You are right in not getting angry, or confrontational, but what you should do (in my opinion anyway) is to document what goes on. I would have a small hand held tape recorder in my pocket, and I would document what went on. Slam the door in my face, be rude to me, help others but not me, drive off without my equipment secured, load everyone else first so there is no room for me, all that and anything else I thought appropriate would be recorded.

Then once I had enough documentation I would go down to the bus company, and ask to speak to a supervisor. I would give them a copy of my documentation, and tell them this is what I put up with. I would record who I spoke to, the time I met with them, and their response. Of course in all probability nothing will change, or very little will. In that case I would just keep on documenting, and going to the bus company.

It’s a pain I know, but documentation also could work in your favor if the bus driver takes off and your Segway isn’t tied down, and it goes flying, injuring someone. The bus driver will of course blame you, but if you have already documented other times that it has happened. Then the blame should fall on the driver.

Stephen

[cmonkey]

The right media group would have a field day!

[scotty1024]

X-rays came back with no broken bones just evidence of a severe wrench. The Doctor estimates it could be a week in the splint and for God Sakes don't take any more Ibuprofen! Seems with my marginal heart function I can take a dose or two but no more. My doses are done for now: I'm now on Tylenol only. They dull the pain a bit but I can't take anything else due to my heart.

The Doctor thinks I hurt it during the unsecured drive off when I was dancing with the Segway and trying to hold on to the bus whilst communicate with the operator that I really didn't enjoy dancing with my buddy.

The Sound Transit Accessibility Coordinator is back to not taking my calls. He never did respond to the "sorry we're now full" situation. Now I have a splint to show him and a complaint about the PA lady on Sunday.

To those that comment on my patience: meds. If I upset the meds they fight back. I get angry and I get dizzy/wobbly. You quickly realize you don't get to be angry anymore. And if you let them get to you, well you kinda fall over.

If I feel my wrist can take the strain of securing the Segway tomorrow morning then I'm going to try and see the coordinator in person tomorrow on the way home.

Getting to/from the Segway Dealer today convinced me I'm not going down to see him without my Segway.

It felt good, even if I was really tired, to just blend in with the crowd again. No pleading to get on the bus, no pleading for a seat or escalation to yanking the latch, no waiting to leave the bus, no fear on leaving the bus. Just get on, sit down and take a nap. But it truly is too far for me to comfortably walk... perhaps ever again. My leg/core muscles are getting stronger but the main pump isn't setting quite the same pace. And so far it insists it gets the overarching veto on endurance.

[cmonkey]

I think you should contact your local news station, and have them follow you "under cover" for a week or two.

Then if you do get timely responses from the transit agency.....

let loose the hounds of bad press. That should make the meds enjoyable

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by Eric Payne

Scotty,

When I was using the Maricopa County (AZ) transit system to "fill-in" for me, I secured the Segway I was using in a different way - and it worked especially well with The Professor, the i2 that replaced Gilligan, my Gen1.

In Maricopa County, the "disabled seating" area was right inside the back door. In fact, the back door was frequently where the wheelchair ramp was located. The back entrance area folded out into a ramp.

Sorry just realized I haven't described the hardware very well here. I enjoyed your description of the above transit system.

The best buses in both Sound Transit's and Metro's fleets are the kneelers. These buses employ a low-rider style pneumatic suspension that allows the bus to kneel down to the curb on the entrance side.

The buses have two doors and are articulated, which means you have a main bus cabin and a towed cabin that is hooked to the main cabin via an accordion section over the hitch.

They are commonly described as being double length busses. Each cabin has a door. But only the operator's door has a ramp that pops up out of the floor and swings up and over to make contact with the curb.

These buses come with either a diesel, diesel electric, or diesel electric with battery power system. The battery equipped busses are employed on routes going through the Seattle bus tunnel for zero emissions/low noise whilst underground.

The wheels intrude up into the cabins to enable the bus cabin floor to ride low enough to kneel. The wheel wells are roughly hip high for most riders.

Riding one of these busses whilst it is equipped with snow/ice chains can be un-nerving as you realize the wheels really are up in the cabin with you.

The two wheel chair/accessible equipment bays are located behind the two front wheel wells in the main cabin. Each has a flip up bench seat facing into the aisle with a latch that is released by pulling a red ring under the forward end of the seat.

Once the seat has been swung upwards and latched you find a seat belt mechanism with a knobbed handle ratchet and tiny release lever. I say tiny because my tired eyes can never find it and I have to find it by feel with one hand whilst I grab the seat belt with the other hand.

You push/pull the Segway into the bay and lean the column against the side of the bus. I depend upon the camel knee pad on the handlebar bag to be the bumper for the side of the bus. You then bend forward and pull out a length of the seat belt and then loop the seat belt end through both Stoke Straps. You then click the seat belt into itself and reach down to the ratchet knob and crank in the seat belt until the Segway is securely held against the side of the bus. Most of the force is directly through the wheels not the handle bar bag.

The bench seat seats two and if it split in half things would be ideal as the Segway only uses one slot. As it is presently you have to use up two slots for the Segway and pray for a third seat for yourself.

A Rascal uses up four slots. Behind the fold up bench seats already described are forward facing bench seats that also fold up. For a Rascal you have to clear and fold up both bench seats. There is a second seat belt mechanism under the second seat to secure the rear of the Rascal.

The Segway is very friendly appearing while in bondage. Left to their own devices SRO riders boarding after it is bound down will put their bags on it or hang them off the handle bars. Taller riders will stand straddling either the empty cargo rack or the Givi bag side. I try to discourage riders from standing over the naked inverted V of the empty cargo rail. The blunted top of the V doesn't seem to invoke images of impalement for them.

The local Segway dealer doesn't carry Stoke Straps and seemed uninterested in carrying them. Since I'm the only one crazy/desperate enough to be boarding a Segway on Sound Transit busses I can appreciate their lack of financial interest.

Maybe once my Cardiologist comes around I'll have more fellow travelers.

[Eric Payne]

Scotty,

Judging by your description, I'm just guessing public transportation in Washington state - at least where you live - is actually something people use! In Maricopa county, if there were more than four people on a bus line at any time outside of rush hour, it was unusual.

I wasn't around in these forums when you started this thread; I do not know the extent of your cardiac disease.

September 15th, 2009, will be my tenth anniversary of Congestive Heart Failure. I've been on the heart transplant list for three years last month, but am not likely to get one: in the course of the last nine years, other organs have failed/are failing that would be adversely affected (read: "killed" ) by the anti-rejection and recovery protocol following a heart transplant. So I'd need a multiple organ transplant, with all the organs coming from the same donor. The odds of a kidney, liver (or piece of a liver), lungs and heart all being available at one time are so remote...

And I'm okay with that. I'll just keep taking the drugs they pile on - up to 27 different medications a day, some being taken twice a day, and counting! - and letting my life unravel before me.

One of the organs adversely affected has been my hypothalmus which controls, among other things, my internal body temperature. In April, 2007, while going on my daily walk to the grocer's and back home, I collapsed on the street, a victim of heat stroke on a day when the temperature was in the mid-80s. At that time, my spouse of 13 years (anniversary just last week), Bill, researched Arizona law, and found out that an electric wheelchair and a "electronic self-balancing two-wheeled tandem" device.

About the only thing it didn't have was a picture of a Segway!

So now, I'm at home, picking up an occasional project. My mobility issues have been met, and Bill doesn't have to leave work, or go in early, when I have to have a PT test, or an ECHO, or just a regular appointment. And I can pop down to the FedEX office and get the DVDs back to the producers in time to get them to new cast members. It all works out.

Not to mention... it's a LOT of fun, isn't it?