Wheels Dial-a-Ride serves ADA customers with on-demand door-to-door service
Wheels Dial-A-Ride is a door-to-door public shared-ride transportation service for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) paratransit eligible passengers. Dial-A-Ride provides a convenient, cost-effective transportation option for persons with disabilities. Dial-A-Ride is public shared ride transportation, meaning that other customers may be picked up and dropped off along the route. Various vehicles are used for Dial-A-Ride service.
Wheels Dial-A-Ride provides service in Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton
Wheels Dial-A-Ride service area includes the cities of Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton.
In addition, in an effort to make traveling across multiple public transit service areas easier and safer for paratransit riders, Wheels is participating in a collaborative One-Seat Regional Ride Pilot Program. Agencies participating in the pilot are: Wheels, County Connection, Tri Delta Transit and WestCAT. The pilot program eliminates required transfers for trips that cross multiple transit service areas, providing a one-seat for the entire duration of your trip. The cost depends on the participating agency’s paratransit fares. When you book your one-seat ride, the reservationist will tell you your final fare.
Service hours:
Weekdays: 4:30 am to midnight
Weekends: 5:00 am to 11:30 pm
Fares for Wheels Dial-A-Ride Service
Single
one-way trip
$3.75
Personal Care Attendants (PCA) ride for free with a qualifying ADA rider. Companions (non-PCA) can accompany a rider, but they must pay a full fare.
Buy Dial-A-Ride Tickets at the Transit Center or onboard
- Purchase prepaid tickets at the Wheels Administrative Office or at the Livermore Transit Center. Tickets are non-refundable.
- Pay the driver in cash (exact change only; drivers do not carry cash).
How to book a trip on Wheels Dial-A-Ride
Reservations are taken by phone at 925-455-7510 daily from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm. Reservations must be made 1 to 7 days in advance. Before making a reservation, please make sure to register for Dial-A-Ride service. Dial-A-Ride service is only available for eligible ADA passengers.
Call to book a trip
- Standing orders are available for repeated trips.
- Reservations have a 30-minute pick-up window.
- For trips going into service areas of other Bay Area ADA paratransit providers, bookings must be completed by 3 pm the day before.
- Passenger’s name
- Pick-up and drop-off addresses
- Trip date and eventual appointment time
- Information about accompanying persons: Personal Care Attendant, companion, service animal, or child
- Mobility aid used (wheelchair, scooter, walker, etc.)
- Passenger assistance needed for waiting at his/her destination
- Any other information the passenger feels the paratransit driver should have to help them travel in a safe and timely manner.
For changes & cancellations, please call Dial-A-Ride at 925-455-7510.
- Changes to existing reservations must be notified to Dial-A-Ride at least one day before the scheduled trip.
- If an appointment takes longer than expected, passengers should call as soon as possible and arrange a new pick-up window. Requested time cannot be guaranteed in this situation.
- Cancellations less than one hour before the scheduled pick-up window will incur penalties.
General Customer Service 925-455-7500
AT&T’s California Relay Service is available for individuals with hearing/speech impairments: 877-735-2929 (TTY), or you may dial 711.
Pleasanton Paratransit Service 925-931-5376
Wheels Dial-A-Ride will pick you up at your desired location
Pick-up windows for Dial-A-Ride service are 30 minutes from time booked
- Passengers must be ready within five minutes of the vehicle’s arrival.
- Passengers are picked up at the entrance of the pick-up location.
- The driver will wait with passengers who have a Do Not Leave Alone note in their passenger file until the connecting transit agency’s vehicle arrives or a person at the destination receives the passenger (within 5 minutes). The reservationist has been notified of this need during the booking.
- If a medical appointment takes longer than expected, please notify dispatch immediately to arrange a new pick-up time.
Wheels Dial-A-Ride Service accommodates mobility aids
Passengers using mobility aids will be accommodated whenever safely possible. An accessible vehicle will be sent out for a passenger using a mobility aid. All Wheels Dial-A-Ride drivers have received special training in boarding and securing wheelchairs. It is suggested that all wheelchairs have locking brakes. For safety reasons, individuals in scooter-type mobility devices may be asked to move to a seat. Mobility devices must be free of bags, baskets, and any other attachments that may interfere with securement.
Exceptions
A mobility aid, when occupied by a user that exceeds the specified maximum weight capacity of the lift/ramp on a Dial-A-Ride vehicle, may not be accommodated.
Please note that drivers are not permitted to operate the controls of any powered mobility device.
All Dial-A-Ride riders are required to wear a seatbelt
Lap belts will be provided for individuals who use wheelchairs and do not have their own lap belts.
Wheels aims to provide fair, consistent service to all customers. The policies that follow are in place to ensure the best experience for Wheels Dial-A-Ride customers.
Dial-A-Ride is a door-to-door service. Drivers assist passengers from the pick-up location door to the van.
Our drivers are not allowed to:
- Enter private residences including garages
- Take passengers beyond the front entrance of the drop-off location
- Lose sight of their vehicle
- Assist with shopping bags of reasonable weight or luggage for more than two trips from vehicle
- Take individuals in wheelchairs up or down any stairs, steep ramps or inclines
When door-to-door service could result in hazardous conditions to Dial-A-Ride passengers, staff or property, service will be provided curbside or at a safe, alternative location.
When door-to-door service could result in the possibility of missing passengers and causing confusion (such as at large facilities), service will be provided at predetermined locations.
No shows and late cancellations prevent other passengers from obtaining rides and prevent Dial-A-Ride from operating effectively. To avoid penalties, please cancel a trip you do not plan to take as soon as you know you do not want that ride, at least one (1) hour before the scheduled pick-up time. Consecutive missed services may result in service suspension.
Definition of missed service
A missed service refers to the following:
Late cancellations: a cancellation made less than one (1) hour before the scheduled pick-up time
No shows: a trip for which a patron is not present at the prearranged location and has provided no advanced communication to DAR about a schedule change
Sanctions
For patrons who have 20% or higher “Missed Services” within any given month (from the 1st day to the last), and at least three (3) “Missed Services” during that month, will have the following sanctions imposed on a progressive basis:
1st Sanction – Disciplinary phone call from the Paratransit Operations Manager
2nd Sanction – Formal written correspondence from LAVTA, which will warn the patron that another month of excessive “Missed Services” will result in a 15-day suspension of the service.
3rd Sanction – Formal notification of a 15-day suspension of the service. The proposed suspension dates will be no sooner than 20 days after sending the written correspondence to provide time for an appeal by the patron. The notification will warn the patron that another month of excessive “Missed Services” will result in a 30-day suspension of service.
4th Sanction – Formal notification of a 30-day suspension of the service. The proposed suspension dates will be no sooner than 20 days after sending the written correspondence to provide time for an appeal by the patron. The notification will warn the patron that another month of excessive “Missed Services” will result in a 60-day suspension of service.
5th Sanction – Formal notification of a 60-day suspension of the service. The proposed suspension dates will be no sooner than 20 days after sending the written correspondence to provide time for an appeal by the patron. The notification will warn the patron that another month of excessive “Missed Services” will result in a 90-day suspension of service.
6th Sanction – Formal notification of a 90-day suspension of the service. The proposed suspension dates will be no sooner than 20 days after sending the written correspondence to provide time for an appeal by the patron. This notification will warn the patron that another month of excessive “Missed Services” will result in another 90-day suspension of service.
Sanctions will be administered progressively for each month that the infractions continue. The number of months which exceed the 20% and 3 “Missed Services” rate will be calculated over a rolling 24-month period.
The patron has seven (7) calendar days after the date of the missed service placard to informally appeal to change a “Missed Service” to an “Excused Missed Service” to the Dial-A-Ride Operations Manager (placards cannot be used if the pick up location is a public place). The patron also has seven (7) calendar days after the date of the suspension notification to appeal the suspension in writing.
The patron is not penalized for no-shows or late cancels that occur because of verified sudden emergencies, which make it impossible for the patron to cancel less than one (1) hour before the trip. The patron is also not penalized for being a No Show if the ride arrived late (after the end of the pick up window) or if the vehicle was dispatched to a wrong address.
Dial-A-Ride will only grant same day service requests if the planned daily schedules can accommodate the request.
The pick up window is defined as a thirty (30) minute time period starting from the scheduled pick-up time. The pick-up is considered on time if the vehicle arrives anytime within the 30 minute pick-up window. For example, if the pick-up is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., the vehicle may arrive anytime between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and be considered on time.
Passengers should be ready and waiting for the driver at their scheduled pick-up time. As a courtesy to other passengers, please plan to be ready early. The driver will leave five minutes after the vehicle’s arrival to the pick-up location.
A personal care attendant may accompany a passenger free of charge if your eligibility determination states that you need one. A companion may accompany a passenger and ride at the same fare as the passenger, provided that the attendant or companion is picked up and dropped off at the same point as the passenger, and there is room on the van. Please notify Dial-A-Ride at the time the trip is scheduled that an attendant or companion will accompany you.
In order to provide safe transportation for all Dial-A-Ride clients, all riders are required to use a seatbelt. Lap belts will be provided for individuals who use wheelchairs and do not have their own lap belt.
If you are traveling with a child who requires the use of a safety seat, you will need to bring the safety seat with you. Dial-A-Ride does not provide child safety seats.
Although not required by the ADA, subscription reservations are available on a limited basis for trips that recur at the same time on the same days over a period of time to and from the same addresses. Typical subscription trips include those for school, jobs, hemodialysis, chemotherapy, and other medical treatments. If space is not available for a subscription trip, you may ask to be placed on a waiting list, which is reviewed regularly. It is important to remember that standing reservations are NOT guaranteed, and may be capped at not more than 50% of all rides in any given time period. If you are unable to secure a standing ride trip, you may still call the day before, or up to seven days before, for each individual trip.
If your trip is to a physician’s office, please let your physician know that you will be using Dial-A-Ride service and ask how long the visit will take. Please let the scheduler know what time to return for you. It is always better to allow extra time because physicians frequently run late due to emergencies.
Dial-A-Ride service is a shared-ride service, which means that other riders with different destinations will be picked up and dropped off along the way. Your trip will take longer than if you took a taxi or drove yourself. Please be aware that you will be picked up and dropped off in the order that is most productive for the service.
The Americans with Disabilties Act (ADA) requires that paratransit services have comparable travel times to fixed-route bus service. For intercity trips, a regular bus trip can take over an hour including transfer time. Dial-A-Ride passengers should be prepared for a similar trip length.
The right to paratransit under ADA cannot be restricted based on where the individual lives. An individual that does not reside in the LAVTA service area, seeking to utilize WHEELS ADA paratransit service may be certified by another transit system. When the specific trip is made, the WHEELS scheduler may ask if the person is ADA certified by another transit system. If so and appropriate documentation is provided, WHEELS shall honor that certification and provide the service, within any prescribed limits of that certification.
If the individual is not able to produce documentation of ADA certification by another transit system, but claims to be eligible for service, service will be provided. However, WHEELS may request proof that the individual is not a resident, and in some cases (for hidden impairment conditions), medical documentation may be required.
LAVTA will attempt to process visitor requests within 24 hours upon receipt. Under no circumstances is a visitor to the system entitled to service beyond twenty-one (21) days, in any combination, during any 365-day period beginning with the visitor’s first use of the service.
Passengers using mobility aids will be accommodated whenever safely possible. A passenger who uses a mobility aid may be required to attend an in-person assessment at the LAVTA offices (at no cost to the passenger).
Weight
A mobility aid, when occupied by a user that exceeds the specified maximum weight capacity of the lift/ramp on a Dial-A-Ride vehicle may not be accommodated. Occupied mobility aids exceeding the weight capacity of the ramp/lift will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Dimensions
Mobility aids will be accommodated on paratransit vehicles as long as the mobility aid and user do not exceed the size of the mobility aid securement area on the vehicle. As a safety requirement, mobility aids cannot block the aisle and cannot present a physical threat to other passengers.
Mobility Aid Securements and Passenger Restraints
Wheelchairs and other mobility aids must be secured to the Dial-A-Ride vehicles, ideally via a four-point tie-down system, and passengers must use the appropriate personal restraints. Passengers refusing the securements and/or restraints will be asked to deboard the vehicle.
