I will be posting often to share stories we all need to consider in order to gain a better understanding of the different ways transportation has become a barrier for our community. I hope that you will share your experiences too! If you aren't able to share here, or want to remain anonymous, please share them to my email: pippysart@gmail.com
Safety:
Domestic violence crisis line: An advocate answers the phone at 10pm to assist someone needing to flee a DV situation. The advocate has resources and connections within reach to get their client to safety to include housing, food and gas cards and funding for other means of transportation. It is strictly discouraged to provide transportation for a client needing to flee for safety reasons; however, the taxi doesn't answer their phone, and the advocate has to make a conscious decision of what to do next. The client needs to leave immediately. The advocate continues to attempt to get through to the taxi over the next half hour knowing that things can shift drastically within seconds. The advocate finally decides to start her vehicle at 10:30pm and meet the client needing to flee. The nearest shelter will only accept the intake before 11pm. Advocate was able to meet the client in the safest way she could. The advocate and client make it to the shelter with 5 minutes to spare.
Though this story seems as if the advocate handled it the best way she could, the need for transportation wasn't met and this story could have ended differently risking the safety of client and/or advocate. The advocate had the right to not provide the ride due to safety concerns. It just wasn't an option for this particular advocate as they felt the client needed assistance immediately.
Most rural agencies only have 1 on-call crisis line advocate. At times, that advocate is handling many calls in one day/night.
Bussing wasn't available, taxi service unavailable, client refused to ask for the assistance of Hibbing PD (and that is their right to do so).
How could having Uber service be helpful in this situation?
- Good working relationships with those we know who become Uber drivers
- Uber driver's have to pass background checks, vehicle inspections, insurance verifications
- Uber has safety measures in place: location tracking and monitoring. Quick access to 9-1-1 if needed
- Advocate can remain at home handling the crisis line (not missing calls while assisting a client) and also remain safe.
- Client can be assisted almost immediately.
There is always a risk of safety no matter how you approach situations like above. The point is to have more options that would cause the least amount of harm.