TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Transportation

Two Companies Disrupting the Wheelchair Rental Market for Good

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woman looks at art in museum while sitting in a mobility device by Whill/ScootaroundPeople that rely on mobility devices will no longer have to stress about having to travel with a wheelchair because they will be able to rent a personal EV (through an app) at the airport and/or final destination, thanks to the merger of two cutting-edge companies. WHILL – makers of the cutting-edge Model Ci and Model A Intelligent Personal Electric Vehicles (EVs), which won the CES Innovation Award at the Computer Electronics Show in 2018, and Scootaround a leading wheelchair and scooter rentals solutions company servicing 2500 locations in North America. Together, they will be the first to provide a worldwide Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) model. “This will improve the current travel landscape for mobility device users by increasing their freedom and independence,” says Justin Gagnon, vice president of sales and marketing for WHILL/Scootaround. Gagnon offered TravelAbility Insider some interesting insights about the market:

  • Currently, the company is piloting six trials worldwide, two of which, Dallas and Winnipeg, are in North America. In Winnipeg, Delta Airline agents offer disabled passengers who are awaiting connections the opportunity to test drive a WHILL Ci so they can maneuver around the airport independently.
  • WHILL wheelchairs appeal to cruise line companies as they are smaller, sleeker and designed to maneuver around small spaces, which means they may also be used in non-ADA staterooms.

Our take: Vertical integration comes to the airport wheelchair rental market as the demand for motorized wheelchair rentals rises significantly. This disruption will not only require less staff but will also give travelers who need mobility options more independence.

photo courtesy WHILL/Scootaround

Let A Travel Pro Design Accessible Itineraries For Your Destination

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meet the TravelAbility itinerary design teamIf you are looking for an accessible itinerary to post on your site or offer as a service to the burgeoning group of travelers who need some accessibility built into their stay, where do you start?

You could go with what comes up on Google (meh) or you could trust five of the most curious, experienced and trustworthy pros in disability tourism (yes!) Imagine: Signed, sealed, delivered, it’s yours to publicize on your website and share through your social media channels.

Niche travel is sold through itineraries that include attractions, tours, and sites that cater to a specific audience,” stated Jake Steinman, founder of TravelAbility Summit. “We brought them together to help destinations add authenticity to their accessible itineraries by having them created by actual travelers with different disabilities who are prominent professionals in the industry.

“Once these itineraries are designed, DMO’s can promote the fact that they were designed by disability travel thought-leaders, all of whom have their own extensive following and can offer cross-promotion opportunities as well as consultation advice.”

Here is some background information on each itinerary design team member.

head shot of Cory Lee smiling wearing t shirt. He has eyeglasses and is sitting in his wheelchairCory Lee Woodard writes a travel blog Curb Free with Cory Lee and recently started his own travel agency. On his blog, full of detailed itineraries from around the globe, his mission is to show readers how, where and why to travel as a person with a disability. If you’ve got questions—what city is the most wheelchair-friendly? to what’s the best way to determine if a hotel has a roll-in shower? Cory Lee has answers.

sid in a black hat and olive green sweater


Sid Marcos is a business developer from San Diego, California. She is the former director of development for Outlandish Travel, where she produced accessible destination guides around fun themes such as pub tours. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of an incubator for social entrepreneurs. Learn more on her blog.

sue Slater head shot she has red hair and is smiling wearing a jacket and black topSue Slater, the founder of Presto Magic Travel, is a cruise and groups specialist who will soon be celebrating her 20th year in the travel industry creating accessible itineraries. She’s sent thousands of people on cruises all over the world, including cruise destination weddings. Accessibility is a personal passion and a necessity. Sue is blind and her husband has a chronic disability that requires him to use a wheelchair. Both travel extensively, hence she can find a work-around for pretty much any travel need you might have. Learn more, here.

upper body shot of John wearing a navy jacket and blue shirt sitting inside a plane smiling, wearing glasses John Morris approaches travel from a critical angle—in a good way. His fact-checking and reporting on the latest news in accessible travel is unrivaled. That’s probably because he’s traveling the world an average of 310 days a year as a triple amputee with one hand, a passport and a power wheelchair, writing about his travels and adventures—and asking crucial accessibility questions along the way. Read his blog, wheelchairtravel.org.

All five experts will be on-site at TravelAbility Summit, November 12-13 in San Francisco. The team will be given designated “office hours” at the end of each day to talk with you about creating authentic accessible itineraries

 

Some Airlines Are Still Damaging Wheelchairs at Ridiculously High Rate

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Senator Duckworth in a wheelchair at a. Democratic eventFirst, the good news: Since U.S. airlines began tracking and reporting the number of wheelchairs/mobility scooters damaged in December of 2018, there’s a clear improvement! But there’s still a lot of room for improvement. At TravelAbility Insider, we’ve been tracking the numbers and, in honor of the law’s most outspoken and effective advocate, Senator Tammy Duckworth, we’ve named it The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report. Here’s the short story:

American   7.2% to 4.68%
Frontier      5.31% to 2.31%
Jet Blue     4.01% to  1.39%
Southwest 6.46% to 1.28%

 

The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report

 

 

 

Who Will Fare Better—Disabled Passengers Using Uber or Lyft?

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Successful rideshare businesses seem to require one-part basic etiquette, two parts business strategy and of course, a customer in need of the product.  Here’s TravelAbility’s take on how both companies are meeting both short and long-term demand from people with disabilities:

OUR TAKE ON UBER The company has started to make drivers aware of the proper etiquette, offering a video and tips from Open Doors that seems easy to review and remember. That hasn’t protected them from lawsuits, however. Wheelchair users, in particular, are suing the company for discrimination, saying there are not enough rides available to serve them. These suits are non-monetary and meant to raise awareness. READ MORE

At the 2019 M-Enabling conference in Washington, D.C., panelist Malcom Glenn, head of Global Policy, Accessibility and Underserved Communities at Uber said the company is focused on boosting the number of accessible vehicles they have on the road. As for their future plans, they are particularly excited about the huge potential of self-driving cars to help give people with disabilities newfound independence.

OUR TAKE ON LYFT The company has added Access Mode to their app. In certain markets, disabled passengers can book a ride that suits their needs. (If Lyft can’t accommodate a passenger, they offer referrals to comparable services nearby. LYFT is (very strategically) also meeting passengers where they are, including the growing healthcare market. Lyft partners with hospitals, senior centers and other care facilities to offer rides to appointments and errands and sees the healthcare market as an ecosystem that is good for patients and good for business. Lyft says it curtails no shows a doctors’ offices and reduces cost by 32% on average. READ MORE

Here is an additional piece on how Uber and Lyft are overhauling their Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle Programs.

 

Which Bus Company Paid $2.6 Million To People with Disabilities? Find Out Why

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the words bus and a green light
Since 2016, Greyhound has paid nearly $3 million to disabled bus passengers who sued for experiencing disability discrimination while traveling—or attempting to travel—on their buses. The payments were part of a broader settlement from 2016 resolving the Department’s complaint that Greyhound Lines Inc., the nation’s largest provider of intercity bus transportation, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide full and equal transportation services to passengers with disabilities. The alleged violations included failing to maintain accessibility features on its bus fleets such as lifts and securement devices; failing to provide passengers with disabilities assistance boarding and exiting buses at rest stops and failing to allow customers traveling in wheelchairs to complete their reservations online. “The Department of Justice is committed to eliminating disability-based discrimination in transportation services,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “This settlement ensures equal travel opportunities for those with disabilities through holistic reform,” reports the U.S. Department of Justice website. Learn more about ADA regulations for businesses, here.

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