The majority of us take our transportation options for granted. If you don't have access to a car, you can use public transit.

But there is a population of people, because of a disability, who can't take advantage of that.

In Pinellas County, there's a solution. Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority’s Mobility on Demand.

"It's really on demand,” said Director Bonnie Epstein. “So, applicants, once they apply and get approved for Mobility on Demand, they can get a trip on demand on Lyft, United Taxi, wheelchair transport, and they just call PSTA, ask for a ride and we put it in our system and dispatch the ride. It'll be there whenever we can get the closest available vehicle.

Eugene Batke called the service following a lunch invitation from a friend.

“I called the number and they said we'll have somebody there within a couple minutes,” Batke said. “Well, within two minutes, before I could actually get out of the house and lock the door, they were there."

Here's the difference: Before Mobility on Demand, rides were primarily for medical appointments and needed to be scheduled in advance with a half-hour window. 

And this is different than the Direct Connect Service, which will take riders from their home to the nearest bus stop. 

Mobility on Demand is part of many options non-traditional transit riders have.

"We really want to let people know that it's not just DART or Paratransit, that they have other options,” Epstein said. “We talk to each client, where our old process our applicants were a lot of people we didn't talk to, so it's very personalized and tailored."

To learn more, call 727-540-1888.