How to Arrange Your Transportation

Arranging transportation with Easy Lift is fast and simple. Easy Lift is able to provide you with pick-up and drop-off times when you book your ride. This is not the case with many other specialized transit systems. For more information on ride times, see “How Easy Lift Schedules Your Ride.”

Booking a Ride

Easy Lift receives several hundred phone calls a day, and it is our goal to reduce the time that our passengers must remain on the phone making their reservations. Our operators can serve you best if you have the following information ready before you make your call:

• Your name
  You will also want to let the operator know whether you will be traveling alone or with a guest. For more information on guests and aides, see “Friends, Companions, and Personal Care Attendants.”
• The date of your appointment
  You may book a ride at least one day in advance of your trip, and up to two weeks prior. For more information on advance reservations, please see “How Far in Advance Should I Call?”
• The complete name and address of your destination
  Easy Lift has a list of thousands of locations that our passengers visit most often. So if you tell the operator that you are going to Sears, that location can be quickly identified. This way the operator can determine essential information about the location, such as which entrance to Sears you will be using.
• The time that you would like to arrive at your destination
  In order to schedule a ride for you efficiently, the operator will need to know the time that you want to arrive (be dropped off) at your destination. This will allow our computer system to efficiently calculate your pick-up time.
• The time that you would like to return home from your destination
  If you need two or more rides, please provide the operator with all pick up times and locations. All rides, even return rides, must be scheduled in advance. For appointments in which your return time is uncertain, such as medical appointments, please allow extra time. If you are running late for a scheduled return trip, it may take the office staff up to an hour or more to find another return ride.
• Changing your reservation
  Address changes and/or time changes of more than one hour must be made at least one day in advance, all the way up to two weeks in advance. Time changes of one hour or less may only be made the day before your reservation.

How Far in Advance Should I Call?

You may book a ride for an appointment any time in advance of your trip up to two weeks prior, and no later than the day before. The important thing to remember is that Easy Lift is not an unlimited resource. Rides are booked on a first call, first served basis. As you are one of hundreds of passengers who use Easy Lift, the further in advance you book your ride, the easier it is for the reservations operator to find a time that will work for you.

Return Reservations

When most passengers book rides with Easy lift, they usually ask for a round trip reservation. Although it can be difficult to estimate how much time you may spend at a particular appointment, it is important to remember that if your appointment runs past your scheduled return time, you may have to wait up to several hours for another van to be dispatched. Therefore, it is always a good idea to schedule your return trip late enough to be sure that you will be ready when your vehicle arrives.

Canceling a Reservation

Easy Lift depends on efficient scheduling in order to deliver the maximum number of rides to our passengers with the resources that are available. When a rider schedules a trip and then cancels without proper notice, this can cause serious transportation and scheduling problems and may result in another passenger not receiving a critical ride.