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One Leg Up 7-24-24 - Honoring Accessible Transportation Companies During ADA Week 2024 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:02
  Here's your host, Alex Garrett. And on tonight's One Leg Up with Alex
• 0:08
  Garrett, we're gonna talk about accessibility and adaptability. I mean, how adaptable
• 0:14
  can you be if we don't have a transportation service or company to get you
• 0:20
  where you need to go. Well, that's why tonight we're going to talk
• 0:23
  with three crucial companies. I could think of Dan Busani and Busani Mobility.
• 0:29
  We're also gonna talk with Caraco Care and we'll lead off with my conversation on
• 0:35
  One World Radio. Yes, we were back with Andy Gladding. Thanks to
• 0:38
  Andy Gladding and we both welcomed Eric Ryan, the entrepreneur and the spearhead of
• 0:46
  Tripper Corp. To talk accessibility on the island. Now, Push Radio and
• 0:52
  w r HQ welcome you to the One World off clean a team Radio around
• 1:17
  driving One World Radio and nine point five f M Bush Radio, Cape Town,
• 1:22
  South Africa, eighty eight points of an FM w RG Radio, hots
• 1:25
  University. I'm Andy Gladding and today I'm One World. I'm joined by two
• 1:29
  very special guests at Eric Ryan, the founder of the company Tripper, along
• 1:34
  with Alex Garrett from the One Leg Up podcast. Both gentlemen are unique in
• 1:38
  that they advocate for folks with I guess, Alex, we've had you on
• 1:42
  the show before. What do we talk about? We talk about your advocating
• 1:47
  for folks with the disabilities with issues. Yeah, and well exactly. And
• 1:52
  the thing is we've talked about this before, Andy and things for having us
• 1:55
  on is the fact that Long Island is very you know, it's almost like
• 2:00
  a desert of accessibility out there, so there's a big void where people with
• 2:06
  disabilities can't really travel on their own to be able to one place to another.
• 2:09
  And I'm sure our guest today, Eric Ryan, experienced the whole able
• 2:14
  ride situation and even you know, maybe in the city accessor ride and saw
• 2:19
  how messed up those funded by the way taxpayer funded organizations are when it comes
• 2:24
  helping disabilities. So Eric took it upon himself and created an accessibility transport,
• 2:30
  a company called Tripper. Eric. I'm so glad you're on with us today.
• 2:34
  Yeah, thank you for having me on. And I appreciate it how
• 2:37
  he's doing. We're doing good now, am I right? In this that
• 2:40
  you sort of saw the shortcomings of a ball and accessor ride and said we're
• 2:45
  going to do something for the disabled. Community that no one else has been
• 2:47
  able to do exactly. Well, what happened was I did not have my
• 2:53
  own personal vehicle before, like the age of fifteen, so I was reliant
• 2:58
  on scat bus ride and back then, even in the city, there was
• 3:02
  nothing other than public transportation. And I mean, you have tax payer dollars
• 3:08
  going to this program that they say is you know, made for the physically
• 3:13
  disabled. And I mean you were lucky if you could get a ride to
• 3:16
  show up on time, let alone more than once a week. So it
• 3:22
  definitely was an issue. So I figured, you know, now that I
• 3:24
  have my own transportation, I have, you know, a full time job.
• 3:28
  I was able to go to family events, weddings. I figured,
• 3:31
  why can't you know, everybody have that opportunity. So we last year we
• 3:37
  launched Tripper. Now, tell us a little about Tripper, Eric, We
• 3:40
  talked about this is a service. Now, this is this an app based
• 3:44
  service? Is it something that's bringing a community of people that want to help
• 3:46
  together. Give us a little description about what Tripper is and how it works.
• 3:51
  Ideally, in the next I would say three to five years, I'd
• 3:53
  love for there to be an app that would allow people to do it.
• 3:55
  But this is all grassroots, self funded, along with doing some fundraising.
• 4:01
  So right now we have a website where people can go on and book a
• 4:06
  request for a trip, and then it comes to myself or my business partner
• 4:12
  and you know, will confirm if the van is available or not. Ideally,
• 4:16
  though, yeah, we would love to have a at some point.
• 4:21
  What we do is we do offer twenty four to seven transportation, so I
• 4:26
  think pretty much Uber. The only thing is, obviously, because we're such
• 4:30
  a smaller company right now, the sooner we know of the trip that's being
• 4:33
  requested, the better. But if somebody is available, a driver is available
• 4:39
  and able to do the ride, we accept up to the minute booking requests.
• 4:45
  You know, Andy, it's great you're having this conversation because a lot
• 4:47
  of our alumni that graduated the Henry Viscardi School, which Eric and I did
• 4:50
  graduate from, are at Hobster. So anybody listening at Hopstra, this is
• 4:55
  an HBS alumni right here, Eric Ryan making a difference in the community.
• 5:00
  I mean, I know you love being attached to that school and that center.
• 5:02
  Tell us something special that happened thanks to the Viscardi Center's support of your
• 5:08
  work. Eric, Oh absolutely so they have I think they started last year,
• 5:13
  but they have an program called Idea Spark where it's an eight week program.
• 5:18
  You go two days a week via zoom and you start working on your
• 5:24
  quote unquote idea. For me, I was already halfway into you know,
• 5:30
  our business, so they would help me able to build a business plan.
• 5:33
  They got me more focused on how to attack the problem that we had,
• 5:39
  and then I presented the company to three judges at Ionia University and we were
• 5:45
  able to win first place, which was a four thousand dollars grant. Ironically,
• 5:51
  we had I'm there explaining how there isn't a lot of accessibility options,
• 5:58
  especially in the stadium New York and more like the rural areas like Rochester,
• 6:03
  Long Island, Albany, Syracuse. The CEO of Henny Vistarity Stool his van
• 6:11
  actually wrote down while I was leaving the competition, and we were lucky enough
• 6:17
  to see him before we left, so we got him home to Queen's and
• 6:23
  he was able to tow his van at a later date. But without us,
• 6:27
  the irony is he would have been stuck there. Honestly, I don't
• 6:31
  know how you wu. And this is the CEO of the school. So
• 6:34
  if a guy who's in a leadership position is having an accessibility issue and a
• 6:40
  transportation problem, it sounds like what you've got going on here is a pretty
• 6:45
  fresh idea. I love this. Now, as as an entrepreneur, what
• 6:49
  kinds of things are you looking for to help expand your company? I mean,
• 6:53
  obviously there's a lot of logistics here, and the technology doesn't it currently
• 6:58
  exists to do GPS locating and piggybacking off of a different ride share platform framework.
• 7:02
  But what do you need a tripper to kind of get the ball rolling
• 7:04
  here? What do you see your company requiring? So there's two major things
• 7:10
  that we would need assistance in. Is Number one, funding of a fleet.
• 7:15
  Right now, we're very lucky. We had somebody donate a van to
• 7:19
  us. It's not on the road yet, but we're a few weeks away.
• 7:23
  That'll put us at two vans for our fleet. Now I do contract
• 7:29
  two drivers in the city, but ideally I'd like to have my own tripper
• 7:34
  drivers where you know, I can dispatch them whenever someone asks. Funding is
• 7:41
  a major issue because those new vans are about thirty five to sixty thousand each.
• 7:47
  The other thing that I would definitely, you know, we're trying to
• 7:50
  get assistance with is marketing, getting the road out there, because as people
• 7:57
  hear about us, they don't stop using us. It's just getting the name
• 8:01
  out there is the biggest thing. So many how many customers are active daily
• 8:05
  users? Would you say you have right now using Tripper? I would say
• 8:09
  with the last two months, we'd definitely see a spike. If I had
• 8:11
  to give an estimate, anywhere between three to six trips a week, which
• 8:16
  is four times the amount we've had in you know, other than the last
• 8:20
  two months. Their first year was probably one to two trips a week.
• 8:24
  And then once we you know, once I won the competition and was able
• 8:30
  to use some of the funds to start marketing, we saw an uptick.
• 8:33
  That's wonderful, and you know, getting the word out there is really important.
• 8:35
  How many folks would you say in just say Nasau County would need a
• 8:41
  service like this. I mean, obviously, I know Henriga Scarti School has
• 8:43
  a terrific legacy of servicing your community, and I know there's a lot of
• 8:50
  folks that attend that school and benefit from its resources. But outside of just
• 8:54
  that, that particular location. I mean, how many folks would just say,
• 8:58
  in Nasa County would benefit from a service like Tripper? What's your potential
• 9:01
  customer days at Cessarride did seven hundred thousand trips in the year twenty twenty three.
• 9:09
  We did a survey in Nasa County with about fifty people, and pretty
• 9:15
  much the overwhelming message was they're unreliable and super unsafe. Like you'll have situations
• 9:22
  where somebody will call to get to a job interview and the pickup time is
• 9:28
  ten o'clock and if you're not out by ten oh five, they'll leave you.
• 9:33
  And the issue is, let's say you have a disability and you have
• 9:35
  a problem. You know, oh I got to get my shoe on.
• 9:39
  It's taken a little bit longer than you jure. Oh I need to use
• 9:41
  the bathroom really quick. They will leave you and they will not come back.
• 9:45
  So I would say pretty much, anybody that uses SCAT or is it
• 9:48
  you know, in a wheel chair, has a disability, good use Tripper
• 9:52
  and definitely benefit. And I got to tell you a story. This is
• 9:54
  also a pretty affordable group because Eric, you know the story I told you
• 10:01
  the other day. And Andy, you might want to unmute yourself because this
• 10:03
  is a mind blowing stat I had paid four hundred dollars to get Gabby and
• 10:09
  I to an event that last year at Ducks City. Four hundred. Well,
• 10:13
  you know, it was relatively affordable, utilizing Eric's you know, service
• 10:20
  tripper. And I'm wondering Eric, how you were able to be that affordable
• 10:24
  and you were like, WHOA, that's a rip that you got last year,
• 10:26
  So tell us what that was. Hearing that story, yeah, I
• 10:30
  had to be honest with Yeah. My personal opinion is all the government funded
• 10:35
  or a tax payer funded programs aren't incentivized to face the problem because they have
• 10:41
  their bridget that they're getting one way or the other. And then you have
• 10:46
  the other companies who you have people who aren't disabled who are making decisions on
• 10:50
  they're like, yeah, it trusts us at some amount of Dallas y a
• 10:54
  van and we don't have you know, we don't market to the disabled community,
• 10:58
  so will charge an exorbitant amount of money because if they want to go
• 11:03
  to that last minute wedding prom date, whatever, what are their choices either
• 11:09
  don't go or pay four hundred dollars. I have to be honest with you
• 11:11
  as somebody who's as independent as I am. If you took my van away
• 11:16
  and Tripper wasn't around, I'd probably pay the four hundred cause I don't want
• 11:18
  to miss out on these you know, events, these life events. But
• 11:24
  I think that is the issue. They don't you don't have somebody. I've
• 11:26
  been through it as somebody who didn't have my own transportation, and I don't
• 11:31
  know. I just say, it's disgustinery you tell me that story, I
• 11:33
  can't believe. It's pretty crazy. Now. One thing, I'm listening to
• 11:37
  this and I'm kind of thinking about something. You obviously have a van for
• 11:41
  your yourself, and you're obviously able to be mobile and do what you got
• 11:45
  to do. How many drivers would you say, are are other folks that
• 11:48
  have disabilities but have vans that are equipped to handle other people? Could this
• 11:54
  be like a ride shaft thing where you bring in and I can actually employ
• 11:58
  other drivers with disabilities to help disabled community. Is that a possibility that's honestly
• 12:03
  exact, that we were one of the models we're looking at, Like,
• 12:05
  for example, I have two people and now even though their uber is bigger
• 12:11
  in the five boroughs, so it's not as big of a need. I
• 12:16
  do have contracted one in Queens and one in Manhattan and the Bronx they drive
• 12:24
  for Uber, but they also I contract them as stripper drivers and they use
• 12:28
  their vans. The benefit of that is, you know, they already have
• 12:33
  their insurance, their Class E licensed driver, so I just have to find
• 12:37
  them the rights. So that is one of the models that we're using right
• 12:41
  now. Actually, that's really cool. I love that because that's demonstrating a
• 12:45
  community that's helping essentially its own community. Yeah, one of one of our
• 12:50
  ideas is that you'll have I think the biggest issue with the Disabler Committee in
• 12:54
  general is we struggle with one of the biggest issues. We struggle with finding
• 13:00
  employment because people, for whatever reason, the reason doesn't really matter, for
• 13:05
  several reasons, don't want to take the chance on employing somebody because of all
• 13:09
  the problems that they perceived may happen. So one of our ideas is,
• 13:13
  you have a bunch of families that have personal vans that they are you know,
• 13:18
  they use for the occasional outing. Well, what if that that child
• 13:24
  or that young adult they sub contract their van and they're able to make a
• 13:31
  slight income by they obviously they would ensure their van, they'd be able to
• 13:35
  hire a driver and kind of run their own van business using tripper as like
• 13:41
  the Hub to find customers. It gives them a sense of purpose of running
• 13:48
  their own mini transportation company. They're able to contribute and everyone is able to
• 13:52
  make the community a little bit better. Yeah. Absolutely, this is Uh,
• 13:56
  this is a really great idea that you have. I think this there's
• 13:58
  a lot of to this, and it's wonderful that we can use the power
• 14:01
  of our radio platforms to get the message out because what you're doing here is
• 14:05
  beneficial not only to the consumer, but to people that would want to work
• 14:09
  for it. Tell us a little bit about these vans when you're you know,
• 14:11
  because I'm pretty familiar with this being a being a car guy and also
• 14:15
  being friends with Alex and you know, he tells me some of his stories
• 14:18
  about getting around and what the needs of the community are. But for people
• 14:22
  that don't know, what is it like an ada or an accessible van need
• 14:26
  to have in it for the community to be able to get where they need
• 14:30
  to go and be safe and comfortable, especially in the less two safe and
• 14:33
  comfort. Sure, so most of the vans I would say ninety nine percent
• 14:37
  of them are rear entry vans, meaning the ramp comes out of the back
• 14:41
  of the van. They have four tie downs, so you're able to safely
• 14:46
  secure the reheelchair or the scooter and other than that. As long as it's
• 14:54
  say, you know, inspected vehicle that's by any other vehicle, it's it's
• 14:58
  pretty good to go. You just need to have the conversion, which it
• 15:03
  would automatically come from the manufacturer. I'm just thinking about this and in my
• 15:07
  mind, I'm picturing you and your girlfriend excuse me, your fiance be going
• 15:13
  to a park. Is there like a eighty eight compliant limo company out there
• 15:16
  that has like like lights in it, like a party vans that kind of
• 15:20
  thing exists, because I think that'd be so cool you on right now?
• 15:24
  Yeah, because I don't know of any right now. And you know what's
• 15:28
  funny, I do think on prom night there were a couple of folks that
• 15:31
  were trying to do something like that, maybe during your prom night to Eric,
• 15:35
  but it just it's very difficult to find a service that would cater to
• 15:39
  that. That's why I think Eric created this to be that fancy uh group,
• 15:43
  right, And not even a car service, because you guys are a
• 15:46
  family, not just a car service, right, And I feel like you
• 15:48
  treat everybody that works with you, Eric as family, and that's a big
• 15:52
  part of what your gut going on over there. Yeah, it's not really
• 15:56
  a company would be there building a community with the same goals and you know,
• 16:02
  ideas to achieve what we're trying to do. I will tell you that
• 16:04
  was part of our our pitch in an idea. Spark was offering not only
• 16:11
  transportation to like on the day to day, but big events like vineyards out
• 16:15
  east, weddings, prom night that I remember when I was in high school,
• 16:21
  me and my friends, I wanted a van to go into the city
• 16:23
  after prom. But they don't have those, which is a problem. But
• 16:29
  you know, we're working on you know, one day at a time,
• 16:32
  but we're working out facing that. Eric. I want to ask you this
• 16:36
  and Andy Daks about the entrepreneur but I want to ask about it from being
• 16:38
  in the Zember community and disabled as well. When we see some others in
• 16:44
  the community that aren't willing to work or something like that, and it's frustrating
• 16:48
  and the government actually limits the ability to work. How do you, you
• 16:52
  know, inspire people to get what would you say to get people, you
• 16:56
  know, I loved in their bootshops and get to work like it can happen
• 16:59
  in the community. We just have to enhance that message more, right,
• 17:03
  you know. The problem is and you'll have like people at the Social Security
• 17:07
  Department who also, here's the irony. You have all everyone that's working in
• 17:12
  this field or in this demographic, and I would say most of them aren't
• 17:18
  disabled or living on Social Security. That's the irony. And so like,
• 17:22
  for example, myself, I'm on what's told the Medicaid buying program that allowed
• 17:27
  that hires my threshold for what I'm allowed to make a year and allows me
• 17:33
  to keep my Medicaid benefits. Well, it took me two years for someone
• 17:37
  to stop saying no, you can't do that, to find the right person
• 17:41
  saying, oh, yeah, we have the medicaid buying program. We've had
• 17:44
  it for ten years. It's like, well, I've been asking only for
• 17:47
  the last two years. So honestly, just educate, you know, try
• 17:49
  to educate yourself the best you can. And honestly, that may be a
• 17:55
  service that tripper would want to get into, not you know, helping people
• 17:57
  be more aware of what is the options to then, because I don't think
• 18:03
  the issue is the same. People don't want to work and didn't they've just
• 18:06
  been so incentivized to not even incentivized. But there's so much red tape where
• 18:11
  I can't really blame someone for saying this isn't worth it, because number one,
• 18:15
  you see as we're talking how hard it is to get out one day.
• 18:19
  Imagine you're going to Social Security and like come back tomorrow to do this
• 18:22
  and instead up a meeting in three weeks to do this. It's almost impossible,
• 18:26
  right And we had that companation in the car. You know, it's
• 18:30
  it's it's a process. Now, Andy, I gotta say, Eric did
• 18:33
  take a bit of a risk starrying this to make his own money, because
• 18:36
  we learned that I ever went into it, Eric, but that was that
• 18:38
  seemed like a risk. Did you feel like it was a risk or was
• 18:41
  it like, Okay, I know I'm not do this. The services are
• 18:45
  not so I knew I was doing it regardless, but it was definitely a
• 18:48
  risk. I mean, it's still a risk right now. We're in the
• 18:51
  incubation stage. In my opinion, Yes, we're doing great in my I
• 18:55
  mean, I don't want to understand what we're doing, but this is there's
• 18:59
  still a lot to be done. So it's it was a major risk,
• 19:02
  and you know it's still the risk, but some of you go to do
• 19:04
  it, and let's be honest, it's it's kind of crazy that it's taken
• 19:08
  to twenty twenty four for this to happen. But uh, I figured,
• 19:14
  you know why not one of the things would you say you have to do
• 19:15
  in order to uh, in order to grow here? When you looking for
• 19:19
  this from a business standpoint, what are your what are your near term and
• 19:22
  mid term goals to really make trip or fly? So I definitely want to
• 19:26
  hire at least one or two more drivers on staff because one of the end
• 19:32
  obviously get at least one or two more vehicles. One of the biggest issues
• 19:37
  is I only have one full time driver that's on one island and the other
• 19:44
  two live in the city. So you know, one person can't do twenty
• 19:48
  four hour driving, so if they have a family event or something else is
• 19:52
  going on, I have to unfortunately turn down a ride. I love a
• 19:56
  situation where I have, you know, enough drivers where somebody charles him as
• 20:02
  long as it's I would say, within an hour or two, I'll be
• 20:03
  able to reach out and dis back to vehicle. So I would say my
• 20:07
  two main goals are getting two more vans by the end of the year and
• 20:11
  being able to hire at least a part time driver for each van, so
• 20:18
  more hours in the day that van is uh has a driver in it for
• 20:21
  when a ride does come in. Eric, who is your mentor that helped
• 20:26
  you get all this going? You know, we both know Joe Salonica and
• 20:27
  he's a very independent person, and I feel like he would have a role
• 20:32
  in this. Is he one of your mentors that you look up to and
• 20:33
  say, Wow, if Joe could do it, we could do this for
• 20:36
  a lot of people in the Saber community. I'm gonna be one hundred percent
• 20:38
  honest with you. I kind of just been trying to do this for five
• 20:41
  years without a mentor and a day. I mean, don't be wrong.
• 20:45
  I reached out to Joe when I did start this, and he gave me
• 20:51
  some suggestions, which again, he would be a great mentor for you know,
• 20:56
  certain areas, especially with the spine the BFFIT association. But right now
• 21:00
  I'm kind of just you know, doing it. By myself. We lot
• 21:03
  went to help with my business partner, but really life experiences what David the
• 21:10
  knowledge to be able to start doing this. So let me Brady, who
• 21:12
  is your mentor in general? I've never asked you that, but I'm curious
• 21:17
  or who is your who is like your your your role model? If you
• 21:21
  will? Got it? Well, I mean it's going to be obviously,
• 21:23
  you know, kind of cheesy, but doctor a starting. I mean that's
• 21:26
  where the stool started. I mean, he I forget exactly how his toot
• 21:30
  is, but there's something on the line like, don't give me any handout.
• 21:34
  I'm not looking for handouts. I'm just looking for the opportunity. So
• 21:37
  I was like, you know what, why not? I mean, he
• 21:41
  has a point. I think that's great. Well, guys, Eric,
• 21:42
  thanks so much for joining us today. Eric Ryan from the company Tripper UH.
• 21:47
  Once again, if you need to find out more about becoming a part
• 21:51
  of the Tripper community, or if you're looking at book a ride for yourself
• 21:53
  or a family member who is in need of their services, go to Tripper
• 21:59
  Corp r i p p R Corp dot net, Trippercorp dot net and I'm
• 22:03
  sure that Eric will be happy to speak with you about the Tripper and getting
• 22:07
  you all hooked up. And I love this idea, Eric, I think
• 22:10
  this is really great. Thanks so much for being One World and Alex,
• 22:11
  thank you so much for insight. It's always a pleasure having me on the
• 22:14
  show. Thank you Andy, and thank you Eric for the great trip to
• 22:18
  Saturday Duck Stadium. That was really huge and it was great, real quick
• 22:22
  to set up. Andy was it was Gabba's chair. And then Eric has
• 22:25
  his own little space in the in the van so he goes on the rides
• 22:29
  with his clients. How cool is that? And friends, I love that.
• 22:32
  I love that. That's great. I think the work you guys are
• 22:33
  doing is terrific. Eric, thanks so much. Once again, this is
• 22:36
  One World eighty nine point five a time, Cape Town thenfml at you Redaction
• 22:41
  City. Well, thanks Andy Gladding for the opportunity to bring on Tripper Corp
• 22:51
  and to talk with Tripper Corp and Eric Ryan and not just get to catch
• 22:55
  up with Eric behind the wheel, but on radio as well. Now I
• 23:00
  want to also welcome Christopher Oakes of carrick Ocare. We did this conversation a
• 23:04
  few months ago. Hope to get an update, but for the week of
• 23:07
  Adaptability and the Americans Visibilities Act. This conversation was worth playing once again for
• 23:14
  you on the Alex Garrett Podcast Network. Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
• 23:25
  All right. To end the week on the Alex Scarrett Podcast Network, I
• 23:27
  wanted to drop a couple of adapting conversations, and on this edition of Adapting
• 23:33
  with Alex Garrett, let's talk to Carrico k e Erico about how they're changing
• 23:38
  the game for medical transportation. Here's my conversation with Chris Oaks, the chief
• 23:45
  development officer for Carrico. What if you can't make your doctor's appointment because of
• 23:52
  transportation? And my goodness, when I saw this press release released for Chris
• 23:59
  Oaks, I just thought I had to get Chris on. Chris, I'm
• 24:02
  so glad we're going to talk about this access to reliable, non emergency medical
• 24:07
  transport services for patients, healthcare providers, and communities. Tell us about yourself,
• 24:11
  Chris, and thanks for joining Adapted with Alex Garrett. Alex, I'm
• 24:15
  flattered to be on your podcast. Thanks for having me. I am.
• 24:19
  I'm the chief development officer of a company called Carico Carrico Healthcare. We are
• 24:26
  effectively on the outside a non emergency medical transportation company operating in Texas and Arkansas.
• 24:33
  But the guts of the operation are very similar to what are called transportation
• 24:38
  network companies like Uber and Lyft, in which we can expand nationally. And
• 24:45
  that's what we're trying to do. The technologies out there for more needs based
• 24:49
  transportation companies, and our company is focused on getting people with disabilities as well
• 24:56
  as senior citizens to their medical appointments. Go ahead, sorry, alic go
• 25:02
  ahead. One hundred and fifty billion dollars a year, and that's because a
• 25:06
  patient. You know, it's weird to call ourselves patients, but that's where
• 25:10
  we are sometimes, right, So when a patient can't make it to the
• 25:12
  appointment, they get charged. That's a whole separate issue. I don't think
• 25:17
  that should be right, because the healthcare industry should take it into effect.
• 25:19
  Hey, these people can't get where they're going, right, that's right.
• 25:23
  So that the number is it comes from the National Institute of Health. It's
• 25:26
  one hundred and fifty billion dollars in healthcare a loss every year to what are
• 25:30
  called no show appointments. Now, these are appointments that are kept on the
• 25:36
  books but they're not canceled. The patient just doesn't show up. Now,
• 25:41
  transportation across like all numbers, the aggregate seven percent of the time a no
• 25:48
  show appointment is related to a lack of transportation. But when you get into
• 25:52
  disadvantage communities, disabled individuals, and senior citizens, the reason four no show
• 26:00
  appointments being related to transportation is sometimes fifty sixty, seventy percent of the time.
• 26:07
  And just here a couple of statistics that I share with people, and
• 26:11
  they always say, wow, I find that surprising. One in four seniors
• 26:18
  no longer drives. One in two seniors have a difficult time getting somewhere on
• 26:26
  any given day because of transportation coordination. One in four Americans have some sort
• 26:33
  of recognized disability, and thirteen percent it's actually twelve point seven percent of Americans
• 26:41
  have a physical disability. So aging and disabilities prevent the medical industry from doing
• 26:49
  what they're supposed to do. And I always say, transportation when it comes
• 26:55
  to healthcare isn't sexy. Okay, it's not new pharma, it's not an
• 26:59
  IP or mergers and acquisitions, but boy, good, reliable, safe medical
• 27:06
  transportation is imperative for keeping the healthcare industry in the black for keeping patients healthy
• 27:15
  and living longer, and for a I think it's just it's better for us
• 27:19
  as a society as well. Jared Goo. The transport products you offer,
• 27:25
  whether it be a wave vehicle, wheel tracks vehicle, and whatever else,
• 27:30
  it doesn't look like an ambulet though, right, so they can go with
• 27:32
  some sort of dignity. I have to say, I have to ask that.
• 27:34
  I'm glad you asked that. Yeah. So we have sedans and we
• 27:40
  have wheelchair vans. All of our drivers are CPR certified. We have the
• 27:47
  ability to help patients. What we do we call it door through door service,
• 27:53
  and so we're not curb to curb. We don't just show up,
• 27:56
  wait five minutes and leave. We will come into your building, across the
• 28:00
  threshold of your of your dwelling, if you will your your front door,
• 28:04
  help you get down to the vehicle if needed, whether you're in a wheelchair,
• 28:08
  you're you're independent, gets you across town to the appointment, gets you
• 28:14
  checked into the reception, and then do everything reversed and it's subtle and discreete
• 28:19
  Our sedans are not We don't broadcast that that we're any mt. We have
• 28:26
  a similar to our our colleagues over at Uber and Lyft. We have a
• 28:29
  little window decal and then we do have branded wheelchair vans, but I have
• 28:33
  to say they're gorgeous and we think they actually look pretty sharp. So we're,
• 28:41
  you know, we're very, very sensitive to this. And if I
• 28:42
  can just say that the reason my background is business, it's it's fortune one
• 28:48
  hundred and I spent a lot of time in retail. But the reason I
• 28:52
  joined Kerrico is I've known the founder, Mike Morris for for many years now,
• 28:57
  and he started Karraco because he had his mother was still with cancer.
• 29:03
  Unfortunately she's no longer with us, and he's down in Houston, and he
• 29:07
  was spending a lot of his time and day and energy away from work helping
• 29:11
  his mom get from point A to point B. I conversely, live in
• 29:15
  Minneapolis. My mother is disabled, she's seventy four, and I spend a
• 29:22
  lot of time, or have spent a lot of time helping her because I
• 29:25
  don't trust certain other companies with my loved ones, and so we went out
• 29:29
  to create this company that we want. We want people to trust us with
• 29:33
  their moms and their dads, and we've given I'll tell you what. We've
• 29:37
  given two hundred and fifty thousand rides to date since twenty eighteen, and we
• 29:41
  have a two tenths of one percent complaint rate, which is like the industry
• 29:48
  best. So we do care about people. We care about their dignity,
• 29:52
  we care about their safety, and we train I know I love our company,
• 29:57
  which is I'm rambling. I'll leave you one more data point, Alex,
• 30:00
  which I think you might find interesting. The Carraco difference is we spend
• 30:06
  a lot of time training our drivers on patient empathy. We have cancer patients,
• 30:11
  we have dialysis patients, we have people going through the hardest times of
• 30:15
  their life getting into our vehicles. The last thing we want our drivers to
• 30:19
  do is to be insensitive to that. So we stay away from topics like
• 30:23
  religion and politics. We try to keep things light because I'm sure this is
• 30:29
  true in New York City. I know it's true in Minneapolis. I know
• 30:32
  it's true down in Texas and Arkansas. The average doctor appointment for us as
• 30:37
  patients, we're lucky to get twenty minutes with our doctor, but the average
• 30:41
  ride that we perform for patients is twenty nine minutes one way and so it's
• 30:48
  very common for a patient to spend more time with our drivers than they will
• 30:52
  with their doctors, and so having an empathetic driver who understands patient needs and
• 31:00
  dignity and privacy, it's essential. Let me tell you, I, oh
• 31:03
  no, this is great, and just so many follow ups I can to
• 31:06
  ask you here because there are two facets I'm thinking of and when it comes
• 31:10
  to New York City where I'm based on Long Island as well, Uber and
• 31:14
  Lyft are only accessible the wheelchair access in New York City and the Five Boroughs.
• 31:21
  We don't have that here in Long Island. So would carec consider starting
• 31:23
  a branch? Have you started a branch out here? And then what about
• 31:26
  competing with accessor Ride? I mean, look, accessor Ride wait times I'm
• 31:30
  sure you know are ridiculous getting to him from but I feel like hereco could
• 31:34
  be a game changer here. Well, thank you for saying that, Alex.
• 31:38
  Well, here's the thing. We're our big goal, okay, is
• 31:42
  to be the household brand name when it comes to patient transportation. We want
• 31:48
  to be the Uber and Lyft of patient transportation. We want to be nationwide,
• 31:52
  and we are looking at New York and some other states. We hope
• 31:55
  to be in Long Island soon. My dad married a gal from Long Island.
• 31:59
  I'm familiar with that. I love it out there. People there are
• 32:00
  great. But my whole family is out there, The Donna, Debbie,
• 32:05
  all of them are out there. So I grew up in there a little
• 32:07
  bit too. Great place. Great place. So when it comes to our
• 32:13
  operating model is one in which we partner, we can we can take ride
• 32:19
  requests directly from patients. Most of the time we work directly with insurers,
• 32:24
  Medicaid or the providers. So what provider might hopefully your provider is saying,
• 32:30
  hey, Alex, you have an appointment next week. Do you need to
• 32:32
  ride? And Alex says, yes, I need to ride, and then
• 32:35
  the provider would say, okay, We're going to get Cakarraco to come pick
• 32:37
  you up. That's kind of our model. And we do most of our
• 32:42
  ride booking at least twenty four hours in advance, because when the rides are
• 32:46
  being provided by the providers, you know, they book stuff out. However,
• 32:52
  we're becoming more effective at same day transportation. And I'll tell you this.
• 32:58
  We have a partner down in Houston, Houston Methodist hospital, wonderful teams
• 33:02
  down there. They're the eighth largest hospital in America, and they have a
• 33:07
  they've had an issue with hospital discharges. You know, patients come in,
• 33:12
  they get discharged, and then they wait, you know, maybe it's a
• 33:15
  four hour wait for an ambulance or whatever it may be. So we've been
• 33:19
  really honing in on our on our same day delivery. And so what we
• 33:22
  try to do with our sedans down in that case is we're down to like
• 33:27
  a forty minute wait time for a sedan and generally under two hours for a
• 33:31
  wheelchair van ride. And we come in for the wheelchair van rides, we
• 33:36
  come in at like half the price. Because that's how we're structured. We
• 33:38
  don't have a we don't have a big expensive corporate team. We run a
• 33:44
  we're un a tight ship. We invest all of our money into driver training
• 33:47
  and making the most for the patient getting getting the highest. Man, let's
• 33:53
  tell about affordability. So here we are Access to Ride has raised the rates
• 33:58
  once again for crappy service. Right, can I just belit not political?
• 34:01
  But can I just say what it is? It's crappy service. So yeah,
• 34:05
  why do these companies who haven't been in the shoes and someone who's disabled
• 34:09
  continue to think, Oh, plus, we're just believes going to afford this
• 34:13
  or that. I'll tell you why, Alex. It goes back to what
• 34:16
  I said in the beginning. You know, Uber and Lyft. I praised
• 34:22
  them for one reason above all, and they broke the mold using technology to
• 34:28
  create a you know, transportation network company versus the old school model for non
• 34:32
  emergency medical transportation is you've got a guy or a team of team of people
• 34:37
  and they buy a bunch of vans and they hire drivers, and they have
• 34:39
  a radius and they dominate a small market and they can charge whatever they want
• 34:45
  because they're the only game in town. Uber and Lyft changed the game with
• 34:50
  technology, and so now you know, you can have a California based company
• 34:53
  operating nationwide. The democratization of transportation is happening. And the ability now for
• 35:01
  smaller companies like Carraco to come into Long Island and to give the other companies
• 35:07
  a run for their money. It's great, and I look, I encourage
• 35:12
  other people to get into this game. There are millions and millions of patients
• 35:17
  out there who need rides. I don't want America to wait for Caraco to
• 35:22
  expand I want to see some competition. Man. It's all about competition.
• 35:25
  It's all about getting the price down. We try to be transparent in our
• 35:31
  pricing. Our pricing does vary from region to region because it has to you
• 35:37
  know, cost of living for this and that and whatever. We take it
• 35:40
  all into an account. But I'll tell you this. You and I both
• 35:45
  know this as first experience, as everybody else does. When it comes to
• 35:49
  transportation, we're like the only part of the healthcare, the healthcare journey where
• 35:55
  you know what you're paying for before you pay it. Right. How many
• 35:58
  times have you gone to a doctor's appointment and then six months later you get
• 36:00
  a bill for nine hundred dollars because they cleaned out your ears or whatever I
• 36:07
  got. It's amazing to say that I got a thousand dollars bill for just
• 36:10
  looking down my nose and throat just because I have had a little congestion.
• 36:15
  And of course I'm not proud of it, but sometimes I have to use
• 36:20
  a Hey, I need financial aid here, because you know, I don't
• 36:23
  make enough to cover that kind of bill. And I guess that's what's conversation
• 36:28
  about. But I'm just saying I get hit with those bills all the time.
• 36:30
  I know what you're talking about, this you me and three hundred million
• 36:35
  other Americans. So I don't know. I getting back to your question about
• 36:39
  the competitor that that's up there. You know, the more competition is going
• 36:47
  to hopefully bring the prices down. Now, how do you get more competition?
• 36:52
  As patients? We need to be vocal. We need to tell our
• 36:57
  doctors the transportation is an issue. There's a oncology department that we were talking
• 37:02
  to right now, and they've said for the last you know, for the
• 37:07
  last fourteen years that this particular leader has been in that building for the last
• 37:13
  fourteen years, transportation is the number one barrier to care. That's not just
• 37:22
  with that building. That's not just with that oncology department. Transportation in America
• 37:25
  is becoming a real need. Because here's the thing. You remember eighth grade,
• 37:30
  right, and the ven diagrams where you had three circles and they all
• 37:32
  overlapped in the center. The three circles. Okay, so the three circles
• 37:37
  that I always I always use are the following. These are all independent statistics.
• 37:40
  Okay. One Americans are getting older. Two Americans are getting sicker,
• 37:51
  and three Americans are driving less. And so where all three of those circles
• 37:57
  overlap, you have a real need for patient transportation, healthcare, and the
• 38:05
  more that we can speak up as patients, not just patients, but advocates
• 38:09
  for our loved ones, as caregivers as well. You know things are starting
• 38:15
  to change, uh, you know, adapt and adapt. Now. I
• 38:20
  got to ask you because when I think of Texas, I think of all
• 38:22
  right, it's I've been there. There wasn't any way of access, you
• 38:27
  know, it just was insane. My ex and I would roll sting and
• 38:30
  power chair me and my uh, my role is one roll Estate would roll
• 38:35
  from near AT and T Stadium in Arlington down to University of Texas Arlington for
• 38:40
  the wind of basketball because there was no transportation. So I feel like there's
• 38:45
  a real niche for you guys that I care go to break in there,
• 38:47
  and I'm sure you already have. We're trying. We're trying, you know.
• 38:52
  It's the path from from start to finish is never a straight It's got
• 39:00
  it squiggly right and goes in every direction. We are we're working on some
• 39:05
  things that we hope will be able to allow us to expand quickly. I
• 39:10
  will tell you this. We are able to win over people and healthcare plans
• 39:19
  because of our quality of care. We as a company refuse to grow faster.
• 39:25
  Then we can provide excellent quality of care. Without the quality of care,
• 39:30
  there is no Carrico difference. Characo would just become another company. So
• 39:35
  we're The ability for us to scale is actually it's quite easy for us to
• 39:42
  scale because you know, we we pay our drivers well. We've got a
• 39:45
  good little corporate culture. But it's really finding the right drivers who are empathetic.
• 39:52
  Caricocare dot com k e r ico Care dot com. Take a look
• 40:00
  this week, take a look next week. They're going to be different.
• 40:04
  But yeah, I mean if if, if they're into for for your listening
• 40:08
  viewership in Arkansas and Texas where they're right now, we are present. We
• 40:15
  will have news about new states soon. New York is my There are a
• 40:21
  couple of reasons I want to be in New York. I can't say we're
• 40:22
  going to be in New York this year, but a couple of reasons why.
• 40:25
  One I love New York, I love New York City, I love
• 40:29
  Long Island. I want to have reasons to come out there and visit as
• 40:31
  often as possible. But more importantly than my own desire, there was an
• 40:37
  article that came out last year. It was in the New York Times of
• 40:40
  the Wall Street Journal. Forgive me for not knowing which one it was.
• 40:44
  I get those two confused a lot, but it was on the importance and
• 40:47
  the need specifically in the city about door through door transportation services. So anyone
• 40:57
  who has had who's been anesthetized, or has had plastic surgery or their eyes
• 41:02
  dilated, these doctor offices will not perform the procedure unless the patient guarantees them
• 41:14
  that they have a ride home. And so too often, you know the
• 41:19
  uncle that was going to pick them up, or the loved one or the
• 41:21
  friend, they cancel at the last minute. And so these providers in New
• 41:25
  York City are looking for door through door transportation services that they can rely on
• 41:31
  to bring the patient in and take them home. A couple of thoughts here,
• 41:37
  because you know I didn't ask you the most important question. It's an
• 41:40
  app, and you know everybody has app. Will lift that, But tell
• 41:44
  us where care go can different from the apps we already today. Tell us
• 41:49
  what makes you guys stand out. Well. So, first of all,
• 41:52
  I want to say this. I think this is becoming more increasingly important.
• 41:55
  Although we have an app which people will be able to download probably you know,
• 42:00
  in a few weeks from now, we also have a phone number.
• 42:02
  Okay, why is the phone number important? I'll tell you why. You
• 42:07
  know, I keep referencing my mom, but we have senior citizens who have
• 42:09
  their one thousand dollars iPhones who, with respect, don't know how to use
• 42:15
  them. I mean, my mom has called me before on the phone saying
• 42:17
  how do I call an uber? I was like, Mom, you can't
• 42:21
  call an uber, you have to order it on the app. Well how
• 42:23
  do I get an app? Well, you have to download it. You
• 42:25
  go to your down I don't know how to do that. Uh pooey,
• 42:29
  right, and she gets frustrated. So we have a phone number that you
• 42:32
  can call. It goes right into our dispatch team, and then the app
• 42:37
  is The app's very user friendly. It's going to be very user friendly,
• 42:40
  I should say, just kind of like an Uber and Lyft. But for
• 42:44
  us, it's the back end data that's important because we can do all kinds
• 42:50
  of stuff from our operation side, which will event I mean at the end
• 42:54
  of it all help the patient have a better experience. So I don't think.
• 42:59
  I mean I can't, Alex. I can't answer specifics about the app
• 43:04
  simply because if I do and I say something incorrect, my CTO will slap
• 43:08
  me on the back of my head and said, what did you say that
• 43:10
  for? So maybe you know, I would love to when this thing's up
• 43:15
  and running, I would love to come back to you and walk you through.
• 43:19
  Oh dude, this is just an introductory, introductory conversation. I feel
• 43:23
  like we're going to build a relationship here and a friendship here. Chris,
• 43:28
  we're bounced off each other like we just met each other fifteen minutes ago,
• 43:30
  but here we are talking that we don't each other forever. So it's great,
• 43:34
  all right, man, No, And I'll tell you a thing about
• 43:37
  transportation and people disabilities and there I hate say moods, but you know,
• 43:44
  how does the driver deal with someone who may not be in the mood that
• 43:46
  they cousinly have to go to a doctor of appointment. I mean, it's
• 43:50
  stressful for a lot of people. It's a great question. Sometimes sometimes patients
• 43:55
  don't want to talk, and sometimes patients do to talk, and our drivers
• 44:00
  need to get kind of a kind of a sense, you know, you
• 44:02
  can was eighty percent of communication is nonverbal, right, So when we knock
• 44:10
  on a patient's door and if they seem flustered or confused, we need to
• 44:15
  be extra sensitive to that rather than if they open the door and their their
• 44:19
  bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go. And so in either case,
• 44:22
  our drivers, you know a lot of it's natural. You can't train
• 44:25
  sensitivity, but the best drivers they're the ones who knew how to deal with
• 44:30
  that. So if you know the patient's having a bit of a difficult time,
• 44:34
  maybe it's kind of a quiet ride. Maybe if they have a they
• 44:38
  don't want to hear any music, or maybe they have a music request.
• 44:40
  We can ask that is there anything you'd like to listen to? You want
• 44:43
  the news? You want you want some Beethoven, you want some Metallica?
• 44:46
  What can we do for it? But it just it all comes down to
• 44:50
  patient sensitivity. Tell us about rapport with aid so much fiance have aid,
• 44:55
  you know every day pretty much, so make sure she'd okay. And the
• 44:59
  AIDS company are they allowed to a company of the patient? Totally? Absolutely,
• 45:05
  yep, one hundred percent. We just need to know ahead of time
• 45:07
  if there's going to be an aid, uh, just so that we we
• 45:10
  just we like to know as much information as possible. But aids are always
• 45:14
  welcome. One thing that we found is for patients who especially disabled patients who
• 45:21
  are married with the spouse, and the spouse is typically their their caregiver and
• 45:27
  their transportation provider. We we are trusted, right, so it is common
• 45:31
  for us to take the patient to and from the doctor appointment, and it
• 45:36
  gives that spouse a little bit of downtime, you know, time to do
• 45:39
  whatever they need to do. Maybe they need to to tidy up, maybe
• 45:44
  they need to take a nap and rest. Maybe they it's a good opportunity
• 45:45
  for them to run out to the grocery store or whatever. But the patient
• 45:51
  is happy, but the caregiver is really happy too because it caregiving. Caregiving
• 45:57
  is hard work for anybody out there who's you know, helping the care for
• 46:00
  their loved one. It's a full time job and it is you know,
• 46:05
  it's overlooked by society, just like so many times, you know, being
• 46:08
  a parent of a young child is it's it's constant care and attention. And
• 46:14
  so when we can we can help to relieve that stress and give the caregiver
• 46:22
  just some some peace and choir for a time. It can make everybody in
• 46:25
  that circle their lives just a little bit better for for a day or two,
• 46:31
  for those most in Arkansas and other places that I have precal Now,
• 46:35
  I see you have an extensive background checks. Tell us about that? Oh
• 46:38
  well, yeah, I mean background checks are essential to fining the right drivers,
• 46:44
  right, so we do typically do a criminal background check, We do
• 46:47
  a driver background check and there which I don't believe Uber to live. Do
• 46:52
  I feel like anybody can join those apps, to be honest, No,
• 46:55
  you know it's it's no we need We do need to give Uber and Left
• 46:59
  their due, Okay, I mean that I is part of my experience.
• 47:02
  I wanted to see what it would be like to sign up for Uber and
• 47:07
  Lyft to drive, and I did, and they're very thorough. You know,
• 47:10
  I think that I've always said this, even though we compete with Uber
• 47:15
  and Lyft in you know, in this customer segment. I'm grateful for Uber
• 47:21
  and Lyft for breaking the mold, for creating the ability for transportation network companies
• 47:27
  to exist. But I say this, and I think I said this earlier,
• 47:30
  if not to you on the other call I was on earlier. Today,
• 47:36
  this democratization of transportation is happening. If you remember early days of social
• 47:40
  media, right, but even before Facebook, there was a there was a
• 47:44
  company called Friendster, right Frinster, and then Facebook, and Facebook was dominant
• 47:47
  for so long, but then different customer segments, different needs came out,
• 47:52
  which is why we got Twitter and Snapchat and and now you know, truth
• 47:58
  social or whatever it is. There's something out there for everyone. And so
• 48:01
  when I look at Uber and Lyft, you know, I think sixty percent
• 48:05
  of Uber's revenue now, If not, I know it's over fifty percent of
• 48:07
  Uber's revenue now comes from food delivery, not people delivery. And so Uber,
• 48:15
  to their credit, they've done a good job, but their breadth of
• 48:16
  scope is very very wide, but not particularly deep. Our breadth of scope
• 48:23
  is very very narrow, but very very deep. And so we're going to
• 48:30
  see more transportation companies leverage the technology behind an Uber and Lyft, and they're
• 48:36
  going to have different patient different I should say, different customer segments. So
• 48:40
  to your point, Alex, earlier you asked me if we would ever get
• 48:44
  into something like bringing a disabled couple to a sporting event. If not us,
• 48:51
  then someone will. You know, there's a there's a demand for that
• 48:54
  in and out of concerts. Yes, If not us, then someone will.
• 48:59
  The Anybody who wants to start a transportation company, I think this is
• 49:02
  the time to do it. I think that the advent of transportation network companies
• 49:08
  in America is the biggest transformation of transportation in American history since the advent of
• 49:15
  commercial aviation. It's right here, it's right now. If they're entrepreneurs out
• 49:21
  there listening to this, think about it. People need right. It's so
• 49:27
  funny in the sense that you're encouraged in competition. But I guess that's the
• 49:30
  point is that you don't want to be the only one out there that offers
• 49:32
  this. You want to maybe create a whole network of those that are driving
• 49:37
  helping out people with disabilities. Because of your own experience and because of what
• 49:40
  you're seeing through Caracom, Alex, Alex, I want you to get to
• 49:45
  wherever you want to go whenever you want. I want my mom to do
• 49:47
  the same. I want people to get mobile, and you know that's going
• 49:52
  to it takes a village, right, I'd love to see competition in the
• 49:55
  marketplace because it keeps us all honest. Best man for the job is going
• 50:00
  to get the greatest ratings, and we'll take Karrico, will take the Pepsi
• 50:04
  challenge against any other company anytime. But I do think that you know,
• 50:08
  the reason we got behind this is to help people get from point A to
• 50:12
  point B, and I want to see more competition in the market all the
• 50:15
  time, Chris, I got to ask you this. Uh, this has
• 50:20
  been a great conversation. I feel like we could talk for hours on this,
• 50:22
  even as I'm on the train ironically right transportation. Yeah, so no,
• 50:28
  it's it's so vital that that's happening and I'm losing my trailer. Oh
• 50:31
  ca. So you guys are throwing money at advertising the sense of getting on
• 50:36
  podcasts, So why now, what's the reason for pushing it out? Now?
• 50:39
  What? What do you guys see as far as you know, success
• 50:44
  and even money coming in to throw at getting on podcasts and getting the word
• 50:47
  out there. Yeah, I'm glad you asked that. You know, we
• 50:52
  over the last two and a half years, we made some changes internally.
• 50:58
  We honed our skills, so we owned our hiring process our value proposition.
• 51:02
  We really kept below the radar, and we didn't want to. You know,
• 51:07
  a lot of startups in any industry, a lot of startup full plant
• 51:10
  the flag, shine the spotlight on themselves and say we're here and we're growing
• 51:15
  and blah blah blah, and then something bad happens and they vanished. Right.
• 51:20
  We wanted to get We wanted to be the best company possible to present
• 51:24
  ourselves to the American public and the American healthcare system. And finally, I
• 51:30
  would say, in the last two to three months, we've been venturing into
• 51:32
  this world of you know, seeking a little bit more attention, in part
• 51:37
  to grow our brand, but also in part to shine a light on the
• 51:44
  issue of transportation. It is baffling to me that it gets so little attention
• 51:52
  and focus. And again I said it earlier, it's not sexy. Transportation's
• 51:55
  not sexy. It's taken for granted. Yeah, it's taken for granted.
• 51:59
  But if you don't have it, you can't go anywhere. What's the point
• 52:01
  of a brand new, big pharma drug if a patient can't get to the
• 52:07
  doctor to have it prescribed, If a patient can't get to a pharmacy to
• 52:12
  have it fulfilled. There's no point in it, right, what's the point
• 52:15
  of all these doctor's offices if you can't get there? Right? And it
• 52:19
  costs one hundred billion dollars annually for those who can't make it. That's astounding.
• 52:24
  Now it's clear that Carco is a small company and a small business company,
• 52:29
  I should say so. Word of Mouse was where it all started and
• 52:31
  how it grew, right, Yeah, it is, it is. It's
• 52:37
  a great story here we Mike Morris, the CEO, was at a luncheon
• 52:45
  a few years ago with just you know, network lunch. You have some
• 52:49
  lunch with some people, you get to know each other, you handle business
• 52:51
  cards. What do you do? Nice to meet you, Okay, blah
• 52:52
  blah blah. He was at a lunch with some really concerned doctors. They
• 52:58
  had just started pulmonary clinic in Houston, and what they were saying was that
• 53:05
  fifty percent of their appointments were no show appointments. Okay, now why did
• 53:12
  this matter? Well, they had a full staff, right, all the
• 53:14
  insurance, I mean, they had a huge P and L right, but
• 53:16
  each one of these appointments that was a no show cost them thousands of dollars
• 53:23
  in lost revenue every single appointment because it's it's heart health. And so Mike
• 53:29
  said, well let me let me throw Carrico at this, and they have
• 53:32
  since been able to grow all across Texas, and wherever they grew, they
• 53:38
  brought Kariko with them. Karico had a major impact on a the bottom line
• 53:45
  of the clinic, but more importantly the health of the patient because there was
• 53:51
  a solution to get these patients into the prolmonary clinics and to their appointment results
• 53:58
  before the doctor's results. Right, yeah, And so what's what's really cool
• 54:01
  is you remember, well, I don't know how old you are, Alex,
• 54:05
  I'm ancient. But when when like Google came out, the term google
• 54:10
  became a verb. Oh google it right. Well, now amongst that particular
• 54:15
  pulmonary clinic, I think they've got like thirteen locations throughout Texas. They say
• 54:21
  call it Carrico, and I just love the sound of that. Call it
• 54:24
  Cherco. Get a Carco, just like get it, get an uber,
• 54:27
  get a lift. And so I think we're we're making progress. But again,
• 54:31
  you know, for us, we want to grow as fast as we
• 54:36
  can maintaining the quality of care that we that we offer. Some of these
• 54:42
  independent drivers want to try and build their own business and you gotta gotta like
• 54:46
  pat them on the back for that. But during a network like Chericho is
• 54:50
  not the worst thing in the world either, that would be a big help
• 54:52
  for that. Well. Yeah, I think for an individual who wants to
• 54:57
  to drive and the care for patients, that is, if that's the calling,
• 55:02
  that's a good calling. That's a different mindset than to start a company,
• 55:07
  because you know, when you start a company and a lot of paperwork,
• 55:12
  a lot of operational procedures, hiring procedures, insurance. I mean,
• 55:15
  that's that's a big difference between being you know, the boots on the ground
• 55:21
  caregiver giving rides, which is essential, and then or wanting to be to
• 55:28
  managing your own business. I would say that you know, if you if
• 55:30
  you are capable of operationalizing a business plan, then getting into something like this
• 55:37
  is going to be up your ally. I learned in my career that I
• 55:44
  have certain strengths and weaknesses and one of the things that you know, I'm
• 55:52
  in my mid forties now and I actually love aging because I can let go
• 55:54
  a lot of the the bs that doesn't matter anymore, and what I've found
• 56:00
  in my career and having tried to be an entrepreneur my own right, I'm
• 56:07
  I'm a better part of a team than I am an individual. And more
• 56:10
  to the point, I'm not someone who ever wants my face on a coin.
• 56:16
  I want to be the guy behind the guy. Unfortunately I get to
• 56:20
  do that in this job. I mean, I love talking to you,
• 56:22
  and I I you know, I like to blabber a little bit, but
• 56:27
  really, our CEO, Mike Morris, he's the he's the brains of the
• 56:30
  operation, and I'm just the guy who gets to talk about what a great
• 56:35
  job he's doing, you know, all right, I want to do one
• 56:38
  last thing because sim's like, you're also a big sports fan as of mine,
• 56:42
  and at the end of the at the end of these games, there's
• 56:45
  a bunch of ride shares outside the stadium, and I imagine you partner with
• 56:50
  the twins of the Viking, so the timberwol who, by the way,
• 56:52
  you know in the playoffs. So after like years, that would be huge
• 56:58
  if Karaco was at that ride share stand were really as we all have that,
• 57:01
  I don't see that at any stadium at all, you know, That's
• 57:07
  that's an interesting. Yeah, I h I think if Karaco were to do
• 57:14
  something like that, because we do offer a door through door service, because
• 57:19
  we will be escorting someone in a wheelchair van, you know, if they're
• 57:23
  in a wheelchair, there would and I don't have an answer for you,
• 57:27
  Alex, but there would need to be a different formula than just rolling up
• 57:31
  to the curb and flashing a light. You know, are you Alex?
• 57:36
  Are you the guy like? There would need to be something a little bit
• 57:38
  more concierge based, and of course I I don't want I don't want Alex
• 57:46
  paying for that special concierge. It would be really great if I can say
• 57:52
  this out loud, for these billion dollar franchises to help pay for that,
• 57:58
  you know, let's get That's what I'm saying, partner with you and then
• 58:00
  invest in it instead of relying on uber and left invest in it themselves.
• 58:06
  That would really be a win for everybody. I think. I think you're
• 58:07
  right, Alex. I think you're right all noodle on that, because we're,
• 58:12
  you know, as I mentioned earlier, we're trying to we're looking at
• 58:15
  things a little differently. Medical transportation is our is our forte, our bread
• 58:20
  and butter, but people need rides, man, people you mentioned me on
• 58:24
  college. Are you partnering with other hospitals around the country that are buying into
• 58:30
  this idea? Literally, we certainly are trying. You know what, you
• 58:37
  know, you know this firsthand. And I know this because I'm also a
• 58:39
  patient and my mom. I'm a caregiver to my mom. Every every kind
• 58:45
  of If you look at healthcare like like a river with stepping stones on it,
• 58:51
  each stepping stone is made from a different material, meaning every hospital is
• 58:55
  different, right, every healthcare plan company is different. And so you know,
• 59:00
  there are hospitals out there that might have a centralized controller for transportation,
• 59:12
  so if anybody in the gigantic hospital needs a ride, they call that person.
• 59:16
  That person orchestrates transportation. Other large hospitals, every single department has to
• 59:24
  orchestrate its own transportation. And so you could have two hospitals, in which
• 59:30
  case Carrico works with one with the centralized transportation function and that's a beautiful thing,
• 59:36
  and that's great. Or we could work with another hospital that might have
• 59:38
  forty different departments in it and I've got forty effectively forty different accounts within that
• 59:45
  hospital to manage forty different people, right, And so for us, you
• 59:51
  know, not just for us, but for the transportation ecosystem, scalability is
• 59:58
  only possible with a really good centralized operational plan. And so if there are
• 1:00:07
  people out there listening to this podcast who work in these large hospitals or other
• 1:00:12
  large healthcare organizations, having a centralized transportation team doing the orchestration costs very little
• 1:00:23
  because you're only paying for one or two three people. You are taking the
• 1:00:29
  added responsibility off of the shoulders of perhaps one hundred people across the hospital.
• 1:00:37
  It's one less thing they have to worry about, you having an expert focused
• 1:00:42
  on nothing but transporting patients. And then for companies like ours, it's the
• 1:00:46
  most effective because when the email or the app request or the phone number comes
• 1:00:52
  in from person at such and such a place, we can deal with that
• 1:00:57
  versus, Okay, what department from the hospital is this request coming in from.
• 1:01:00
  Is this on the the west location oncology or the east location IE care?
• 1:01:07
  Which one is that? Oh, I've never been to the I care,
• 1:01:08
  you know what I mean. So it all comes down to everybody works
• 1:01:13
  differently. Every organization is has a has a level of effectiveness, and so
• 1:01:20
  we have to try and navigate and find out which organizations are the most have
• 1:01:24
  the most effective way of communicating the need for transportation, and that's who we
• 1:01:29
  be in to partner with. I want to say this, I feel like
• 1:01:31
  just talking to the last hour established at Carrico no dates the financial stress in
• 1:01:38
  some ways, but also the emotional stress. We say this, it's our
• 1:01:43
  job to make everybody's life a little bit better, starting with the patient,
• 1:01:50
  right. We want to make sure that that patient is getting from point A
• 1:01:52
  to point B, not just safely, but with dignity. Our job is
• 1:01:59
  to make the provider's life a little bit easier so that if they have a
• 1:02:02
  full staff on any given day, that their patients get to their appointments and
• 1:02:08
  that everybody can feel good about doing their job. And also, you know,
• 1:02:14
  we we you know, say what you will about the healthcare insures.
• 1:02:17
  We want to reduce their costs because every like I said earlier, every dollar
• 1:02:23
  is spent on patient transportation for a preventative care appointment saves eleven dollars in emergency
• 1:02:30
  room care, and so everybody wins. And that is our job, our
• 1:02:35
  Carco job is to make everybody's life just a little bit easier for that for
• 1:02:40
  that period of time. Well, Chris Oaks, you are with Carrico and
• 1:02:44
  remind us your title once again, I'm the chief development officer of Carraco.
• 1:02:49
  Well, you are definitely working on development. I could see it. I
• 1:02:52
  could hear your passion for it. So come back on the show and they
• 1:02:55
  will get Mike on with you as well at some point to discuss this app
• 1:02:59
  as a growth and pensis company as it growth into a you know, multi
• 1:03:04
  state accessibility sort resource. I guess I would say, right, yeah,
• 1:03:09
  Alex, we'll come back on your show anytime. Thank you so much for
• 1:03:13
  having us. Like I said, I've been listening to your podcast. I
• 1:03:15
  really I get goosebumps when I think about what you're doing. And uh man,
• 1:03:20
  thank you, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And
• 1:03:22
  though this is a podcast, maybe people who are originally impaired don't read what's
• 1:03:29
  on the discript for tell us the website one more time, Yes, sir,
• 1:03:31
  it is carracocare dot com. And I'll spell that out. It is
• 1:03:35
  k E r I c c A r E dot com. Thanks Chris for
• 1:03:45
  your time, and we'll have you back on for sure. And then to
• 1:03:47
  round out tonight's episode of the ADA Special with transportation and Accessibility and Adaptability,
• 1:03:57
  I wanted to revisit my conversation with Dan bue Sony, a great friend of
• 1:04:01
  the Nassau County Games for the Physically Challenged. Well, welcome inside to another
• 1:04:05
  edition of One Leg Up with Alex Garrett and with me. Now is someone
• 1:04:10
  who I met at the Nassau County Games for the Physically Challenged. You might
• 1:04:15
  know the name Busani, the brand Busani Mobility. Well I got to welcome
• 1:04:19
  Dan Busani, the man whose family is behind the name, and he continues
• 1:04:25
  on the Busani legacy and right off the bat, Dan, thanks for joining
• 1:04:29
  and what makes Busani one leg Up in transportation? If you will, That's
• 1:04:35
  cool. That's a good question. You know, there are some people that
• 1:04:39
  do what we do, but I think our commitment to service and the commitment
• 1:04:42
  to the customer the consumers experience, I think is really what sets us a
• 1:04:46
  book, you know, sets us apart from all the other people. You
• 1:04:49
  know, this isn't try to make it not a car bonding experience, but
• 1:04:54
  something that they're going to be happy with and give them a lifestyle that they're
• 1:04:57
  shooting for we've been pretty successful with that. I think part of our our
• 1:05:03
  our commitment and involvement in the community has given us a really good kind of
• 1:05:09
  a front row seat as to what makes what makes our customers tick. And
• 1:05:14
  we've been good at it for a long time. I mean, we've always
• 1:05:15
  always always had service in the mind, you know, so I think our
• 1:05:19
  reputation kind of was built around that. And uh, I often hear people
• 1:05:27
  talk about we were kind of we were always there for them, you know,
• 1:05:30
  anytime a service issue happens, we have we have an access line that
• 1:05:32
  people can call. It's just it's community mindedness, you know, just being
• 1:05:39
  part of their team. And how much how many people are on your team
• 1:05:44
  to make accessibility not just in the island, but I believe in the city
• 1:05:46
  as well. Well, that's a good question. So we have right now
• 1:05:50
  we have three operating locations, two on Long Island, one in Best Page,
• 1:05:55
  which has been there for that's our that's kind of our flagship, and
• 1:05:59
  one's Town Long Island serving the Suffolk County crowd uh, and then one in
• 1:06:02
  Westchester County you know, uh, kind of flanking the Burroughs. Boroughs are
• 1:06:08
  a tough place to set up shopped is a lot of different rules and a
• 1:06:12
  lot of different uh and a lot of expense in that's in that place.
• 1:06:15
  That makes things a little bit more difficult to run. But I think the
• 1:06:17
  thing is our locations. As far as staffing goes, you have about forty
• 1:06:20
  people, and I think that the thing that is really good about what we
• 1:06:26
  do is to keep the locations relatively small. We really enjoy the consumers having
• 1:06:33
  a family family like orient you know, it's a family style place. You
• 1:06:40
  walk in, everybody knows somebody's name. It's it's not new faces all the
• 1:06:45
  time. It really makes people feel comfortable when they know the people that they're
• 1:06:47
  talking to. They know who they're talking to over the telephone, they know
• 1:06:50
  who they who's working on their cars. So yeah, and we're actually we
• 1:06:57
  are working on expanding our business into the into the mid Hudson Valley, into
• 1:07:00
  Kingston, New York. It was a pretty big boyd up there. We
• 1:07:03
  hear a lot of clients kind of have to drive quite a way to get
• 1:07:05
  some service. So we're working on building a team for that area too.
• 1:07:10
  All Right. I know they tough accessibility almost everywhere, and that is because
• 1:07:17
  Lift and Uber are not always accessible. You know, they try and pride
• 1:07:20
  themselves on it, but they're really not in the outer borrows. So Busali
• 1:07:26
  mobility fills that void, doesn't it. Yeah, you know, Lift and
• 1:07:30
  Uber that's an ongoing struggle. It took New York City and the TLC a
• 1:07:36
  lot of time and a lot of lawsuits and news casts and all kinds of
• 1:07:43
  things to try to make Uber and Lift recognize the disability community. And it's
• 1:07:48
  it's slowly, it's slowly doing its job. It's it's not where we all
• 1:07:53
  want it to be. But you know, when that when that mass transit
• 1:07:56
  and when those things and like the accessor Ride and all the all the programs
• 1:08:00
  that were intended to help disable they it's just there's just not necessarily the sense
• 1:08:04
  of immediacy independence. You know, you still even though you can dial somebody
• 1:08:11
  and and they show up at your house, it's just still not it's not
• 1:08:15
  at the consumer's uh time frame. It's you have to wait. You still
• 1:08:20
  kind of reliant upon somebody else. And we still find that owning your own
• 1:08:26
  car, having access to your own vehicle has far and away made the lives
• 1:08:30
  of the disabled community better. And what inspired you to start this because you
• 1:08:34
  know, Busani is is is pretty much a huge name in the adaptability world
• 1:08:40
  and disability transportation world. Is it family or what what got you started with
• 1:08:45
  Busani Mobility? Well, uh, my dad actually started a business. It's
• 1:08:50
  kind of a cool story. I'll try to give you the abridge version.
• 1:08:55
  He was he was in the service in the army in the sixties during Vietnam
• 1:08:59
  Era. He suffered a broken arm, had to go into the hospital for
• 1:09:01
  a couple of weeks. And while he was in the hospital in Germany,
• 1:09:06
  there were a lot of servicemen were being brought back to the hospital that he
• 1:09:12
  was in with some pretty severe injuries. They got hurt in Vietnam and they
• 1:09:17
  shipp him back to Germany for them to recover. And after you know,
• 1:09:21
  and at that point he told me when I was a little kid, He's
• 1:09:25
  like, I remember seeing these guys come back into the hospital and I'm like,
• 1:09:29
  what in the world, how are these guys are going to get back
• 1:09:30
  into their livelihoods and their life when they get home? So, you know,
• 1:09:38
  I mean, that was the thought that he had, and he told
• 1:09:40
  me about it, and then part of the story goes, he got you
• 1:09:44
  know, discharged from the army, went back into his life and he got
• 1:09:46
  into the front end business. So he was a car guy, you know,
• 1:09:50
  changing breaks and transmissions and tires and that kind of stuff. And so
• 1:09:56
  he was somewhat familiar with the automotive industry back in the seventies. And then
• 1:10:00
  a family friend had joined a law practice and the partner in the law practice
• 1:10:05
  had post polio syndrome and he used hand controls, and the only place that
• 1:10:10
  he could get his hand controls was in New Jersey. So he said to
• 1:10:14
  my father, He says, John, you miss it an opportunity here.
• 1:10:17
  I have to go all the way to New Jersey for these hand controls to
• 1:10:19
  be installed or adjusted or whatever. He says, why don't you call this
• 1:10:23
  guy and go and see if you can do it. So he did it.
• 1:10:26
  He got taught how to use hand controls. Then he began installing hand
• 1:10:29
  controls and people's driveways. He would take there, he'd take his car,
• 1:10:31
  you know, he'd drive their home. My mother would answer the telephone and
• 1:10:35
  schedule appointments, and my dad would be out installing hand controls in the people's
• 1:10:39
  driveways, in their car and their driveways at their house. That was in
• 1:10:43
  the seventies and seventy four. Fast forward, you know, every couple of
• 1:10:48
  years, the word of mouth just kind of made it all happen. And
• 1:10:51
  you know, in nineteen eighty he bought a building. In nineteen ninety six
• 1:10:55
  he bought another building, and then in the two thousands we expanded. We
• 1:10:59
  sort of build the business up on that. But yeah, that's how it
• 1:11:02
  started. My dad started. He didn't have any disabilities. He just had
• 1:11:05
  had an idea. He knew somebody that had a disability, and it got
• 1:11:09
  us started. And I got into business because quite honestly, I was uh,
• 1:11:15
  I wasn't doing my I wasn't a very good student. So the best,
• 1:11:19
  the best education I had was under my dad's thumb, you know,
• 1:11:23
  and he kind of watched me grow and he led me through this whole process.
• 1:11:27
  And I wanted to do this. I just I always liked being around
• 1:11:30
  him. I liked to I like to watch him when he was talking to
• 1:11:31
  customers. I got to meet other people that worked for us, and I
• 1:11:34
  just got to work. I just got a sense of comfort in doing what
• 1:11:39
  he did and doing what we do. And the thing that really keeps me
• 1:11:43
  going now is just every time I get off the phone with somebody there there,
• 1:11:45
  I feel like we've helped them. Well, let's talk with mechanics.
• 1:11:48
  Let's talk mechanics, because obviously you saw your dad make these mobility vehicles for
• 1:11:54
  people with disabilities, and the evolution of the mechanics. You've seen that too.
• 1:12:00
  Oh to say, at the very least, you know, when I
• 1:12:01
  first started, I got I got into this pretty much right out of high
• 1:12:04
  school, and then of course I was I was around it ever since.
• 1:12:06
  I'm a little kid. The business is actually over than I am. But
• 1:12:11
  I started working here and I was doing we were welding. It was a
• 1:12:15
  ton of It's a big weld shop. At that point. It was a
• 1:12:16
  very dirty business. It was all full size board vans. We had to
• 1:12:21
  put raised tops on them. You may even remember back in the old days
• 1:12:25
  at the games there would be these vans everywhere. They had big fiberglass pop
• 1:12:29
  tops on them, and you know, the doors, and it was all
• 1:12:31
  It was all made in our shop. And it took a long time.
• 1:12:35
  Nothing was the same twice. I mean, we worked hard at it,
• 1:12:38
  but you know, everything was kind of a little different. And then it
• 1:12:42
  started to go the minivan direction, and then the minivan started to get onto
• 1:12:45
  an assembly line, so now they could produce a whole lot more vehicles.
• 1:12:50
  At one time they were you know, not all of them were the right
• 1:12:54
  size for everybody. So the full sized van market and that construction model still
• 1:12:58
  existed, but it was getting recognized by some pretty big players that could help
• 1:13:02
  this industry along. So they so they assembly lined a lot of these product
• 1:13:08
  processes and products. So the full size van sort of dwindled away a little
• 1:13:14
  bit and the minivans kind of picked up and the ever since then, it's
• 1:13:19
  really just been refining those processes, and the products that they're producing nowadays are
• 1:13:25
  significantly better than they ever work Assembulne the manufacturing plants are bigger, better,
• 1:13:31
  much better technology, really really good quality assurance processes. So we've morphed from
• 1:13:39
  a manual, a small time manufacturer, will you know, a custom shop,
• 1:13:44
  to a little bit more of a dealer. But our dealership is really
• 1:13:48
  geared towards the comfort and the access for the consumers. Well, you know,
• 1:13:56
  obviously in the city we see taxicabs all over and I have to ask,
• 1:14:00
  are any of those vehicles that are actually accessible to busani vehicles. Yes
• 1:14:05
  they are, Yes they are. None of them came easily. I'll tell
• 1:14:09
  you. The TLC industry is the taxi, yellow cabs, green cabs,
• 1:14:14
  and even now a lot of the uber vehicles are and I do well some
• 1:14:18
  of that. I do have to give a shout out to the TLC.
• 1:14:20
  They've done the Taxi Limusine Commission in New York City. They've done a pretty
• 1:14:25
  good job of directing everybody down down the path of accessibility. Right now,
• 1:14:30
  because of the congestion, you can't even get a vehicle for that's not wheelchair
• 1:14:34
  accessible. They won't even issue license plates for cars that are not wheelchair accessible.
• 1:14:38
  So they've made a really strong impact on changing the whole fleet over.
• 1:14:44
  But yeah, we've done several hundred, maybe thousands of those vehicles and we're
• 1:14:48
  proud to tell you that. I mean, those things are really good quality.
• 1:14:51
  That was a big thing. We made sure we stayed with the right
• 1:14:55
  right product, keep it simple, and yeah, the goal obviously is the
• 1:15:02
  wheelchair user, right, so we made sure that they have the right side.
• 1:15:08
  We helped on some of the specs, talked through a lot of the
• 1:15:13
  development of these of these products. So yeah, the TLC industry is a
• 1:15:16
  portion of our business. We have a couple of people working, you know,
• 1:15:20
  specifically for that, and that hard work's paying off man, because it's
• 1:15:27
  recognized by the TLC that these people have a place to go to get the
• 1:15:30
  cars, and of course that's where they're putting their attention right now. Now.
• 1:15:34
  I got to be honest, there are some in that say that seem
• 1:15:36
  to think they know how to drive a or even do the unlocking, locking,
• 1:15:41
  loading, unloading process in these vehicles, and sometimes you could just tell
• 1:15:45
  they're not trained enough. So does Busani train more drivers, you know,
• 1:15:49
  year by year. Yes, we train our drivers as they purchase the vehicles,
• 1:15:55
  but sometimes they don't necessarily use them. And that some you know,
• 1:15:59
  the train lines in anything else, if you don't, if you don't use
• 1:16:00
  it, you lose it. I will tell you I did. I was
• 1:16:04
  certified. I still am. Actually to teach the three hour program for the
• 1:16:11
  TLC for the drivers to get their TLC to get their wheelchair UH endorsement.
• 1:16:16
  And it was a really cool thing to do. It's been a while since
• 1:16:19
  we've since we've been doing it, but it's a really cool thing to do.
• 1:16:23
  Is a three hour class. Most of the drivers came into the class
• 1:16:25
  basically just I think they felt like it was a waste of their time.
• 1:16:29
  And I feel good enough about this industry and this this whole community. I'm
• 1:16:32
  just passionate enough about it where at the end of the three hours, the
• 1:16:35
  guys are shaking my hand and thanking me for what I was training them.
• 1:16:39
  You know, and again, you can learn it, you can be you
• 1:16:41
  can be excited to know it and do it, but it's it's you got
• 1:16:45
  to use it. So yet, we do train the guys when they take
• 1:16:46
  the vehicles. And as a matter of fact, I was talking to one
• 1:16:50
  of the other guys in my office today, we want to start offering more
• 1:16:54
  of like a refresher classes too. We'll talk about actual people with disabilities who
• 1:16:59
  do want to drive and that independence. I know that you guys help them
• 1:17:01
  as well. Now does that come with the vehicle and driving lessons for those
• 1:17:05
  disabilities, hand controls, those adaptations. Good question. No, there's a
• 1:17:11
  there's a there's a couple of people out there that do strictly do driver training
• 1:17:15
  for people with disabilities. It's not as simple as just sit in a car,
• 1:17:19
  make a left, make a right, look over your shoulder, you
• 1:17:21
  know, just like the standard. Like my sixteen year oldaughter just took a
• 1:17:26
  road test. So while I'm going gray worrying about that, I also know
• 1:17:30
  that it's a completely different experience than to somebody with a disability, especially that
• 1:17:33
  because the disability impacts what they may and may not be able to do.
• 1:17:39
  So the driving evaluators there is a there is a job role in this world,
• 1:17:44
  in this community that is a certified driver rehab specialist. And this person
• 1:17:48
  has occupational therapy training, they have physical therapy training, They know a lot
• 1:17:53
  about disabilities and their driving instructor, and they know about the equipment used for
• 1:18:00
  or certain disabilities. Not every disability needs the same kind of equipment. So
• 1:18:03
  you're a guy, you can get around out a real problem. You know.
• 1:18:10
  A lot of people need hand controls, that's all they need, just
• 1:18:13
  simple hand until they hop in the seat and they drive away. Other people
• 1:18:15
  need electronic driving equipment because they can't even touch their nose with one hand,
• 1:18:19
  and guess what we can get them driving. So it is a wide spectrum
• 1:18:26
  of ability, there's a wide spectrum of product, and there's a wide spectrum
• 1:18:30
  of training required before people hit the road. You know your story about how
• 1:18:34
  your dad wanted to accommodate veterans from the Vietnam War. It's very much what
• 1:18:39
  doctor Viscardi did for those returning from World War Two. And I don't know
• 1:18:43
  if anybody's ever made that comparison, but yes, he created the Viscardi Center
• 1:18:46
  in nineteen fifty two for those people with disabilities returning from war, and then
• 1:18:53
  of course the school in nineteen sixty two. But my question to you,
• 1:18:56
  mister Dan Bussani, is do veterans still get treat it and and get you
• 1:19:01
  know, accommodations from Busani Mobility. Absolutely, veterans get a lot of our
• 1:19:09
  attention. The VA has a nice program for the veterans with a subsidize some
• 1:19:13
  of the some of the work that gets done. And you know, like
• 1:19:15
  you said, my dad was a was a VET, and we make sure
• 1:19:18
  that the veterans get get top notch, top notch responses. As far as
• 1:19:25
  the products and stuff go, there's really no difference. You know, disability,
• 1:19:28
  as far as we're concerned, is what we treat, or we we
• 1:19:31
  treat the automotive needs related to a disability. So if you're a veteran and
• 1:19:38
  you come into Busoni. You're getting your We have direct communication with the VA,
• 1:19:43
  so we've been work with them on any kind of funding or anything like
• 1:19:45
  that, and that has to happen. You know. We try to make
• 1:19:48
  that experience for the veterans as good as possible. Come in, let us
• 1:19:51
  do all the work. You tell us what you need and we'll figure it
• 1:19:54
  out. You know, at the games for the physically challenged, I have
• 1:19:58
  to ask this obviously you probably have parents come up to you, Hey,
• 1:20:00
  how can I get an accessible vehicle for my kid? Right? So what
• 1:20:04
  was that like this weekend? That weekend? Yeah, you know what if
• 1:20:08
  I get yes, you're absolutely correct, I do the I volunteer at the
• 1:20:12
  table tennis table tennis event, and I should. I got to give a
• 1:20:16
  shout out to my late, my late buddy Pete Zarba, who was who
• 1:20:19
  did that for? Love Pete? I love Pete, right, Pete worked
• 1:20:23
  for my dead Pete was So let me take a quick a little tangent here.
• 1:20:28
  Pete Zaraba. I met Pete when I was a seven year old kid,
• 1:20:30
  seven years old. I just loved them. I mean he was like
• 1:20:33
  an uncle, you know, and he actually ended up being my confirmation sponsor.
• 1:20:39
  That's that's how much this guy meant to me. So just that's a
• 1:20:42
  little that's a little side note there for those that know Pete. But yeah,
• 1:20:46
  we uh at the names I get talked to about how do they get
• 1:20:51
  vehicles for kids? You know, what kind of products are out there?
• 1:20:56
  I follow up at all the people and talk to him. I said,
• 1:20:58
  listen, you know there are some things out there. There are some state
• 1:21:00
  New York state programs out there for children with disabilities. So there's not only
• 1:21:05
  for children with you know, medically fragile children, but also adolescents and even
• 1:21:12
  young adults that are trying to get into the workforce. You know, maybe
• 1:21:15
  you had a disability, didn't make it through mainstream schooling. What have you
• 1:21:19
  need? Some assistants that parents don't have enough money, you know, they
• 1:21:24
  need some assistance. There are some New York state programs that will assist in
• 1:21:28
  funding for vehicles for families, work vehicles for kids that are trying to get
• 1:21:31
  into college slash to join the workforce. So there are some pretty good programs
• 1:21:36
  out there for parents. And you know, what's the future. I want
• 1:21:41
  to ask about the fall because we're about to hit school. We're about to
• 1:21:44
  hit college. You know, everybody's kind of getting back in the swing of
• 1:21:46
  things a couple of years after pandemic. So where where do you see bustani
• 1:21:50
  mobility playing a role this fall? This fall is going to be It's going
• 1:21:58
  to be a strange one for us. I'll tell you what U with the
• 1:22:00
  with the shortage and vehicles and the just the whole the cold, the repercussions
• 1:22:05
  from COVID, not one hundred percent sure I to answer the question, Alex,
• 1:22:11
  we are day to day where we're just things that are changing. The
• 1:22:15
  one thing I can promise you is when the fall comes, if you sign,
• 1:22:18
  is going to be refreshing, ready to go. I mean, we're
• 1:22:21
  getting all our vacations and stuff out of the way now because when the fall
• 1:22:25
  comes, and the and the you know, when when the when the spike
• 1:22:29
  hits, we're going to be here, whether there's vehicles available or we're just
• 1:22:31
  we're going to you know, assist people with service and hold things out a
• 1:22:34
  little while longer. We even have a rental program or we rent vehicles out.
• 1:22:40
  We have a nice fleet that's building. We're we're trying to fill backfilled
• 1:22:44
  with people who you know, people's cars get damaged, they get into accidents,
• 1:22:46
  they or they just wear out. They need something to drive. What
• 1:22:50
  do we do? You know? So we're trying to we're trying to boost
• 1:22:54
  up our rental fleet to help out there too. Like I just clicked in
• 1:22:57
  my brain. Anything special for that you could tell us from this past?
• 1:23:03
  You know, I've been working every year. Every year I get a phone
• 1:23:06
  call from somebody looking for an accessible party bush and I think I found one.
• 1:23:14
  I can if somebody needs one that can give me a shout. We
• 1:23:15
  have somebody that I can refer people to. Finally, but yeah, you
• 1:23:19
  know what, just because you're disabled doesn't mean you want to you have to
• 1:23:21
  live differently, right, You don't want to necessarily have to be different.
• 1:23:25
  You want to go to the prom and do things like that. So yeah,
• 1:23:28
  we're we're We've done a lot of research and try to find things to
• 1:23:30
  get some key people included in in in the regular world. And uh and
• 1:23:35
  the party bus is it? That's that's my best that's my best out of
• 1:23:40
  the box one. All right, how about this one? Do you hire
• 1:23:43
  people with disabilities to work on these vehicles to actually give you guys some input?
• 1:23:47
  Absolutely? We do a tremendous amount of just I personally, Like I
• 1:23:54
  said, I spend a lot of time in the community, but I spend
• 1:23:56
  a lot of time following up with customers and just seeing how what they feel
• 1:24:00
  about the vehicles, equipment, what do they need, what's new we have.
• 1:24:05
  Unfortunately, right now I don't have anybody working for our company that is
• 1:24:10
  disabled, but we have in the past have had quite a few people that
• 1:24:13
  work here that use the equipment. And to me, that was a really
• 1:24:16
  really good It was a good insight into what's needed. You know, even
• 1:24:23
  a guy like Petee, take this car home for the night, tell me
• 1:24:26
  what you think. You know, he would drive the car home and he'd
• 1:24:28
  come back the next day he's like it's too tight, or it's great,
• 1:24:31
  it's big, it's you know, steerings too tight or whatever. But just
• 1:24:33
  having that, having somebody on the ground and do that kind of stuff was
• 1:24:36
  great. I'm absolutely open to to hiring customers and people that need our equipment.
• 1:24:44
  So if this, if this message actually gets out to anybody that might
• 1:24:47
  be looking for a job, give me a buzz. Oh that that is
• 1:24:51
  music too. I'm sure a lot of people's ears that want to work,
• 1:24:55
  all right, the politicians, all right, So I want to bring you
• 1:24:58
  on in August because I felt like the message is always, hey, it's
• 1:25:01
  eighty eight month, it's Americans with accessibility, you know, Americans with Disabilities
• 1:25:04
  Act month, blab blah, you know, YadA YadA, buy the politicians
• 1:25:09
  great this, great that. But then the conversation stops. And Daniel Bussani,
• 1:25:14
  you are a living proof of the conversation never stops accessibly never ends.
• 1:25:17
  So why does it feel like they just roll out the red carpet for one
• 1:25:21
  month out of twelve. I don't know the answer to that. One man.
• 1:25:28
  The best I can do is, you know, politicians and politicians,
• 1:25:30
  I think they could always be doing more. Except for Bruce Blakeman. I
• 1:25:32
  really think he has the best interest in mind for those with disabilities. To
• 1:25:35
  be honest, Bruce Blakeman, I think he's got the best interesting NASA County
• 1:25:42
  executive. Yeah, well, I think the fact that you're in, you
• 1:25:45
  know, the people associated with NASA County I think have a lack of a
• 1:25:48
  better term an unfair advantage or better a better like a front row seat to
• 1:25:54
  what goes on in NASA County. For disabilities. I think the last couple
• 1:25:58
  of years that started with and it went through UH Lower Curran and now it's
• 1:26:01
  still with Bruce Broikman. I think doing the games for the physically challenged is
• 1:26:06
  a really really good kind of flag for these guys to plant, you know,
• 1:26:12
  I think it. I think it really brings awareness to it. And
• 1:26:15
  you always see the faces at those games. It's just it's good to see
• 1:26:18
  it. It brings everybody together. That community feel is really really big in
• 1:26:23
  Nassall County. Well, you be in the community at all this fall and
• 1:26:27
  by the way, UH wrapping up here, give us your all your information
• 1:26:30
  for contacting Sure, yeah, this fall. I'm listened. I'm always around
• 1:26:35
  it does an event going on. Myself and one of my guys is always
• 1:26:39
  there. I just did one at the Canine Companions. It was so much
• 1:26:44
  fun. I got a chance to meet that this past Friday. I know,
• 1:26:46
  yeah, you know what, I missed it. I was trying to
• 1:26:48
  get over there. I couldn't do it. Like I told you, I
• 1:26:50
  had a lot of people on vacations. I was talking with Dawn and UH
• 1:26:54
  and Jessica wisso that I was I went. I brought my my one of
• 1:26:58
  my guys and my wife and my daughter order and as like, this place
• 1:27:00
  is awesome. You know, it's just such a cool thing to see.
• 1:27:03
  And man, those dogs make you want to They just you fall in love
• 1:27:08
  with those dogs. Man, it's unbelievable. But yeah, so stuff like
• 1:27:11
  that, like community stuff, we try to be part of it as much
• 1:27:14
  as we possibly can. I just I'm connected with the ALS Foundation a couple
• 1:27:17
  of weeks ago. There's a new executive director over there, so we're working
• 1:27:20
  with them to try to help out uh communities. It man communities where it
• 1:27:25
  is for me, and that's that's the best way that I can develop this
• 1:27:30
  business and develop my commitment to the community is to be in it. And
• 1:27:33
  I took that that was kind of a message that Pete taught me as a
• 1:27:36
  young kid. He was always around everybody knew them me and and it not
• 1:27:42
  only did it help the customers, but it helped them. So I feel
• 1:27:45
  like that's that's the one thing that I can bring to this industry, is
• 1:27:48
  is some FaceTime for the for the community. It's the best I got to
• 1:27:51
  offer. But yeah, you can get me anytime. Man, let me
• 1:27:55
  let me give you the website addresses www dot you, Sonny Mobility, b
• 1:28:00
  U S S A, N I, m OL B I L I T
• 1:28:04
  Y dot com and we like I told you, we have the three locations
• 1:28:10
  in Bethpage, Smithtown and Mamarnick. Soon to have one in Kingston, New
• 1:28:15
  York. And I can let me give you our phone number. It is
• 1:28:25
  I'm taking it right off the website eight eight eight three seven nine four seven
• 1:28:30
  zero nine. Once you get into that number, you can find anywhere you
• 1:28:32
  want to go. You can get to these individual locations. Check out the
• 1:28:35
  website. We have a little chat boom there. We have all the vehicles
• 1:28:38
  on there, and you can get me direct. You can get me a
• 1:28:43
  debut Sonni at week. Get you there dot com. It's my email address.
• 1:28:46
  Good to hear you voice. Thanks for thanks for including me in this.
• 1:28:49
  Let's talk soon, Dan. We'll definitely have to catch up soon,
• 1:28:53
  no doubt about it. On the Alex Scare podcast Network, and there you
• 1:28:56
  go. Three different options for accessibility and trade disportation needs. If you have
• 1:29:00
  a disability or know someone that has disability on the island, through the city,
• 1:29:05
  or wherever you might be listening to this. On the Alex Garrett Podcast network