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Special Needs Apparently Left At The Curb As DDOT Haggles Over Service Provider Billing

DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) - Disabled Detroiters looking for a ride from the city's Metro-Lift Service won't find one at this time.

Enjoi Transportation Services, a sub-contractor of DDOT, has accused the city of not paying them for their services for December and January.

DDOT

Enjoi Vice President Gregory Lynn says he believes this has been done on purpose.

"We believe that this is an intentional act, that they are intentionally withholding our payment so that they can run us out of business - so they can bring an out-of-state - Dallas based company ... to assume the service," Lynn tells WWJ's Chris Renwick.

"We haven't been paid from the city of Detroit for transportation services rendered in December 2014 through January 2015 - we've been informing the city since the middle of February that we were going to be running out of money if we didn't get paid," Lynn says.

DDOT Director Dan Dirks said in a statement: "To make up for the loss of service caused by Enjoi's absence, we are working with our other providers to get back up to full capacity by the end of this week."

Statement from DDOT to WWJ Newsradio 950

The Department of Transportation is negotiating in good faith with Enjoi and our other para-transit providers. The offer made to Enjoy was comparable to those made to all other providers, some of which have accepted the offer.

Prior to stopping service, Enjoi provided transportation to approximately 25% of the nearly 1,600 para-transit trips we provide each day. To make up for the loss of service caused by Enjoi's absence, we are working with our other providers to get back up to full capacity by the end of this week.

We also are working on a long-term solution to make sure we can provide the highest quality transportation services possible to our customers living with disabilities. In the meantime, we are continuing to negotiate in good faith with Enjoi and our other providers and look forward to reaching an agreement.

-The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) and other public transit agencies throughout the country to provide complementary paratransit service, or equivalent public transportation, to individuals with disabilities who cannot board, ride or get to an accessible fixed route bus or other form of public transportation because of their disabilities. This service must be comparable to the level of service that is provided to individuals without disabilities who use an agency's fixed route system.

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