Senior wants access to bus rides

I am 76 on Medicare and Medicaid. I have no car and can't get to medical appointments. Logistics has not provided me with a ride for the sixth time.

Yesterday when they again informed me they could not find a ride for me,

I broke down and just cried.
I was injured on the state-owned Skylands senior bus accident on Jan. 23, 2013, on Church Street, Vernon, and incurred two totally torn ligaments in my left leg which will never heal so now I have a useless leg for the rest of my life.

My Orthopedic doctor, James Kanellakos, prescribed Physical Therapy three times a week for a month because I am too old for an operation, he said this three times.

Skylands Ride is willing to take me but Logistics does not call them because as they say I can only suggest a company.

I called Logistics complaint line and Cindy said that, by law, they had to assign the rides to different companies and also that the computer automatically brings up business names that they have no control over.

One name they use a lot for me is City Limo out of Dover. This company always cancels at the last minute so that there is no time to find another ride.

Outside of Skylands Ride, there is no other company in the Vernon area that offers this service.

One of the drivers told me that City Limo does not get paid the 45 minutes it takes to drive to Vernon from Dover, they only get paid from Vernon to Vernon, that's why they don't work up here because they lose money.

I got injured on a state bus through no fault of my own, but the state refuses to provide transportation to medical services, I so desperately require. I cannot afford taxis.

We have no public transportation in Vernon.

I live alone and have no family to help me out. Can you see why I broke down and cried?

Please, help. I am desperate.
Rita I. Hunken

Highland Lakes