When Metro Mobility is not the answer.Metro Mobility is public, shared-route paratransit, and for a great many trips it is the right answer and far cheaper than we are — so this is not a page telling you to stop using it. It is the wrong answer on the mornings that cannot slip, and this is which mornings those are.
- A held timethe minute you booked, not a window you wait inside
- One riderstraight there — no shared route and no stops on the way
- No certificationnothing to qualify for, and nothing to apply for first
The morning this page is about.
One of our riders described it before we had written a word of this, and she describes it better than we would have.
Rated 5 out of 5
I was completely STUCK when my Metro Mobility ride canceled on me for a very tricky-to-get-into specialty cardiac appointment… TrueStar didn't just give me a ride — they gave me peace of mind.
What actually happened
Two things are worth pulling out of that. The first is which appointment it was — a specialty cardiac slot that had been hard to get, which is exactly the kind that does not get rebooked next Tuesday. The second is the word stuck: the problem was not that the ride was expensive or uncomfortable, it was that at the moment it fell through there was no second option and no time left to find one.
Why it is a failure of fit
That is the specific failure this page is about, and it is worth being precise that it is a failure of fit rather than of the service. A shared, subsidised, routed system is built to move a lot of people affordably. It is not built to guarantee one particular person arrives at one particular minute, and no amount of goodwill inside it changes that.
Two different things with the same job.
Both get a rider who cannot drive to an appointment. Almost everything about how they do it is different, including who they are built for.
| What is being compared | Metro Mobility | A booked private ride |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Metro MobilityPublic transit for people who cannot use the regular bus — shared, routed around several riders at once, and subsidised. | A booked private rideA private booking. One rider, one trip, straight from your address to the door you are going to. |
| Getting on it | Metro MobilityYou have to be certified as eligible first, and then reserve each trip in advance through the service. | A booked private rideYou call and book it. There is nothing to qualify for, because there is nothing being subsidised. |
| The pickup | Metro MobilityA window you wait inside, because the vehicle is collecting other people either side of you. | A booked private rideA time you chose, held for you. The same driver on a standing route learns your door and your building. |
| The trip itself | Metro MobilityIt may pick up and drop off others on the way, so the ride can be considerably longer than the drive. | A booked private rideDirect. The van goes where you are going and nowhere else on the way. |
| Waiting for you | Metro MobilityIt does not. You book a return separately and wait for it to come. | A booked private rideThe driver can stay for the whole appointment — $100 an hour flat, pickup to drop-off, so an appointment that overruns has no second ride to chase. |
| What it costs | Metro MobilityA few dollars a trip. This is the row where it wins outright, and for a rider making several trips a week that difference is the whole argument. | A booked private ride$75 base plus $3 a mile in the chair, $50 plus $2.50 walking. Many times the fare, and worth it only when the time is what you are buying. |
Certification, reservations and fares are theirs to publish, and they change. Nothing above is quoted from Metro Mobility and no figure of theirs is stated here on purpose — check the current rules with the service itself rather than with a company that competes with it.
Which trips belong to which.
Most people who use both use them for different things, which is the sensible arrangement. The dividing line is whether the arrival time is load-bearing.
Keep using Metro Mobility for
- A routine check-up where the afternoon is otherwise free.
- A standing appointment you make several times a week and pay for yourself.
- Anything where arriving somewhere in a two-hour band is genuinely fine.
- A trip you are already certified for and already used to.
For a rider making four or five trips a week, the difference in fare over a month is not small — it is the difference between affordable and not. If that is your pattern, a private ride should be the exception you keep for the appointments below, not a replacement.
Book a private ride for
- A dialysis chair time, which does not move for a late van.
- A procedure with a bowel prep or a fasting window behind it.
- A specialty appointment that took months to get and will not be rebooked quickly.
- An appointment where the driver has to wait, because there is no getting yourself home afterwards.
- Anywhere out of the metro — Rochester, St. Cloud, Duluth.
- A morning where somebody has already been let down once and cannot risk it twice.
What you are paying for in every one of those is the same thing: a specific vehicle at a specific minute, and somebody who answers the phone if it is not there. Hours are 7am–7pm daily, earlier by arrangement — the standing dialysis runs leave before six.
What the held time costs.
Published rather than quoted, so you can work out the difference before you decide it is worth it.
- $111a 12-mile wheelchair run, one way — $75 base plus $3 a mile
- $80the same run walking — $50 plus $2.50 a mile
- $100an hour, flat, when the driver stays for the whole appointment instead of coming back for you
Miles are counted by road from your pickup address to where you are going, and there is no zone map — the fare does not change because of which suburb you live in. Up to 3 people ride along at no extra charge, and cancelling is free until an hour before pickup, then 10% of the fare.
If you are comparing this against a subsidised fare, compare it honestly: it is many times the price, and the only thing it buys is certainty about the time. What NEMT is, and how the benefit version differs is worth reading first if the rides might be covered for you already.
Asked when comparing the two.
How booking works, how far ahead, what a trip costs, and what happens at the door. Open a row for the rest — none of it changes when you dial.
12 answers
How is this different from Metro Mobility?Your ride, not a route.
One booking, one rider, straight there — you pick the pickup time and it is held for you, rather than a window you wait inside while the van collects other stops. It is private pay instead of a public program, and that is what buys the direct trip.
What does a ride actually cost?Base fare, plus the miles.
$75 to put the ramp van at your door or $50 if you walk to it, then $3 a loaded mile in the chair and $2.50 if you walk, one way. A ten-mile wheelchair appointment run is $105; the same trip walking is $75. There is no booking fee, no surge and no fee for calling to ask.
Every rate, printedHow do I book a ride?One call. Two minutes.
You reach a person, not a queue. Tell them where you are going and when, the fare is quoted off the published card, and the slot is held before you hang up.
Can you come today?Sometimes. Call and ask.
Same-day rides are taken when the schedule has room, and you get a straight yes or no on the call rather than a booking that quietly fails. Mornings fill first.
What time can you pick me up?7am to 7pm, every day.
Earlier by arrangement, and the standing dialysis runs leave before six. If you need a 4am pickup, ask for one.
Standing routesHow far ahead should I book?Sooner holds the slot.
Same-day works when the schedule allows, and we will tell you that on the phone — not after you have booked.
Ask for a rideDoes the driver come to the door?Door through door.
The driver walks you from your door to the desk and stays until you are checked in. Coming home, the same in reverse.
Do I have to book every week?No. Once.
A standing slot is booked one time and held until you change it. No weekly phone call, no re-quoting, no losing the time you count on.
Standing routesCan you make a 5:30 chair time?Yes, by arrangement.
The published window is 7am–7pm daily, earlier by arrangement — and the standing dialysis runs leave before six. If you need a 4am pickup, ask for one. A pickup outside 7am–7pm daily carries the late-hour 25%, so an early chair time is quoted with that in it.
How a dialysis week is pricedDo you take Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance?The printed rates are private pay.
You or your family pay us directly, at the rates published on this page, and no broker schedules the van. If a plan or a county program is involved in your rides, say so on the call — we will tell you where you stand rather than let you guess at it from a website.
What Medicare and Medicaid pay toward a rideWhich towns do you cover?The seven-county metro.
Plymouth, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, Edina, Golden Valley, New Hope, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Blaine and Elk River are among the 16 cities on the daily map; the seven-county metro is the stated one. Pickup is at your address in any of them, and the fare is measured from where you get in.
While you are working it out.
The next questions people ask after this one — same plain answers, same published figures.
Tell us the appointment that cannot move.
A person answers, quotes the fare off the card printed above, and holds the time before you hang up. If a shared ride would do the job just as well and for a fraction of it, we will say so.
Have these ready
- The pickup address, and the clinic or building you are going to.
- The date and the appointment time.
- Wheelchair or ambulatory, and whether the chair is yours.
- Whether the driver should wait, or come back for you later.