Transportation Policies
Go Kid Go Transport & Tours, LLC – revised July 2013
A Guide to Go Kid Go
Transportation Policies for Parents, Caregivers, and Riders – additional details and explanations of these
guidelines are available at our web site, at gokidgoweb.com
• Passengers are
expected to board Go Kid Go (GKG) vehicles upon their arrival at pick-up
locations.
• If a rider
fails to board a GKG vehicle upon its arrival at a pick-up location, the
vehicle might leave without the rider, or additional service fees might be
assessed.
• To avoid missed rides, riders should be ready to
board GKG vehicles ten minutes before their scheduled pick-up times.
• Parents
and caregivers can double-check ride schedules and monitor the location of the
vehicle in which their youngster is riding by using the “my account” feature on
the GKG web site. They can also receive near real-time text and e-mail
messages about pending pick-ups, drop-offs, delays, and other ride-related
situations. For access, contact the GKG office at 414.212.8855.
• All GKG passengers must wear seat and shoulder belts
properly. Belts must remain fastened until the vehicle comes to a complete
stop.
• GKG drivers are not required to exit their vehicles
to ring doorbells or enter buildings to seek out or escort riders to a GKG
vehicle. Drivers are not required to honk their horns or make phone calls to
announce their arrival at a pick-up or drop-off location. Drivers are not
required to sign riders in or out of school, classes, programs, daycare, or
similar locations or activities.
• Because
traffic, weather, and tardy riders can cause delays, GKG considers its drivers
to be “on time” if they arrive at a given location within ten minutes of their
scheduled pick-up or drop-off time.
• Riders
expecting a pick-up should not leave their pick-up locations unless they’ve
waited at least 15 minutes—past their scheduled pick-up time—for a GKG driver
to arrive. If a rider has waited 15 minutes and a GKG driver has not arrived,
and has not already contacted the rider, the rider should seek out a parent or
caregiver and contact the GKG office, at 414.212.8855.
• A rider’s parent or caregiver has primary responsibility for
contacting GKG when that rider’s schedule needs to change, for example, when
school is not in session or when a ride needs to be canceled.
• GKG does not accept route or schedule changes from
passengers. We accept changes only from parents, caregivers, or customers.
• Notice of a schedule change—particularly a ride
cancellation—should be phoned into the GKG office, at 414.212.8855, e-mailed to
gokidgo@gokidgoweb.com, or faxed to
414.226.6604. GKG charges for rides that are canceled without advance notice.
• Do not give
schedule or route changes to GKG drivers. They are not permitted to accept—and
they will not be held responsible for—information regarding changes to a
rider’s schedule or route.
• By law, GKG drivers are
responsible for their passengers and their vehicles. For this reason, when
riding with GKG, passengers must follow the safety and comfort-related
instructions and directions given them by GKG drivers. Failure to follow a GKG
driver’s safety and comfort-related instructions and directions can result in
the suspension or cancellation of rides.
Pick-up and Drop-off Policies
Getting Aboard
Passengers are expected to board GKG
vehicles upon their arrival at pick-up locations.
GKG drivers wait at least three minutes
at a pick-up location for a scheduled passenger to board the vehicle. If the
driver arrives early, before a pick-up is scheduled, he or she will wait at
least three minutes past the scheduled pick-up time.
Drivers can choose to extend their wait
time, but they are not required to do so, even if a parent or caregiver asks
them to delay their departure. GKG drivers operate on a planned, timed
schedule, and a delay at one location can cause additional delays at other
locations.
Failure to board a GKG vehicle upon its
arrival at a pick-up location may have the following consequences:
1. The
driver leaves the pick-up location without the rider. If a pick-up is
scheduled to occur at a passenger’s residence, the driver is authorized to leave
the passenger at the residence. GKG may be able to return and provide
transportation, but only if asked to do so by a parent or caregiver, and only
if the schedule permits it. An additional service fee may be incurred if GKG
returns for a passenger who has missed his or her ride. A “caregiver” may
include, but is not limited to: a teacher, counselor, school or district
administrator, caseworker, therapist, or employer.
2. Additional service fees may be assessed if a pick-up is
scheduled to occur somewhere other than the passenger’s residence, and the GKG
driver and vehicle are delayed or must deviate from their schedule to
accommodate a late or missing rider. For more information, please review the
section below entitled “Fees Related to ‘Unsafe Drop-offs’ and ‘No Shows’.”
Avoiding Missed
Rides
To avoid missed
rides, we urge riders to be ready to board GKG vehicles ten minutes before the
scheduled pick-up time. For example, if pick-up is scheduled for 7:20 a.m., the
rider should be ready to leave by 7:10 a.m.
Passengers—and their parents or
caregivers—are responsible for knowing when a GKG vehicle arrives at a pick-up
location. GKG drivers are not required to provide advance notice of, or make
known, their arrival at a pick-up location. Drivers are not required to exit
their vehicles to ring doorbells or enter buildings to seek out riders, nor do
they honk their horns or make phone calls to announce their arrival.
GKG drivers are not authorized to sign
riders in or out of school, classes, programs, daycare, and so on. If a
sign-in or out procedure is in place, arrangements for its completion must be
made in advance between the rider’s caregiver, GKG, and the school, class,
program, etc.
Staying Put
Because traffic, weather, and tardy
riders can cause delays, GKG considers its drivers to be “on time” if they
arrive at a given location within ten minutes of their scheduled pick-up and
drop-off time.
Most of the time a driver will be less
than ten minutes behind schedule, but delays can, occasionally, be much
longer. When a GKG driver knows he or she will be more than ten minutes late
for a pick-up or drop-off, GKG will try to contact the parent, caregiver,
passenger, or an authorized supervisor at the pick-up or drop-off location.
GKG riders expecting a pick-up should
not leave their pick-up locations unless they’ve waited at least 15
minutes—past their scheduled pick-up time—for their GKG driver to arrive. In
most instances, leaving a pick-up location will only cause further delays. If
a rider has waited 15 minutes and a GKG driver has not arrived—and has not
already contacted the rider—the rider should seek out a parent, caregiver, or
authorized supervisor and contact the GKG main office at 414.212.8855.
Changing
Routes and Schedules
Parents and caregivers are
responsible for contacting GKG when a child’s ride schedule needs to change,
for example, when school is not in session, or when a ride needs to be
canceled. Few Greater Milwaukee-area teachers, administrators, or school
officials accept this responsibility, even when they know a change is needed or
imminent.
As a courtesy and a
value-added feature of the service, GKG makes some school schedule-related
information—and reminders—available to parents through it’s website, and via
e-mail and text messages. However, GKG is not responsible for notifying, and
does not guarantee it will notify, parents or caregivers of changes to school
schedules.
Parents and caregivers are advised not to
give route or schedule change information to GKG drivers. GKG drivers are not
permitted to accept—and they will not be held responsible for—information
regarding changes to a rider’s route or schedule. To make changes, please
contact the GKG main office at 414.212.8855. Changes can also be e-mailed to gokidgo@gokidgoweb.com, or be faxed to
414.226.5583. They can also be made through the “my account” feature on our
web site.
When
changes are requested that will increase or decrease a ride’s service fee, and
the individual requesting the change is not the customer, that is, not the
person or entity with financial responsibility for paying GKG’s invoices, GKG
will need the customer’s approval before making the change. For this reason,
GKG urges those who have their transportation paid for by a third-party to
contact that party with their changes, and ask the third-party to contact GKG.
Changing a
passenger’s pick-up or drop-off time or location, especially if a change is
made with less than 24 hours notice, may result in the delayed arrival of GKG,
or the rider, at either or both locations. The customer may also be assessed
an additional fee.
GKG does not accept route
or schedule changes—including cancellations—from passengers, because the
majority of our riders are minors who did not request, cannot authorize, and do
not have financial responsibility for service from GKG. Unless other
arrangements are made in writing, we accept changes only from customers,
parents, and caregivers.
Unfortunately, customers,
parents, and caregivers do not always contact GKG to make needed changes. When
this happens, the practices and policies described herein apply.
If a child requests a route or schedule
change, without prior customer, parental, or caregiver approval, GKG will
attempt to contact a responsible adult, which includes alternative contacts.
If we cannot secure adult approval of a change, the child is transported to his
or her original, scheduled destination.
Neither GKG nor its employees are
responsible for contacting a parent or caregiver in the event that a passenger
misses a ride, cancels a ride, or refuses to board a GKG vehicle. GKG has
systems in place that enable us, on occasion, to provide this information as a
courtesy and as part of our value-added service, but it is not the accepted
responsibility of the company or its employees.
Canceling Rides
We understand that rides
sometimes need to be canceled. Should this be necessary, we respectfully
request—and will be sincerely grateful for—as much advance notice as possible.
Notice
of a ride cancellation should be phoned into the main office, at 414.212.8855,
e-mailed to gokidgo@gokidgoweb.com,
or faxed to 414.226.6604.
If a customer
has scheduled at least six rides in a calendar month, and if we receive at
least 24 hours notice of a cancellation, we will credit a customer’s account,
but only for two such cancellations each calendar month. If five or less rides
are scheduled, or special transportation arrangements have been made, other
policies may apply. When other policies apply, they will be confirmed in
writing.
GKG charges for
rides canceled with less than 24 hours notice.
Credit
is not given for cancellation notices given to GKG drivers.
GKG
reserves the right to suspend or cancel any scheduled rides, at any time, if
doing so will, in the company’s judgment, be in the best interest of a child,
other children, GKG, or the general public.
For
additional information, see the section below entitled “Scheduling Rides and
Billing Practices.”
Fees Related to “Unsafe Drop-offs” and
“No-shows”
Certain
ride-related situations—all of which are outside GKG’s control—increase the company’s
operating costs. These are not the typical weather, traffic, or tardy child
situations that are part of the company’s normal workday. They are, instead,
what GKG refers to as “unsafe drop-offs” and “no shows.” In these situations,
neither a parent nor a caregiver is present to accept responsibility for a
child, nor available to provide information about a child’s transportation
needs or whereabouts.
“Unsafe
drop-offs” and “no shows” can cause a customer to incur an additional fee. The
additional fee is charged to the customer who requested the service. The
"customer who requested the service" means the individual or entity
with financial responsibility for a given rider’s Go Kid Go invoices, as
identified on our registration and emergency form.
“Unsafe
drop-offs” are those in which a GKG driver is unable to leave a rider's
drop-off location because the rider:
• Cannot enter
his or her destination
• A parent or
caregiver is not present or does not accept responsibility for the rider
• The rider
cannot enter a situation or environment that the driver considers safe
When an unsafe
drop-off situation arises, the GKG driver is required to retain responsibility
for the rider until one of the three criteria mentioned above can be met.
If a GKG driver
must retain responsibility for a rider for more than five minutes past the
vehicle's arrival time at a scheduled drop-off location, GKG will charge the
customer who requested the service $60.00 per hour—with an automatic minimum
charge of $30.00—for the time spent waiting until the rider can be dropped off
safely at his or her destination. The GPS data collected from the GKG
vehicle will be used to determine how long the driver waited at the drop-off
location.
Also, if the GKG
driver must retain responsibility for a rider, for any of the reasons given
above, or for some reason not named but apparent and necessary to ensure the
rider's safety, and the driver is directed by a GKG administrator to keep the
rider in the company's vehicle and leave the rider's drop-off location in order
to fulfill the company’s commitments to other riders, GKG will charge the
customer who requested the service the automatic minimum of $30.00.
If GKG returns
to a rider's drop-off location after fulfilling it's commitments to other
riders and customers, and the driver must continue to retain responsibility for
the rider, for any of the reasons given above, or for some reason not named but
apparent and necessary to ensure the rider's safety, GKG will charge the customer
who requested the service $60.00 per hour for the time spent waiting. The time
spent waiting will be calculated based on the time that the company's vehicle
first arrived at the drop-off location.
If GKG receives
at least 30 minutes advance notice of a delay at the drop-off location, that
is, if a parent or caregiver calls GKG at least 30 minutes prior to a rider's
scheduled drop-off to apprise the company of his or her delayed arrival at the
drop-off location, GKG will waive the automatic minimum and the $60.00 per hour
charges. However, we will only waive these charges one time, regardless
of the number of rides a customer has scheduled.
A “no-show”
situation is one in which either of the following occur:
• A rider, who has
two or more rides scheduled on a given day, is a no-show at his or her first
pick-up location of the day. For example: a rider has an a.m. pick-up
scheduled at home and a p.m. pick-up scheduled at school, and he or she is a
“no show” for the a.m. pick-up.
• A rider, who
is scheduled for a pick-up at a location that is not his or her home, is a
no-show at that pick-up location. For example: a rider has a late a.m.
pick-up scheduled at school.
In both of these
no-show situations, the following conditions apply:
• The ride was
not canceled in advance
• No one on-site
at the pick-up location canceled the ride or gave GKG instructions of any kind
• GKG has no
information about the rider's plans or whereabouts
In no-show
situations, GKG
makes at least three attempts by phone to secure—but cannot and does not
guarantee they will receive—information or instructions from a parent,
caregiver, or an on-site authority at the rider's pick-up or drop-off
location regarding the rider’s plans or whereabouts, or the disposition of
his or her rides.
If GKG receives
information or instructions from a parent, caregiver, or on-site authority, the
company will consider ways to act upon that information, or implement those
instructions. However, GKG does not guarantee that it will be able to do
either.
If GKG doesn't
receive instructions from a parent, caregiver, or on-site authority, they
either:
• Attempt to
provide the day's remaining ride(s) as scheduled, if the no-show occurred at
the rider's first pick-up location of the day
• Confirm with
on-site authorities that the rider is a no-show (if the no-show occurs at a
pick-up location that is not the rider's home), that GKG has not received any
information about the rider's plans or whereabouts, and that the GKG vehicle is
leaving the pick-up location without the rider
If, after the
GKG vehicle leaves the pick-up location without the rider, GKG receives a
request that a vehicle return to the pick-up location because the rider has
been located, such a return will occur solely at the discretion and convenience
of GKG. If a return to the pick-up location occurs, the customer who
requested the service may incur an additional service fee of $30.00.
Go Kid Go
reserves the right to waive additional fees related to unsafe drop-offs and no-shows.
Passenger
Behavior, Ride Suspension and Cancellation
By
law, GKG drivers are responsible for their passengers and their vehicles. For
this reason, when riding with GKG, passengers must follow the safety and
comfort-related instructions and directions given them by GKG drivers.
Passengers
are expected to be respectful and courteous toward the driver and all other
passengers at all times. Behavior or language that compromises safety or
impinges on the rights of others in the vehicle will not be tolerated, and will
be grounds for temporary suspension of services or cancellation of all
scheduled rides. GKG determines when safety has been compromised, or when the
rights of others have been impinged upon. GKG involves law enforcement
officials when necessary.
All GKG
passengers must wear seat and shoulder belts properly: they must be worn
across the lap and over the shoulder. Belts must remain fastened until the
vehicle comes to a complete stop.
Passengers
may not eat or drink in GKG vehicles.
Holidays and School Closings
GKG does not provide transportation on the following holidays,
including Monday observances when they are considered part of the holiday: New
Years Day; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Day and the
Friday that follows it; December 24 –31.
If a
child’s school, school district, or scheduled destination closes due to
weather, road, or other conditions, GKG will be deemed closed as well, and will
not provide transportation for children to or from that school, district, or
destination until it reopens.
In
addition, GKG reserves the right to suspend operations in its own discretion if
doing so will help ensure the safety of our passengers, drivers, and other motorists.
In the
event that a school, district, or destination closes, which would cause GKG to
close, individuals scheduled to ride on the day or days of that closing will
receive a credit equal to 50% of the normally applicable fees.
In the
event that GKG exercises its discretion to suspend operations, a credit of 100%
will apply to all applicable fees.
GKG
reserves the right to close on other days and occasions that we deem
necessary. GKG will notify affected customers if and when such closures occur.
Description of
Operations
Go Kid Gosm
Transport & Tours, LLC (GKG) provides children’s transportation services
and packaged, hosted trips for individuals and small groups.
GKG
operates Monday through Friday between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Office hours
are from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Service is also available outside these
hours, and on weekends, by advance arrangement.
GKG accepts
written requests for transportation from parents, legal guardians, caregivers,
and the legal representatives of businesses and organizations.
GKG
fulfills its service obligations to parents, guardians, caregivers, businesses,
and organizations by allotting and reserving time in our transportation
schedule. To allot and reserve time, those making requests for transportation
must specify the dates, times, points of origin, and destinations on which, and
at which, a child or group of children are to be picked up and dropped off.
A Go Kid Go
passenger may, occasionally or regularly, share a ride with other children.
When this occurs, it may not be possible to transport him or her directly from
a pick-up location to a drop-off location. In these situations, the passenger
may have to travel in a GKG vehicle for an extended period of time. How long a
rider travels depends on a number of variables. In general, we try to limit
any one rider’s time aboard a GKG vehicle to a maximum of 45 minutes. GKG
provides details for specific riders upon request.
Scheduling Rides and Billing Practices
To
request service, customers are asked to complete, sign, and return a
registration and emergency form, which can be found at our website, at
gokidgoweb.com. GKG accepts only written requests for service that are made
using this form. It can be submitted via e-mail, fax, or mail delivery
service.
Once
GKG confirms that a request can be fulfilled reliably, and the customer has
submitted a signed registration and emergency form, the requested rides are
considered “scheduled and billable.”
The
following apply to scheduled, billable rides.
1. The GKG policies described in
“Canceling Rides,” above.
2. To be exempt from the policies
outlined in “Canceling Rides,” scheduled, billable rides in any given calendar
month must be canceled before the 26th day of the preceding month.
For example, to avoid being billed for rides in the month of February, GKG must
receive notification of their cancellation by the end of the day on January 25th.
Service Fees
Service
fees can vary. They are based mainly on the distance a rider travels between
the pick-up and drop-off locations. Other factors such as time of day,
location of pick-up or drop-off, total number of rides, and special
requirements may also affect the service fees. GKG provides cost estimates for
approval before scheduling rides and applying fees. We use the Google Maps
website to determine travel distance, travel time, and the fastest route.
Go Kid Gosm Transport & Tours, LLC reserves the
right to change this document without advance notice.
© 2013-2014 Go Kid Go Transport & Tours, LLC, 5151 S. Howell
Ave., Ste. E, Milwaukee, WI 53207.
Office: 414.212.8855; Fax: 414.226.6604; E-mail: gokidgo@gokidgoweb.com
