The morning commute is a headache for anyone but for people with disabilities it can be far worse.
They say when taxi or rideshare service drivers see their wheelchairs or support animals, they sometimes abuse or overcharge them or cancel their trip.
After experiencing these hardships first-hand, two business partners are looking to create an app that'll solve these problems.
When Raymond Dufton first met his business partner Barney Koneferenisi he knew something was wrong
"He's getting out of a hatchback car and I thought, 'this is taking a little longer than normal'," Dufton said.
"He says, 'I think I've just got ripped off Raymond'. I said 'what do you mean?' He said the guy wanted $240 dollars to bring me from Middlemore Hospital to here."
The taxi journey should have cost $65-$75, or $80 in peak hour traffic.
"The driver takes a longer route to raise the meter because the taxi driver knows that that person with a disability has a concession card that will chop the fee in half," Koneferenisi said.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. When they surveyed 300 people with disabilities, females respondents reported being sexually harassed and assaulted and 71 percent reported cancellations after drivers see their service animals or wheelchairs.
"Most of these drivers what they don't realise is after they ditch us where we're supposed to get picked up most of us go to the toilet and cry ourselves," Koneferenisi said.
But they found complaints to taxi and rideshare companies fell on deaf ears so the partners took things into their own hands.
"Rather than being negative let's go positive," Dufton said.
"Let's put our energy into creating our own service," Koneferenisi added.
Their business plan hangs in Koneferenisi's room and there's a Givealittle page to raise money for one van and design an app costing $80,000.
The app will cater to people with different physical capabilities.
"Ultimately the people are trying to go from A-B so if we can help them do that and take care of the technology side of things then that's what we'll try to do," Mieszko Jan Iwaskow said.
The pair are a long way off from reaching their financial goal but are hopeful gains from their first van will snowball into a fleet.
Koneferenisi said he allows for three hours before meetings. When cars cancel he wheels himself to his destination.
"You get a good cardio exercise you get to see the outside view as well."
But he hopes soon a van for him and his mates will be just a click away.
