Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with transportation

Transporting a Recumbent Road Bike!

crapples — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:42:12 -0800

I have a specific question about transporting my Rans Tailwind Recumbent Road Bike in my trailer using fork traps that I attached to the trailer myself. My question is whether or not I need to take the seat off the bike before I transport it at highway speeds. See inside for more details and pictures. I have this bike. The seat is like a small sail. I have a light weight metal trailer. Yesterday I attached fork traps to it like this.

My question is this: I know these fork traps work well with normal bikes but I've never transported a recumbent like this before. It seems to me that the mesh seat on my bike will collect a heck of a lot of wind, acting like a sail. I don't think it will damage the bike (the wind will cause less stress on it than I do when I sit on it), but I worry about the extra pull on the fork traps and the DIY attachments to my trailer.

I could take the seat off every time I transport the bike anywhere, but that would be a hassle and I don't want to if I don't have to.

Does anyone here have experience transporting a recumbent on a rooftop or trailer? Do you remove the seat?

Thanks.

Visitors to L.A: Was traffic better or worse than you expected?

Room 641-A — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:14:43 -0800

I reply to a fair number of L.A. travel questions here and many of the answers (including mine) often contain dire warnings about traffic. This happens even if traffic isn't directly related to the question being asked. So, visitors to our fair city, how bad was the traffic really, and what information/advice can I give to newbie LA tourists who drive? I'm mostly interested in first-time visitors who came to the area with a preconceived notion of what traffic is like here, especially if that notion came from an Angeleno rather than, say, a movie.

Again, I'm asking this in order to give better answers, not to start a traffic complaint log about L.A. or anywhere else.

Thanks!

Short-to-medium term transportation options in Houston?

abcde — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:20:56 -0800

Asking for a friend: I'm leaving graduate school for a job in Houston, TX in a few weeks and I'm looking for the best short-term transportation situation - apparently there is no public transportation whatsoever going to my job, and I'd like to be able to, you know, get to work. The hitch is that while I'm leaving in 2 weeks, my wife is leaving in 3 months, and she needs our car to get to work. I've got a motorcycle, but it's cheapest to ship that in the moving truck when we move our stuff in 3 months (not to mention I'm not sure how quickly I can arrange for it to be moved out there, and if it gets there too late, it's not worth doing anyway). I'm planning on buying a new motorcycle anyway when I get there, but I doubt I'll be able to have one waiting for me when I arrive, nor would I want that sort of time constraint (plus my salary is going to increase dramatically, and I don't think I have a good sense of what I can afford yet). Are there any good, cost-effective options for transportation that will let me (in order of priority) 1.) get to work 2.) get to the store 3.) get to random parts of Houston where people are selling motorcycles, 4.) look at apartments (I'll have 1 month in temporary housing) and 5.) explore my new city?

I think I can reasonably buy a new motorcycle within 2 weeks. Shipping on my old motorcycle will likely be ~$700-$800, so that's the price to beat - I don't have a good sense of how long that takes. Also, I'm not sure how feasible commuting is on a motorcycle in Houston between April and July - so far my plan is to use a motorcycle as my sole vehicle until my car arrives - it's worked well in the SF bay area, but if Houstonite motorcycle riders tell me that's not a workable solution, I imagine I have a whole different set of questions.

Get me to Pike Place Market!

meese — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:14:34 -0800

Can you help me figure out a good way to get to Downtown Seattle without driving in Downtown Seattle? I plan on going to Seattle for a day. I have a car, and I'll be driving down from the North, on I-5. I would really like to avoid driving in Seattle as much as possible. Ideally, I'd like to find some park-and-ride that is right off the freeway, so I can just park and then take some public transport from there. I'll be going on a weekday, so I'm also hoping to find a park-and-ride place that isn't filled to the brim with commuters. There goal here, for me, is to get to Pike Place Market and the surrounding area with the least amount of stress possible.

Any suggestions about what I should park? Or have a better suggestion for how I can get where I wanna go?

Thanks!

Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende: The Scenic Route?

carsonb — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:02:47 -0800

In July I'm flying into Mexico City for my friend's wedding in San Miguel de Allende. I have two days (or so, it's pretty flexible) to get from the airport in FD to SMdA, can you help me figure out the best route and/or means of transportation? And also what I should do for fun and/or adventure with the extra day or so I have to explore the area? I'm traveling alone. I have some little Spanish, more all the time, and some big itch for adventure. I've been to Mexico before, but really only the state of Sonora. My budget is fairly limited—I can't hire a palanquin, and I can't go skydiving or anything—but I'm willing to save extra to make this a memorable trip.

Looking at maps, I feel a little daunted by the distance between the two cities (~150mi) and don't really know where to start looking for a way to get from one to the other. Oh, and back again for my return flight...

That said, I scheduled some extra time so I don't have to feel rushed, racing to the wedding. I arrive on a Sunday, rehearsal dinner isn't until Thursday, but the house we're all staying in starts welcoming guests as early as Monday. Wedding guests will be trickling in that whole time. I'm thinking I'd like to show up on Tuesday, spend a few days with scattered friends before the wedding stuff starts in earnest.

That leaves a good portion of Sunday and all day Monday for me to do pretty much whatever I'd like around the Federal District. Or... I could spend the whole time on the road, wending. Consider me open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!

What's a good car service from Brooklyn to LaGuardia?

Peemster — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:35:08 -0800

I am sorry to ask such a dumb question, but I have a very early flight from South Park Slope to LaGuardia, and googling car services so far is returning not great results. Is there a car service someone can recommend for an early pick up (our flight is at 5:30 a.m.)?

an AskMe named Desire

threeants — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:25:35 -0800

I'd like to read about the extensive streetcar networks that serviced most US cities in the late 19th / early 20th century. Any recommendations? This could be nonfiction expressly about US streetcars. This could also be well-researched fiction, or nonfiction ostensibly on a separate topic, that relates what it was like to have the streetcars as part of the urban fabric or of one's life. I'm not looking for writings that are chiefly about the demise of the streetcar and the shift into automobile predominance, though if that's just one part of a text that otherwise satisfies what I'm looking for, go for it.

Thanks in advance!

Off-the-shelf shipping company job board application or site?

daHIFI — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:31:01 -0800

I have a meeting next week with a Seafood distribution company that wants an application that can match up truck drivers with people needing stuff shipped. Before I go into the meeting I'd like to be able to provide a short list of existing services or applications that can provide some of this functionality. I'm having problems locating anything and I'd like to know what the alternatives are before I pitch them a $10-12K development project. I'm assuming that they're going to need something that drivers can access from their phones that can provide them with a list of jobs near their location or along their planned route. We've discussed using Access or SQL server integrated with IIS or Sharepoint, but a hosted solution that uses PHP/mySQL is also on the table.

Driving from Seattle to Whistler. Anything I need to know?

schmod — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:23:32 -0800

Tomorrow night, I'll be driving from Seattle to Whistler, BC. What's the drive going to be like, and is there anything that I should know? Any advice would be helpful on the border crossing (one of us has Global Entry, which I think lets us jump the line?), or the part of the drive that will take us up into the mountains. Keep in mind that we'll be doing all this very late at night. If there's a dearth of 24-hour bathrooms/coffee along the way, that would be nice to know about too.

Backstory: Two years ago, I took a bus from Reno to Tahoe through a snowstorm, and was really glad that I didn't drive, as the roads were just ridiculously bad. Pretty much the worse I've seen, and the locals didn't seem to think that it was anything out of the ordinary.

Am I in for a similar experience here? Do I need to ask for snow chains with the rental car? I've driven through plenty of New England winters, but never experienced anything quite bad enough to require chains.

I know it's a short trip, but I really don't want to be caught off-guard in the icy north.

Side question: Is there any (last-minute) way to get my Verizon Galaxy SIII to work up in BC, preferably with a bit of data, without paying an arm and a leg?

Reliable Transportation

aniola — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:58:29 -0800

What are the arguments for and against method of transportation as a protected class? I'm a bicyclist. I see job ads saying "you must have reliable transportation," and I see that as a reasonable requirement. And then further along in the ad, I see that they exclusively mean automobile, and that often seems unreasonable to me.

I know I live in a society whose paradigm is car culture and that method of transportation as a protected class isn't on the radar, but from a theoretical perspective, is it something that could qualify?

Troubles with the DMV after lapse of ins coverage. Advice sought.

cardinality — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:12:06 -0800

Hi all, longtime reader here, new poster. While dealing with multiple personal hardships (more inside), I had a lapse in insurance coverage for 10 days. This has snowballed into a major issue for me, and I may lose my driving privileges for 3 months, which means losing my job. Any and all advice/anecdata appreciated. Hi all, longtime reader here, new poster. Please bear with me regarding some of the backstory; I'll keep it as brief as possible. I'm located in PA.

So, I've been dealing with severe mental health issues off and on since the middle of last year. It's impacted my ability to take care of anything but the basics, essentially. I lost my primary job at the end of August, my unemployment claim was denied, and at the time I made too much for Legal Aid and couldn't afford a lawyer to help me appeal the decision. I've been struggling to get by since this happened.

I had missed (iirc) my insurance payment which was due on 11/28, and by 12/26, my insurance was canceled. I couldn't afford to get my insurance reinstated until 1/4. By this point, I was also three months behind on my car payment, and on 1/1 my car was repoed. It was only thanks to my dad's generosity that I was able to get the car back, on 1/8. The whole ordeal was unbearably stressful and more than I could afford, as I had to rent a car to get to work until I could get my own car back. (I work ~35-40 minutes away from where I live. It's in a rural area, so the bus/walk combo would take about 2-2.5 hours one-way, and I don't even know if the buses at that end still run when I get off of work, which can be anywhere from 10 PM to 1 AM.)

I received a letter from PennDot on 1/7 requesting a notarized affadavit stating that the vehicle hadn't been operated during those 10 days, but I was unaware that the insurance had expired (I thought I had a few days wiggle room, and had been waiting for my paycheck on 1/4), so I did drive to work on the 28th, 29th, and 1st. I freaked out about having to deal with this affadavit, let it go for too long while dealing with ongoing family and personal issues, and eventually had another downward spiral that resulted in an emergency room visit on 2/8. Since then, I've been tentatively diagnosed with a bipolar-spectrum disorder, and am waiting on a full psych eval + getting into a correct therapeutic/medication regimen. The psych appt isn't until the end of next month, and depending on the outcome of the evaluation, I may end up filing for SSDI. I don't know what is going to happen at this point. I can barely manage working P/T right now, and have been receiving some financial assistance from my dad, in addition to his help with the car, just to keep afloat. He can't afford to do this indefinitely, so I was hoping that after my appointment next month, I'd be on a meds combo that would allow me to take on another P/T job or just go back to F/T work.

So, on 2/15, I received another letter from PennDOT stating that my registration is being suspended for three months, effective 3/27. I have to mail all of my registration materials in and pay a $50 fee.

The letter states that I have the right to appeal this decision in the Court of Common Pleas within 30 days of the mailing date of the letter (today, 2/20), and have to send a time-stamped, certified copy of the appeal to the DMV.

I'm feeling unbearably stupid and defeated at this point. I rely on my car for work, and I also provide 90% of the transportation needs for a disabled, non-driving family member.

If I provide documentation of everything that's been going on, is there any hope that I might be able to avoid this based on a "hardship" scenario, pay a fine, or otherwise avoid losing my car for three months? If I lose my car, I'll lose my job, because the job duties are location-dependent. I don't know if I would get unemployment or not in this case. I have no options for ride-sharing, have no one to borrow a car from, etc. I'll still have a valid license, so I can drive provided I can find an alternate vehicle.

My options, as I see them, if the appeal process fails:
a.) I live near a major city in PA, and have access (I think) to both FlexCar and ZipCar. I don't know enough about them yet to determine if I can get by with that type of service, so I need to investigate their policies regarding standing reservations.
b.) I have a mountain bike and could theoretically suck it up and bus/bike commute *to* work, but getting home from work could be difficult.
c.) Start searching now for any semi-decent job within bus/bike distance, but that would mean giving up a good P/T job (in IT) where I have some tenure, make $13+/hour, and am given a large degree of autonomy in my daily tasks. My relative lack of coworkers is really the only thing that helps me continue to show up to work.
d.) Give up on car ownership right now, let my car be voluntary-repossessed, and try to find an apartment in the city when I'm able to do so.

Re: d.) - To add a fly to this ointment, I just found out that my roommate is likely moving in with his girlfriend as of next month, which would mean that as of 4/1, I'll be saddled with the full $645/month rent for our two-bedroom apartment. I have the option of converting to a month-to-month lease for an additional $50/month, but if I were to move out and try to find a cheaper apartment in the city proper, I'd have to give a minimum of 60 days notice. So that doesn't help me, either. I'd hope that I could find a new roommate before the 1st, but I can't count on that. I may have the option of finding someone to assume/take over the lease, and if my landlord will allow that, I'd be able to move sooner.

I'm at an impasse. I know I've screwed up, and I'm going to focus on getting my mental health and stability back. In the meantime, I have a mess to clean up and not sure where to begin.

Any and all advice is sincerely appreciated.

Getting 12 people from NYC to Montreal and Back?

undercoverhuwaaah — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:41:22 -0800

Early May revelry-filled weekend excursion from NYC to Montreal for a group of roughly 12 20-somethings. We see time advantages to flying (provided all goes smoothly) but cost disadvantages. We see cost advantages to driving ourselves, but would like to minimize our personal stress and maximize fun. We see personal stress and maximum fun advantages to being driven, but have no experience with long-distance transporation charter and are unclear on whether this would be cheaper than flying. Any suggestions / experiences?

BART in San Francisco...Secret Question

america4 — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:51:23 -0800

BART in San Francisco... a secret (ssshhh) question...So I had just boardded Bart on Saturday afternoon, at Millbrae if you must know, and the car I was sitting in was almost empty. There was a girl sitting at one end of the car who looked very unhappy. One of Bart's maintenance people came through the car, picking up trash, etc., and noticed the girl... ...the girl's cell phone was dead, but of course there was no place she could plug it in...I heard the maintenance man say oh yes there was, and told her under certain seats in the BART cars there was an outlet. Sure enough, she moved to a seat he pointed out, she found the outlet, plugged in the phone and had a grin a mile long.

So my SECRET question is, does anyone know WHICH seats on each car have an outlet, eg the 4th seat from the door, etc.? I really don't want to get on a BART car, get down on my hands and knees and start looking under seats...I wonder how fast I'd get arrested for what clearly would appear very odd behavior...

Anyone know? I PROMISE it will be between just you and me :) You can even message me! Thanks :)

Getting around Jackson, MS

billtron — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 18:01:31 -0800

I have a friend who will be taking care of her mom in Jackson, MS, next week while the latter undergoes surgery. Because said friend survived an accident a few years ago and consequently prefers not to drive, can you recommend a solution for getting them both to the hospital and back? She seems to think Jackson does not have cabs, but I suspect there is a better solution. I do not know which hospital they will be visiting.

Booster Seat Advice Needed

zarq — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 20:15:09 -0800

It's time to switch my kids from regular car seats to booster seats and I can't figure out which to buy or what features I should be looking for. If you've gone through this, can you please share your experiences to help me make a decision? My kids are 4 and a half. My son is 42lbs. My daughter is 40lbs. They're currently in Graco car seats. I'm looking at high-back booster seat models. My car does not have the Latch system, and space constraints are not a factor.

Is there a brand or model that I should be looking at over any others? Are there any brands I should be avoiding completely?

Are the more expensive seats really more effective at protecting a child during a crash/impact?

SJC to San Francisco travel options...

greatgefilte — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:18:57 -0800

So, I'm due to travel to San Francisco tomorrow from Toronto, via San Jose. I was planning to get to my hotel in San Fran using Caltrain, but lucky me, my flight's been changed to one later in the evening and I don't think there's any conceivable way I'll be able to catch the last train from Santa Clara. Any tips on how I might be able to get from SJC to SoMa in San Francisco without spending an arm and a leg? I've seen Supershuttle and the like quoting fares of $70-80 or so per trip. Will they charge less if it turns out that other people share the ride? Are there likely to be other people traveling at 11 PM?

Help me get a client from NYC to Long Island

Dolley — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:13:35 -0800

Is there a web site that figures directions via public public transportation in the NYC and Long Island areas? If not, can someone in the hive help? I need directions for a client from E 65th in NYC to 56th Ave in Elmhurst, NY. I'm unfamiliar with NYC/LI. Starting address is 410 E 65th, ending address is 8940 56th Ave, Elmhurst, 11373. TIA for any and all help.

And I was really looking forward to this trip, too!

Narrative Priorities — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 08:35:45 -0800

I'm supposed to be at a B&B in Philadelphia tomorrow evening, and right now I'm in Brooklyn. I don't have a car, rail isn't running, busses leave from parts of the city that are extremely difficult to access and I'm not even sure I could get a ticket. Suggestions? Am I not thinking of something? I have a reservation at a Bed & Breakfast in downtown Philly this weekend, for both Thursday and Friday night. They have a 72 hour cancellation policy, but by the time I realized how bad things were going to get that deadline had already passed.

Originally, we were going to take NJT rail down to Trenton and pick up the SEPTA regional rail for the rest of the trip down to Philly -- as such, we hadn't bought any tickets ahead of time.

I live in southern Brooklyn, about a three hour walk from midtown. Having poked around, the situation seems to be:

- No NJT or subway service, and no word on when it will resume
- NYC busses are running and there are cabs, but both systems are overtaxed and the traffic is incredibly bad.
- Bolt bus and Megabus are not running until tomorrow, which means two days of stranded travelers will be overloading that system
- Peter Pan isn't running at all, with no word on when service will resume (and you couldn't pay me to go to Port Authority right now anyway)
- SEPTA regional rail has restarted, but with delays
- As far as I can tell, SEPTA is still connecting with the Trenton Transit Center, but I have no idea what the situation is at that station
- The only car rentals within walking distance are zipcars.

Given all of this, my options seem to be:
- Call the B&B and beg them to let me reschedule my trip, given the circumstances (if they refuse, I would be out ~$100 if I don't show)
- Rent a zipcar and drive down to Philly, adding ~$300 to the cost of the trip and possibly signing up for horrific traffic
- Find some way to get into Manhattan and fight my way onto a bus

Complicating factor: I have a companion for this trip who does not handle travel stress very well.

At this moment, Option 1 seems like the only reasonable choice, but I have a tendency to be skittish about these things and worry I'm giving up too easily.

Metafilter, I could really use some perspective! Particularly from those of you in southern NJ and Philly who know more than I do what the situation is down there!

Getting to/from SFO airport?

raspberry jam and clothes iron — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:18:48 -0800

What are some inexpensive, yet reliable modes of transportation, to/from SFO airport and the South Bay? I'm faced with the prospect of multiple trips out of SFO this coming year. While I can do SuperShuttle, I was wondering if people have found less expensive options?

I've tried the KX bus once, and while that did the trick, it was a bit much in terms of the time expenditure.

Thanks!

Bonus: similar recommendations from the South Bay to OAK and SJC?

tv transpo

mannequito — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 01:30:18 -0800

How heavy/bulky/awkward is a 32" flatscreen TV, freshly purchased in the box? I'm just trying to gauge whether I'll be able to get it home via public transit (bus) if I go out and purchase it this weekend. Surprisingly google is failing me. The nearest location is out of stock for the particular model I desire, meaning I'll have to travel into suburbia. Taking a cab back could cost 100$, which negates the savings from avoiding other local sources.

I'm a relatively healthy 30 yr old male if it helps, and I once moved an entire apartments worth of stuff on the Berlin subway, so I'm very seasoned when it comes to stumbling onto transit with large items and absorbing the death glares of angry commuters.

How do I get a bus ticket from Dubai to Oman?

Televangelist — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:28:50 -0800

Anyone here who lives in / transits to Oman regularly: How can I book a bus ticket on the national bus line, ONTC Oman? Their official website hasn't worked for months. My wife and I are trying to get a bus ticket from Dubai to Muscat on ONTC Oman, leaving Dubai on the morning of December 31st. The ONTC website (ontcoman.com) has broken booking webpages, both in English (http://ontcoman.com/booking.php, which simply doesn't exist) and in Arabic (http://ontcoman.com/ar/booking.php, inputing the arabic names of the cities appears to do nothing). How on earth does anyone book a bus trip with these guys if their website hasn't worked for months in any language? Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

Best way to commute...Palo Alto to San Francisco

america4 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:23:34 -0800

Have a (literally) last minute one week project in downtown San Francisco, Financial District, starting on Monday (hours 7am to 8pm)--I'm not from SFO. I'm going to be staying in Palo Alto. Suggestions wanted for "best" transportation to and from the project given those hours, eg car or mass transit or combo. I see daily parking rates there are $32/day or so. Any advice you San Francisco experts can offer???

DC Cinderella needs a cheap set of wheels

Luminiferous Ether — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 08:51:32 -0800

Party Princess wants a shared horse drawn carriage in DC I recently shadowed a party princess in the DC area who would love to hire me as a contracted princess for her company. The problem: I don't have a car and I can't afford to buy and maintain one. Metro is not really an option for all the gigs so I really need access to a car sharing group.

I know DC car sharing includes ZipCar, Car2Go, and Hertz on Demand, but I am having trouble figuring out which one would be most cost effective for me.

Kids party gigs run about one hour and I would need a car to get there and back.

I would need:
-to reserve access to a car for certain times on Saturdays/Sundays within walking distance of the Columbia Heights area

-to hold on to that car for chunk of time(2-3 hours per show) so I have a definite way to get home from each party with my costume and party gear

If I could keep the cost of transportation below $35 for each event that would be great.

Thanks!

How to get guests from the parking lot to the wedding?

pineapple carver — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:52:00 -0800

Wedding transport help. A friend of mine is getting married and I'm helping arrange logistics. We're going to have the guests all park in a public parking lot about a mile from the site of the wedding (which is at someone's house - there is no closer place than this parking lot to fit ~100 guests' cars). The question is how best to get them from the parking lot to the site of the wedding? More details below. Our best current working idea is some variation of:

renting a couple passenger vans from a rental car place and paying some trusted friends to shuttle people back and forth between the parking lot and the house. Problem is a lot of obvious candidates will already be attending the wedding, and would there be an insurance factor/liability?

It seems like there must be some companies that deal with this kind of thing (limos, party buses, chartering vans/buses for travel) but i'm unclear on how to proceed. Cost isn't a giant factor but would prefer not to shell out a ton of money for this service, since we're pretty sure we could go the friends/rental vans route for say $500 or less for the day, and the wedding cost is already creeping upward obviously.

The wedding takes place at someone's house in a small town (~3000 people) about an hour away from a large city, if that helps to imagine what sorts of travel options are available in each of the two places.

Thanks for all help! And feel free to ask clarification questions if needed.

How should my sister bring her son home, across state lines, during a messy divorce proceeding?

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:41:28 -0800

Asking for a friend: How should my sister bring her son home, across state lines, during a messy divorce proceeding? I am posting for a friend, who, I presume, has a lawyer already:

My sister has been in a very high conflict divorce, jurisdiction is in her state. She has extensive documentation, medical and 3rd party records that counter husband's false allegations.

14 year old Son has been totally alienated from her. A few weeks ago she got a temporary restraining order granting her sole custody and preventing husband from having contact with her and the 2 kids. Day before school started Father puts money on the son's bank card, which lets him buy a plane ticket to the Grandfather's place, a 6 hour drive in another state. Father lives a short drive from Grandfather. After attending school for a few days, Son skips school, flies to grandpa who picks him up at airport.

Police find him 3 days later in the early morning. He claims sister was abusing him, police photograph mild bruises on his back. State laws allow him to be left with Grandfather rather than be turned over to social services.

Sister has to wait a week for the TRO hearing, for which the husband does not show up in court. She is granted full custody, and he is barred from any contact with children except under supervision. That morning a Private Investigator photographs Grandfather and Grandmother packing boxes into cars, and leaving with son. They are not seen for 48 hours. Fortunately they returned and police were able to bring son into social services where he is being held for 72 hours.

Because she is named on the protection order, my sister has to personally go to pick up her son in the next 48 hours.

She has arranged for placement into a hospital for evaluation in her state. How can she physically get him back home?

Driving or flying alone with him is not an option as he would run away and falsely claim abuse. Several professionals involved are worried that he may harm my sister. So far no agency has a way of dealing with a runaway that does not want to go home. Sheriff, PI, hospital, national runaway foundations, all have no answers.

Any specific ideas, names of companies that can handle this? Any laws that can compel the authorities to provide interstate transport?