Disabled riders who depend on Metro's Call-A-Ride Plus vans are being forced to wait at busy grocery stores, fast-food restaurants and bus stops under a transfer policy that critics say is unsafe.

In late November, the region's transit agency expanded its transfer policy to require most wheelchair-using passengers to change vans in the middle of long-distance trips. But disability-rights advocates say some transfers subject vulnerable riders to bad weather, parking lot dangers - even crime.

"This puts people at risk," said Andrew Lackey, independent living and advocacy specialist for St. Louis-based Paraquad. "We don't want these risks to materialize because by then it's too late."

Lackey said one wheelchair-using passenger has been assaulted at a transfer center. In one other instance, a visually impaired passenger grew disoriented near a busy parking lot before the driver found her. Some people with disabilities, he said, are choosing not to ride at all.

Paraquad and others appealed to the St. Louis County Council over the last two weeks, hoping the county can persuade Metro to change the transfer policy. The Federal Transit Administration also has raised questions about the transfers.

Emma Perry of south St. Louis County, who uses an electric wheelchair, told the County Council last week that she was forced to cancel a doctor's appointment when it took a Call-A-Ride van 1 1/2 hours to pick her up at a local transfer point in mid-May.