At this rate MetroAccess is going to end up being a regular fixture in the Washington Post, with yet another story appearing today - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020501111.html A MetroAccess Rider Is Left at the Curb (although such stories weren’t exactly that uncommon when Logisticare had the contract).
How long are WMATA and MV Transportation going to continue to claim that this is all the fault of Logisticare, the software, the drivers, and even the riders? At what point are they going to go “Hey, we screwed up, how do we make this right?”
Is it going to take a rider loosing their job because their transportation is unreliable? Or do we have to wait for the first rider to die because they were left stranded in the freezing cold for 4 hours waiting on a ride that “mysteriously” disappeared from the computer?
It’s time for Christian Kent to face up to the fact that, in effect, DC currently has
no ParaTransit service, and do something to resolve it. MV is getting paid enough, they’re supposed to be professionals at this, tell them to pull their fingers out and fix things now.
If WMATA didn’t put performance clauses in the contract to make that possible, then that’s WMATA’s tough luck. It will cost WMATA a lot less even if it has to break the contract and bring in one of those that lost the bid than the lawsuits they risk if things keep (not) going as they are currently.
