WMATA has posted a “Straight Scoop” article rebutting the news article published in the Washington Post on February 13th 2006. Unfortunately, it seems to be little more than WMATA taking advantage of another opportunity to make subtle digs at the community.
Once more, WMATA seems to be attempting to portray the issues surrounding MetroAccess as being blown out of proportion, being mis-represented by the riders, and that the ridership is angry because we’re being somehow denied perks of some description, with comments such as these:
Another reason for the increased complaints is that the old service provider, Logisticare, moved many MetroAccess customers one at a time, with many individuals repeatedly receiving his or her own personal driver and vehicle. The new service provider, MV Transportation, is moving customers in a “shared ride” fashion so that one driver in a vehicle is picking up a few riders and taking them to their destinations, which means that customers no longer have a private ride. This change in the way that the service is being delivered has been one of the more common complaints. Riders are complaining about the policy of “shared rides” that they were unaccustomed to in the past.
MetroAccess has always been advertised as a curb-to-curb service, which meets federal requirements, and many complaints are from riders who want the vehicle driver to come to their door to get them (door-to-door service) Metro has instead arranged for an automated telephone call to alert the customer when the vehicle was waiting at the curb.
WMATA seems to be trying to redefine the meaning of “Door to Door” service,
and this appears to be nothing more than an attempt to trivialize and marginalize the riders and their concerns.
Curb to curb service - yes, we all understand this. We’d actually like it to start arriving at the right curb sometime close to when it was promised to arrive, and get us where we’re going sometime the same day.
WMATA complained at the Post article giving the impression they are “brushing aside” our concerns, stating:
Several changes have been implemented, and they have been detailed in Metro’s news releases and posted on Metro’s web site. That is a far cry from “brushing aside” problems, as the article claimed.
True, those measures taken in isolation are indeed a far cry from “brushing aside” problems. Unfortunately, WMATA’s approach with their “Straight Scoops” negates any efforts their operational changes have, and seems to be more evidence that WMATA’s attitude towards the disabled community is “be grateful we’re even providing a service to begin with”.
What other interpretation could there be of “They’re just complaining because we’re reducing the level of service to the minimum required by law”, the unspoken subtext of their “Straight Scoop”? Press releases like the one WMATA issued today raise the question - Are the problems really operational, or are they cultural within WMATA itself?
We aren’t complaining about shared rides - We are complaining about spending a couple of hours on a van doing the magical mystery tour before we finally get to where we’re going.
We aren’t asking for “Door to Door” service, since we’re not expecting anyone to actually take us up to the door - Those of us who have no way of knowing those vans are sat at the curb are asking for a reasonable accomodation to their disability as the law demands, in being told it’s actually arrived.
Whatever the costs are of the service, MetroAccess riders pay several million dollars a year to WMATA for use of the service (and the surrounding counties subsidize it a great deal as well) - we expect to be treated as customers, not as an unavoidable cost of doing business.
