The type of dedication and commitment to service demonstrated by MV Transportation on Sunday is the type of good news that never makes it into the Washington Post, but we wanted to share the news directly with the riders and readers of DC Paratransit Info website.
Realizing that Saturday night’s snowfall would impact the service delivery of MetroAcess, MV Transportation took several steps to ensure that people who depend on MetroAccess would get where they needed to go.
So that we could guarantee adequate staffing on Sunday, MV set aside a block of hotel rooms Saturday night for our employees who would have difficulty making it to work Sunday morning in the Silver Springs call center, so we could guarantee adequate staffing.
At 5am Sunday morning, while we had several vehicles on the road, we began calling each passenger to verify that they indeed wanted be transported Sunday, with 8-10 inches of snow being forecast. We did not send a vehicle for any trip that we could not make positive contact with the passenger. In turn, many passengers called to cancel their rides as well.
At 7:15am, Metro made the call to suspend service due to severe storm conditions. MV immediately began calling all clients who were expecting pickups within the next hour to let them know service had been cancelled for the day. We then completed the following steps to ensure everyone got home safely:
- We confirmed any and all trips performed as pickups or drop offs for Sunday’s service.
- For those trips that were performed and passengers dropped off, we ensured we made positive contact with each of them (by phone or in person) to inform them of the service closure, and that we needed to take them home. For those that were on board, we instructed the drivers to take them home.
- We posted standby drivers at several locations to pick-up any other passengers who needed to get home.
- Of all passengers that had been delivered to their destination, only 3 refused to be transported home saying they wanted to remain at work and would make other transportation arrangements.
- MV ensured that all others were taken home. We also had some trips for passengers that had worked overnight, and we did drive out into the service area to get them home safely.
- At 8:45am, we confirmed that all passengers that were delivered earlier were either home, staying where they were or on board and on the way home.
- We posted 3 standby drivers at our Beltsville location until 2pm for any unforeseen situations so we could be sure there are no passengers stranded away from home.
- We worked with our Information Technology department to change the IVR (Integrated Voice Recorder) message to state:
“MetroAccess customers are advised that service has been suspended for Sunday February 12, due to hazardous road conditions from the snow accumulation and cold temperatures.”
- We continued to take live reservations for Monday, as we expected a full regular day of service.
- For employees who had to work an early shift and knew their streets will not be cleared in time for them to report to work, MV put them up in the hotel again.
Again, MV is committed to accommodating all MetroAccess customers. We are dedicated to providing the quality service this community deserves.
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