WMATA’s web site notes that “Metro’s Board has created a new ad hoc committee tasked with recommending improvements for MetroAccess service.” and that “Metro’s Elderly and disabled Committee and Riders Advisory Council will co-host a public forum to hear from riders on this issue sometime in March.”
We hope that this committee will not just be in the position of only being able to recommend improvements, but will also have the teeth to expect those recommendations to be implemented. We are reminded of the formation of the Rider’s Advisory Council (RAC), which is in the position of not having a voting position on the board, or any real teeth other than to “advise” also.
The Committee’s make-up includes members of the community itself, so we look forwards to actual practical recommendations being presented. Perhaps WMATA will treat the recommendations of this Task Force as assiduously as they have the recommendations of the 2003 Task Force they created to examine ways WMATA could save money on MetroAccess, the recommendations of which have resulted in WMATA implementing an exclusionary eligibility criteria policy.
When we hear more regarding the proposed public forum, we’ll post details here. We hope that WMATA will be braver in facing the public in such a forum than they were with their conference calls idea, for which they didn’t promulgate the number because of concerns about large numbers of irate customers calling.
