WMATA released the news today that 1,154 MetroAccess riders so far have signed up for the Free Ride program that we wrote about recently.
The press release also notes that the number of people who have signed up for the Free Metro system orientations, run through WMATA’s Office of ADA Programs, has jumped to 23, and that both Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind and Services for the Visually Impaired are working in partnership with Metro in helping people learn how to use the system safely and effectively.
Whilst both of these things are good news, we have some issues with the press release.
Since MetroAccess riders only have to show their MetroAccess ID at the faregate or to the bus driver to ride for free, there being no “registration” other than being a MetroAccess rider required, we would ask where WMATA has come up with the figure of 1,154 riders having “signed up” for the Free Ride program. See BootNote
We are concerned at a comment by Mr Glenn Millis, the Director of Metro’s Office of ADA Programs. The press release quotes him as saying:
“In addition, it saves Metro i.e. the taxpayers money,”
We wonder what possible reason Mr Millis could have had for emphasizing that this saves “the taxpayers” money - after all, we, the MetroAccess riders are taxpayers also.
One reason Mr Millis making such a statement might have relevance is trying to explain that the cost of a Free Ride is much less than it would have cost WMATA to provision a trip via MetroAccess, which is the actual logic behind the Free Ride program to begin with, but since that isn’t made clear in the quote, the statement becomes one of those that can be “read either way” depending on your personal prejudices.
We would ask WMATA to clarify such quotes in the future rather than let them sit where they can be “interpreted”.
We hope that this is not a resurgence of WMATA’s attempts to deflect criticism of the abysmal state of the MetroAccess service, this time by emphasizing to the public that they are simply trying to keep costs down (i.e. save the taxpayers money).
Of course, one of the possible reasons behind the upswing in MetroAccess users taking advantage of the Free Ride program might be because MetroAccess itself is so unreliable people have little choice but to look for alternatives, no matter how unsuitable, if they want to keep their jobs, or maintain any semblance of independance.
If WMATA is so concerned with saving taxpayers money, we would respectfully point them to the 
costs to the taxpayer that MetroAccess remaining at its current state could result in.
BootNote:
We had emailed WMATA asking them where the figure of 1,154 had come from, explaining the reason behind our confusion. Mr Christian T. Kent, Director of MetroAccess services, replied to our E-Mail:
You are correct that any MetroAccess customer can make use of the program at any time by presenting their customer ID, but we had asked customers interested in using this option to call and register with our office (301-562-5370) because it was a means of gauging interest and participation in the pilot program that was scheduled to end in December 2005. The number of enrollees identified through this process was significant enough to convince our Board of Directors to make the program permanent, and even after the Board action, we are continuing to receive registration calls as indicated in the press release.
DC Paratransit Info would like to thank Mr Kent for clarifying this point. The Free Ride program is one of those initiatives WMATA has made that actually makes sense, and when MetroAccess issues are resolved, the two combined will give the community a much wider range of resources to use in continued mobility throughout the Metro DC area.
Mr Kent also confirmed our assumption regarding the reason for Mr Millis’ statement.
