DC ParaTransit Info had been invited independantly by Mr Christian T. Kent, Director of MetroAccess Services for WMATA, and Mrs Nikki Frenney, Director of Communications for MV Transportation, to visit the new control center at Silver Springs, so that we could see the operation in action, as well as bring some of the questions we had about the service’s operations.
We took advantage of this offer and visited the control center on February 20th 2006, where we were given an unexpected level of access both to some of the top executives of MV Transportation and the control center itself.
The visit began with the opportunity to sit down with the Vice President/General Manager of MV/MetroAccess service, Mrs Inez Evans; the Executive Vice President of IT, Mrs Marsha Madrid; Nikki Frenney, and Dwight Sayer, MV’s Consumer Advocate, and to ask some of the questions we had.
IVR
One of the first questions we asked was in response to a post on a separate blog, regarding the IVR notifications that a ride had arrived. The poster had noted that the IVR system didn’t tell the rider which entrance the van was at. MV’s response was that the entrance a pick-up was supposed to occur at was currently entered into the “Comments” section of the database records, which includes a lot of other information, making it difficult for it to be used in the IVR.
Mrs Madrid did however express interest in modifying the database itself to add a new field specifically for “Entrance”, which could then be incorporated both into the driver’s manifest as well as the IVR call. This would make it easier for drivers to know which entrance to go to at places such as malls, as well as resolve the question the poster had asked. MV’s IT Department are currently looking into this further.
In a later E-Mail expansion, MV stated:
We would like to encourage riders to give specific pick-up and drop-off locations/entrances/exits when scheduling their rides. This way, that information will be included on the driver’s manifest. We believe this is the easiest and most efficient way to ensure the driver knows the exact entrance.
We asked MV if there were any plans to expand the features of the IVR call system, and were informed that MV plans to continue to enhance the functionality and utilization of the IVR.
We have recently begun to see that expansion, with both the “Your ride has arrived” calls, as well as the night-before trip reminder calls, the latter of which is proving to be a great benefit in allowing riders to verify their trip information automatically.
Subcontractors
Due to concerns that are hold-overs from when Challenger was a Logisticare sub-contractor, we asked MV’s representatives how they were holding subcontractors to provide service. We were surprised at the blunt answer that we received: As per the contracts with the subcontractors, MV does not guarantee any minimums or maximums as it pertains to service levels. Therefore, MV may increase or decrease a subcontractor’s service levels based on quality of service.
Which translates in practical terms to subcontractors are held to a minimum level of service, and if they fail to meet it MV will remove trips (and vans) from that subcontractor and re-assign them.
We were even more surprised when MV quite openly gave us the names of subcontracting companies that MV has done this to already, including Challenger, Metro-HealthTech, and AlternaTrans.
Considering the short time the contract had been in place then, it does appear that MV is much more serious about holding subcontractors to their contracts, and acting rapidly to adjust the resources available to the service, than we had experienced previously with Logisticare.
Another difference that we noticed during our visit between MV and Logisticare in how they deal with subcontractor issues was the presence of subcontractor representatives there in the call center. Under Logisticare, Dispatch was in the position of needing to contact subcontractors over the telephone or radio, whereas MV’s practice means there’s a direct subcontractor presence right there. This would appear to streamline communications between MV and the subcontractors.
The Computers
Given the beginning of the contract, we had a lot of questions about the computer system itself, and the state of the database. We had also asked in advance to find out more about a recent experiment we had run to test the “Shared Ride” concept.
The experiment had been to book two trips, both from the same location, to the same destination, for pick-up at the same time. Logically, going by WMATA and MetroAccess’ comments in the past about the reasons for pushing the shared ride concept more, this would have resulted in one van being sent - however, on the day, two vans were allocated, one for each trip.
MV investigated the reason for the double vans, and were able to determine the likely cause of the confusion: When the first of these trips was booked it fit with another person in a wheelchair. When the second was booked, it did not fit on that route because the vans can only handle two wheelchairs.
In an E-Mail expansion to their answer, MV stated:
We have introduced the optimize report into the scheduling process for the schedulers to review and correct for this kind of scenario.
When DC ParaTransit Info attended the DC Budget meeting, the return trip, which mimicked the circumstances of our experiment, did result in one van being allocated to complete the trip, so the system may indeed have been improved.
Subscription Trips
Subscription trips had been on hold for additions and changes until the day of our visit, February 20th, and we asked MV why the delay. It was explained to us that the database had so much incorrect data that they had been prioritizing, modifying subscription trips that were incorrect as they were made aware of them, but holding off on accepting new trips until they had managed to clean the database further.
This did add to the level of inconvienience, requiring those who needed to add new subscription trips to have to book each trip individually, but from a practical standpoint it makes sense, as it allowed MV more time and resources to try and clean the erroneous data out quickly.
One interesting fact that we discovered whilst we were discussing subscription trips is something we’re unsure anyone is actually aware of. FTA regulations for ParaTransit services state that no more than 50% of trips made in any given hour may be subscription-based trips.
This accounts for the negotiation of trip times to some degree - MV is legally required to ensure that no more than 50% of their trips are subscription trips. This means they have to juggle the pick-up times in such a way they can maintain that requirement.
The Database
We asked MV about their progress towards cleaning the database in general, and were told that MV continues to clean up data by updating phone numbers, entrance locations, and other pertinent data. They are also monitoring no shows to find trips that are incorrect in the subscription file.
One suggestion we offered as part of this process was for MV to also analyse no-shows by geographic location, to see if there were “problem” pick-up areas such as group homes or other facilities that are a common pick-up point.
We were, unfortunately, unable to get an answer to our question as to whether or not our warnings in November 2005 that the database migration was flawed, and that someone needed to audit the data being transferred as it was migrating incorrect information were relayed to MV.
We do not believe that the question was being avoided, and is more a case of no-one actually knows. Given Mr Kent’s remarks at the E&D meeting that he had not been made aware of the warnings, despite his office being one of those we had notified in November, however, we believe it is unlikely that the warnings were passed to anyone, instead being tossed in the trash and ignored by those they were given to.
The Web Interface
One of the benefits that had been made a great deal out of at the start of the contract was the idea of a web interface, so riders with computer access could make bookings, adjust information, and confirm/cancel trips online. It had been mentioned several times by WMATA in press releases, but there was still no sign of it.
MV told DC ParaTransit Info that the web interface is currently scheduled to be introduced some time this spring. MV had planned a phased introduction on several features, but in response to the feedback and complaints that the service had received since the transition to MV, they had re-prioritized some of their plans, starting with bringing the IVR features up to speed as a priority. This meant the web interface was delayed.
Other Things
Some of the questions we have are more properly for WMATA to answer, and have been submitted to them. However, MV tried to answer several questions based on their understanding.
One of the things we have been waiting for a reply on is the “Free Trip Vouchers” WMATA announced would be made available to riders who had experienced excessively late trip pick-ups. MV and WMATA are working on this, and the program should be available “shortly”.
We asked if MV had any information regarding any future mailshots, such as the revised rider’s guide. MV works with WMATA on such things, but had no specifics as to any that were planned. Mr Jon Monson, the CEO of MV Transportation, did later provide us with a copy of the IVR Mailer that had been sent out at the end of January, so that we could republish it here in multi-accessible formats.
We are grateful to MV for the time they gave us, and for the tour at the end of our questions. Whilst the service still has a good number of problems, MV Transportation at least seems to be more than willing to work with the riders to try and resolve them, and their “open door” policy is a drastic change from the silence the riders generally recieve from WMATA.
We asked MV about their “open door” policy, and were told:
With the proper notification, we encourage riders and others to stop by to tour the call center and see the technology at work. Often times when we get visitors, they leave with a greater understanding of the service, and they share their ideas for service improvements.
We have to admit, we understand much more about the hurdles MV is facing in making the service work, and appreciate their understanding the resource the riders themselves are to overcoming those hurdles. We are coming to the conclusion that working with MV by providing constructive criticism and suggestions on ways to improve the service is a worthwhile exercise, given that we are seeing several of the suggestions riders have made being put into practice already.
That’s not to say that things are getting better overall, there are still a great number of operational and policy issues that we believe need to be addressed, but the majority of those are ending up being ones WMATA are the only ones who can provide answers, and implement solutions.
We wonder if WMATA is going to take a leaf out of MV Transportation’s book and begin to work with the riders as well.
