Having seen the number of Riders that had descended on the February meeting of the Elderly & Disabled Committee MetroAccess Subcommittee, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see the attendance level at this, the first public forum specifically held to address the situation with MetroAccess since the transition in mid-January.
What was surprising however was the number of representatives of organizations that were present, and that participated. Even more surprising was that, given the Rider’s Advisory Council is new and unproven, many brought along not only complaints, but also practical suggestions based on their experiences. It’s a sign of the trust the riders are more likely to put in a rider-based organization over working through the established WMATA-controlled avenues.
Many of the complaints heard were repeats of ones we’ve been hearing continuously - late rides, no shows by MetroAccess, bad attitude by call-center staff and in some cases drivers.
Christian Kent, the Director of MetroAccess services for WMATA and Mrs Inez Evans, Vice President and General Manager of MV Transportation/MetroAccess attended the meeting, and took notes of all the issues being raised during both sessions, commenting or answering specific questions directed to them by the riders and the ad-hoc Committee members themselves.
As had been suggested, the “intermission” between the two, two hour, sessions was used by MetroAccess and WMATA staff to talk one on one with the riders, to get more information about specific complaints.
Whilst this is good, it still leaves us in the situation we were left with after the February E&D meeting, after which Christian Kent spent time one-on-one with the riders there as well. It only addresses individual issues and complaints, but there is still a question mark over whether or not these complaints (and suggestions) are leading to effective changes within the entire system itself to prevent future occurances.
We know that operational issues are being addressed, and are glad to see that MV Transportation is committed to dealing with staff who go outside the boundaries of good customer service, but things are still taking longer than is safe or wise, we believe. This isn’t a process that can be done gradually - things are broken, they need to either be fixed now, or something be put in place to tide things over until these issues can be resolved.
WMATA seems willing to try and “stick it out” with the current state of affairs, bringing in changes to improve the service (which, in this instance, is only practically bringing it up to the level that it operated at under Logisticare, which wasn’t quite working to begin with). The question is, how long do the riders have to wait while WMATA tries to hang on to what was obviously a flawed transition, flawed contractual burden on MV Transportation, and is a flawed level of service to the riders, before someone at WMATA has the courage to stand up and say “This isn’t working, let’s rethink it”?
The Forums did give the riders a unique experience, the ability to finally speak out and detail the way the service is working. As much as MetroAccess needs vigorous monitoring and auditing in the coming months and years by officialdom, regular forums such as this one are also a necessary tool to ensure that these issues are not forgotten, swept under the rug, or simply are ignored, but that they remain firmly in the minds of MetroAccess and are resolved.
A voice is no use if no-one listens, the community has spoken up, and deserves the chance to speak out again in the future to be able to confirm (or deny) that someone has paid attention and done something to provide us with an acceptable level of service.
