[UPDATED March 20th 2008]
We received a reply from Mr Glenn Millis, the Director of WMATA’s Office of ADA Programs, to our email asking about the “Helpful Numbers” card incident:
Thank you for sharing your concern. The x1825 number was implemented to allow customers with disabilities encountering problems while riding buses to obtain immediate assistance and to report problems. I can’t tell you why the person who answered your phone call was so far off base. The phone is answered and its purpose fulfilled frequently. I will report the problem you encountered to our customer complaint department and also pass it on the the director of our bus control center where the phone is answered. Thank you for reporting this.
WMATA has these really nifty wallet cards with “Helpful Numbers” they distribute.
Unfortunately, at least according to someone that answers one of those numbers, the card might not be entirely accurate it appears.
Pat was stranded at a Metro station this evening, when the driver of the bus he was waiting for “forgot” the “first on, last off” practice and instead let everyone else onto the bus first, before turning Pat away as the bus was then full.
Given the “Helpful Numbers” card says “For immediate help with a bus problem”, you’d think the number given would in fact be able to help people with bus problems?
Not according to whoever owns operator ID 43, it isn’t. Apparently, that’s a completely different department, the only thing that number deals with is “handicapped” problems.
Umm.
Apart from the fact a bus driver stranding someone in a wheelchair because he can’t be bothered to do his job (presumably) in the cold and rain doesn’t count?
This question was asked of operator ID 43 over the telephone - and the reply was a totally different number.
So the question is, what exactly is the purpose of 1825 if it isn’t “For immediate help with a bus problem”, and if it’s not for people with disabilities to use when they’re stranded by bus drivers failing to do their jobs, who is it for?
It’s interesting, Metroaccess has improved, and Metrorail is, for those who can use it, as efficient and professional as ever. Is there some sort of “law of averages” that says the overall system has to only reach a certain level, and gains in one respect are offset by losses in another?
We’ll be asking Christian Kent for his thoughts on this, as he is now the Assistant General Manager in charge of WMATA’s accessibility programs in total.
At the same time, we hope to get the new site design, and the results of our latest visit to Metroaccess’ call center, up soon - things have been delayed in that respect while we await clarification of some questions we had for Metroaccess, and some technical work on the servers hosting the site.
