DC ParaTransit Info

Lena Sun of the Washington Post writes that the Metro Board has approved a plan to spend up to $1 million hiring “professional” mystery riders, who will go out and assess MetroRail and MetroBus services.

This isn’t a new idea.  As the Post notes, it’s been done before, albeit using trained volunteers - and is something we at DC ParaTransit Info has mentioned before.

Done properly, it can produce relatively unbiased metrics about the service, as opposed to the idea of using customer feedback.  Customer feedback tends to only concentrate on negatives - how many people actually take the time to call or write to WMATA to tell them they’re doing a good job?

Updated 4-16-2008 @ 8:26am

WMATA is geared up for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to DC this week, with fixed-route service changes to cope with the expected crowds. This includes running rush-hour scheduling from 5am to 7pm on both Wednesday April 16th and Thursday April 17th.

Several fixed routes will be affected by rolling road closures over the course of the visit. The WMATA web site estimates that up to 16 fixed route bus services may be affected. MetroRail especially is likely to become very crowded, with large numbers of people from outside the area riding the system over the course of this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Back in November of 2006, DC Paratransit Info reported in the introduction of the new 6000 series MetroRail stock.

As part of that report, we noted that the new cars suffered from the same lack of signage giving priority to people with disabilities - primarily wheelchair users.

This issue is one that seems to crop up frequently with MetroRail cars. The new 6000 series cars have wonderfully open areas at either end, as well as a place that’s perfect for wheelchairs in the center - but other than the seats at the center, there is no signage indicating priority usage.

In March 2004, a lawsuit was filed against WMATA¹, alleging that WMATA was failing to comply with federal laws with regards to the MetroAccess system.

Although the contractor providing MetroAccess service on behalf of WMATA changed (from LogistiCare to MV Transit) in 2006 the case continues to be in litigation.

Late last week, all MetroAccess subscribers received a “Notice of proposed class action settlement”²

At the moment, the Judge hearing the suit will be holding a “Fairness Hearing” on May 22nd 2008. This may be the last chance people have to comment or object to any part of the proposed Settlement Agreement.

[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’s Board meeting on November 9th includes budget items for FY2007 relating to MetroAccess.

DC ParaTransit Info notes with great concern this item in the “blurb” produced for the board:

Revise MetroAccess eligibility process to mainstream riders to transit

We’re back to the concept of tightening eligibility criteria once more to try to reduce the eligible ridership numbers. WMATA once more is making decisions based on their financial needs and not the community’s transportation needs, disenfranchising users from MetroAccess use. Euphemistically referred to by WMATA as “Demand Management”, this is a case of more management to artificially reduce demand.

We have been fortunate enough to wheel all around the new 6000 series rail cars WMATA is bringing into service, and they seem to be an interesting trade-off from the perspective of wheelchair users.

The biggest change is the lack of vertical poles at either end of each car, leaving a very large space capable of easily taking multiple wheelchairs.  This also means that a wheelchair user can travel from one end of the car to the other without serious impediment.

Unfortunately, Metro has made the center of each car the designated wheelchair space (at least going by the lack of wheelchair signage at the ends of the cars), with only two bays.

This is a copy of the latest service announcement that is being posted in MetroAccess vehicles, scanned and transferred online by DC ParaTransit Info to increase the accessible formats such announcements are available in.

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We’re continuing the transition to the new MetroAccess service provider, MV Transportation. As promised, we’re giving you an update on the transition.
Here’s the latest news:

• To improve MetroAccess service, Metro’s Board of Directors has authorized the purchase of 22 additional vehicles and installation of navigation and communications equipment (global positioning systems, onboard cameras and radios) in 77 of our existing vehicles. We’ll let you know when the vehicles and equipment arrive.

WMATA’s web site contains a press release advising of delays this saturday (March 25th 2006) due to the National Marathon.

WMATA advises that MetroAccess riders in the District and Prince George’s County may experience delays because of the road closures, and encourages riders to schedule their trips later in the day because of the expected road closures.

According to the information on WMATA’s site, the Marathon will begin at around 7am, and is expected to end around 2pm.

Given that WMATA has stated to DC ParaTransit Info it considers burying notification of the FY2007 Proposed Budget meeting deep within their site to be “adequate” notification whilst not mentioning it in their news pages, we note with great amusement the appearance, a day after the event, on the news section of WMATA’s site a press release soliciting comments and questions via email.

We regret that WMATA seems to have made sure that the MetroAccess ridership, through lack of effective notification of this meeting, were unable to face the Board to ask their questions or make comments in person.