Metro trying to teach disabled to take trains, buses
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
November 4, 2009
Metro is seeking to teach some people with disabilities to use trains and buses instead of its MetroAccess service as a way to reduce the costly and growing shared-ride system.
The transit agency has received a grant for most of the $1.2 million program to partner with three centers that work with people who have disabilities. It is slated to ask the Metro board on Thursday to kick in $85,000 for the two-year pilot project.
Metro already is helping some people with disabilities learn to ride the system safely, but the new program would pay for two trainers each at the three centers, reaching an estimated 600 people. MetroAccess has about 24,500 registered riders.
"It will hopefully cut down on the total usage of MetroAccess. That's good," said Cindy Buddington, the former chairwoman of the Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities. "It will help a lot of people who were hesitant."
Buddington, who uses a wheelchair, takes MetroAccess about once a month because she said a friend taught her how to use Metrorail. She taught herself to use Metrobuses' chair lifts.
The new program may help Metro's bottom line even though it costs money and the rides are given away for free.
Metro faces a shortfall this year and an even bigger problem next year with an anticipated gap of some $144 million. Part of the problem has been growing demand for MetroAccess, with rides costing an average of $38, far more than the $2.50 base fare that riders pay.
Richard Simms, executive director of the D.C. Center for Independent Living that is one of the partners, said the trainers will work with riders for as much as 10 hours to recognize landmarks on their routes, especially for job-related trips. But he said it will not train people with visual impairments, since that takes more work. Instead, people who are blind will be referred to a Metro specialist.
The program will mean some independence for riders who must book MetroAccess trips a day in advance, but Buddington said it isn't a total solution.
"Just because somebody can use regular public transportation, it still doesn't mean there aren't times when they need MetroAccess," she said. Some routes are more straightforward than others, she said, and a trip in bad weather or at night may be too difficult.
