Here’s an early heads up for those of you whose bikes have been gathering cobwebs in the garage this winter: This Friday is Bike to Work Day, a day when the bikes rule the roads and the sight of men and women in office attire peddling to work doesn’t seem so silly.
If you’ve never done this before, it is something to try at least once, because you may never again feel as comfortable peddling down K Street. Later this week, I’ll give a few more specifics about events that are planned, but I wanted to give each of you a chance to oil your chains, pump up your tires, do some deep knee bends and remember the number on that combination lock.
For the hearing-impaired
With all the talk about the quality and effectiveness of the new announcements on Metro, I got an e-mail last week from a rider who is deaf and wondered what Metro was doing to get the messages to him and to others in the hearing-impaired community. The response comes from Glenn Millis, who is director of Metro’s ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) programs. I have taken the liberty to edit it down a bit to save space: “We are concerned and sensitive to the needs of hearing-impaired passengers and others with disabilities. For those who are hearing impaired, we have focused on getting information out through electronic signs or Passenger Information Displays, the Bus Stop Visual Annunciators, the Internet (www.metroopensdoors.com), eALERTs can be sent to computers and mobile devices, and we have training in place for our operators for working with people with disabilities. Here are some specifics:
» “On the platforms, the Passenger Information Displays will provide major service outage information and arrival times for trains. In trains, we have signs indicating the line, destination and which side the door is opening. There are also signs urging riders to not eat, drink and block the doors. We have lights over the doors that flash to warn that the door is closing.
» “Major event information can also be text massaged automatically to hearing-impaired customers both while in the stations and on trains if they choose to sign up for the ELLEN service [and if they subscribe to a service that can be received in Metro tunnels].
» “The delay information is on our Web site for customers with PCs at home and in the office or for those “on the road” who have mobile web-enabled devices.
» “Customers in stations can always ask station managers, who have been trained to reach for a pen and paper pad when customers with hearing impairments need help.
» “On buses, the annunciators give cross street information, and drivers also are trained on the pen-and-paper-pad process.”
Thanks for the response, Mr. Millis. I guess my main concern would be getting information to the hearing-impaired when the trains are stopped and haven’t moved in 10 minutes. I also wonder what happens in the event of an emergency that requires the passengers to do something quickly, like get out of the train or gather in a tunnel.
Have questions, comments or random musings? Write to [email protected].
