Early problems with Metro’s transportation service for the disabled could have been avoided had Metro provided better oversight and ensured that new employees were sufficiently trained, according to a recent report by a citizen’s advisory group.
When MV Transportation, which was awarded a four-year, $210 million contract by Metro, took over the curb-to-curb MetroAccess service in January, it almost immediately received a record number of complaints for late or missed trips.
The report, the first detailed review of the service since MV Transportation took over, stated that the company was given too much responsibility for reserving, scheduling and assessing performance as compared to other paratransit agencies across the country. The report shows the firm’s schedule planners typically handled two to three times more calls than was standard for the industry.
Dennis Jaffe, co-chair of the advisory group, said that while performance has continually improved, it is not perfect.
“It’s critical that the agency do a better job at both informing MetroAccess riders and listening to them about service issues,” Jaffe said. “That seems to be improving now, but the proof is still ahead of us.”
In the past eight days, MetroAccess provided nearly 30,000 trips with an on-time performance rate of 94.7 percent. Next week, Metro officials will begin using an independent auditor to review all performance data.
About the service
» An estimated 16,000 disabled customers use the MetroAccess service.
» A Virginia taxicab company that provides about 700 trips a week for MetroAccess stopped service this week because of pay disputes.
