Metro is examining ways to rein in the costs of its expensive but growing service for riders with disabilities even as it plans to request $190 million today to continue the program’s contract for another two years.
The cash-strapped transit agency is in a bind. Federal law requires it to provide transit service to those with disabilities unable to take buses or trains. But its shared-ride MetroAccess service costs an average of $38 per ride, far more than the base fare of $2.50 that riders pay. Meanwhile, ridership grew about 20 percent last year, and demand is expected to keep surging as the population ages.
Even as it grows more popular, MetroAccess receives far more complaints than Metro’s bus or rail services although its 24,500 registered customers represent a small fraction of the number of riders on bus and rail.
It’s a system that nearly everyone agrees is flawed. Now, Metro’s access services manager, Christian Kent, said the transit agency is looking at ways “to slow the growth because we can’t stop it.”
The agency could reduce the MetroAccess service area to the required minimum of three-fourths of a mile from the Metro system. In January, the agency said it ran 4,209 trips outside those boundaries. Cutting back the area would save an estimated $2.8 million a year.
Metro could increase fares. The agency is allowed to charge up to twice the fare of a comparable Metrobus or rail trip instead of the current flat fare that maxes out at $6.50. But Metro estimates that even doubling the flat fare would not have a “significant impact” because the costs outpace the revenue.
Metro also could persuade more people with disabilities to take bus and rail instead of MetroAccess.
Since 2004, Kent said, Metro has let riders who have certified disabilities use the bus and rail for free, which would save money.
Kent said the agency is considering creating a system that lets riders use MetroAccess under set conditions. For example, a person with limited vision could ride MetroAccess at night but would need to take bus or rail for free other times.
