Disabled Riders Stranded By Metro
Service Provider Has Rough Debut

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 14, 2006

The new company hired by Metro to run MetroAccess, the curb-to-curb service that transports thousands of disabled passengers throughout the region, is easing into service this week, but the results have been chaotic and even dangerous.

A blind lung transplant patient was stranded by MetroAccess at work four nights in a row this week; sympathetic co-workers drove her home. A Maryland man in a wheelchair waited at a Giant supermarket for four hours and called Metro 24 times before a MetroAccess ride finally appeared Wednesday. And on Thursday, a physician said three patients had trouble getting to or leaving his D.C. dialysis clinic because of mistakes by MetroAccess.

"You just stand on the line and it just rings and rings. What kind of a system is this? We're not selling shoes here. These are people!" said Jay Ocuin, a kidney specialist at Capital Dialysis on Q Street in Northeast Washington, who was so irate that he called MetroAccess to complain. For much of this week, a problem with the MetroAccess phone system left callers permanently on hold or listening to a busy signal.

"You can't get through," said Floyie Shuford, one of several MetroAccess riders interviewed. She was stuck at her job in New Carrollton, unable to get home to the District on Thursday because MetroAccess never came. "I sat on my cell phone for 40 minutes and finally got through, asked where my ride was," Shuford said. "The lady said, 'Let me check,' and then she hung up on me."

Her cell phone battery died while she was still trying to get help. Because she didn't have $17 for a cab, Shuford walked to the New Carrollton Metro station and took the subway and two buses to get home. A 58-year-old who has chronic muscle pain and arthritis, diabetes and congestive heart failure, Shuford said each step was painful, and she had to stop to rest frequently. "My legs were hurting me so bad getting up those bus steps," said Shuford, one of about 16,000 people registered to use MetroAccess.

The Metro board chairman, T. Dana Kauffman, described the service problems as "unconscionable" and said he would discuss the situation with the Metro staff.

Metro signed a four-year, $210 million contract with MV Transportation after The Washington Post reported in June that the service for the disabled was fraught with problems, including drivers who frequently failed to pick up passengers on time or at all. The newspaper's investigation found that Metro officials did a poor job managing the contract, which was held by Logisticare Inc., and that they handed out bonuses to Logisticare based on questionable performance data.

Metro is being sued by disabled riders who say MetroAccess service is so poor that it violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Although Metro officials have pledged improved service under MV Transportation, they learned after they signed the contract that the company has been cited by two California transit systems for problems similar to those experienced under Logisticare.

MV Transportation is to officially begin service tomorrow, but the company started carrying passengers this week.

Pamela Wilkins, Metro's assistant general manager of contract services, said: "I am aware that there have been some additional problems this week, and I'm really, really sorry." She said that the problems stem from the change in workforce and that 40 percent of the dispatchers and reservationists are new to the job.

"It's rough, no doubt about it," Wilkins said. "It's very, very disappointing. I do know our service is going to improve over the long term. And we expect these problems to smooth out by spring. It's short-term pain for long-term gain."

Jon M. Monson, chief executive officer of MV Transportation, did not respond to telephone messages.

Brad Black, a Gaithersburg resident who uses a wheelchair, said he missed his regularly scheduled dialysis appointment Thursday because MetroAccess failed to show. Black and others with kidney failure rely on dialysis, a mechanical process that removes waste from the blood. Black undergoes the treatment three times a week and said he had never missed one until this week.

"I can't wait until spring -- I'll be dead," said Black, who did get a MetroAccess ride to his rescheduled dialysis appointment yesterday afternoon.

Wilkins said she will investigate complaints about service and urged riders to call to report their problems. Told that many riders said they couldn't reach MetroAccess by phone this week, Wilkins said there was trouble with the telephone system.

"I don't know what happened with the phone service," Wilkins said. "I had difficulties getting through to my own office directors. If someone hasn't gotten through because of a phone problem, that's terrible."

Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said the agency was setting up an alternative telephone number for MetroAccess riders, 800-523-7009. But a call placed to that number was on hold for 49 minutes yesterday afternoon before it was answered.

Wilkins said she intends to ask the Metro board of directors to add $900,000 to the MV Transportation contract because Metro staff underestimated the amount of service required when it put the contract out to bid.