Complaints Exceed Those In Last Contractor Change
By Lena H. Sun and Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 13, 2006
Angry and frustrated riders using MetroAccess filed more than 2,400 complaints about poor service last month, a 445 percent increase over the previous January, according to Metro statistics.
Two-thirds of the grievances came after a new company took over the service for disabled and elderly riders unable to use the subway or bus.
Despite the fact that MetroAccess riders are greatly outnumbered by riders of Metrorail and Metrobus, they generated the majority of complaints for the first three weeks of January. Most passengers complained about rides that arrived late or not at all, according to statistics. Last January, there were 451 complaints filed.
Metro officials have brushed aside suggestions that problems are widespread, and Richard A. White, Metro's outgoing chief executive, has suggested that some riders are lying. Metro managers and officials of the new contractor, MV Transportation, said bumps in the transition are to be expected.
But the number of complaints in January far exceeded number of complaints logged the same month six years ago, the last time there was a change in contractor. And MV's top executive has called it the worst transition he has experienced in 26 years in the industry.
MetroAccess staffers say they have received fewer than 100 responses from MV about how it handled the complaints.
Speaking to a disability group last week, Metro manager Pamela Wilkins, who oversees MetroAccess, acknowledged the "very difficult" transition. "We recognize there have been some disruptions in service," she said. Metro is closely monitoring operations, she said.
MV Transportation began providing the publicly funded curb-to-curb van service for 16,000 eligible people Jan. 15.
The overwhelming number of complaints comes as no surprise to many MetroAccess riders, who say they are frustrated by the poor service and lack of response. D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) said she plans to ask about MetroAccess at a Metro budget hearing this month.
On Wednesday, the Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities drew its largest attendance in years because the subject was MetroAccess, officials said. Seventy-five people showed up -- several in wheelchairs or accompanied by Seeing Eye dogs -- seeking explanations from Metro managers and two board members for rides that did not arrive, trip routes and procedures that defy common sense and replacement of experienced drivers with new ones.
"We got a lot of answers that were incomplete, incorrect, insensitive or didn't understand the questions we asked," said Harold Snider, the commission chairman.
MV and Metro officials maintain that the troubles stem from bad data -- since corrected -- and misunderstandings about requirements to carry more than one rider and provide curb-to-curb instead of door-to-door service.
Metro officials say that complaints have dropped and that on-time performance is improving. MV provides about 4,500 trips most weekdays.
But some riders said in interviews that they have been unable to log complaints and don't trust MV's statistics. Their experiences suggest that inadequate training and operational errors might be playing more of a role than officials acknowledge.
Some of the poor service is a result of the way the new contractor is doing business. Under the MV contract, drivers are no longer permitted to directly contact riders; drivers must radio a central dispatcher, who handles about 25 drivers. A Metro manager said the system is designed to keep address information up to date and in one place.
But it also means a driver having trouble finding the address of a passenger cannot get directions from the passenger, creating confusion and misinformation, according to interviews with several riders.
Frances Oreb's inability to speak directly with drivers meant that she and a driver spent nearly two hours looking for each other on a trip last week. Oreb, 27, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She uses MetroAccess for trips between her Clinton home and classes at the University of Maryland in College Park.
On Tuesday, Oreb expected a 12:30 p.m. ride from school to her home. The driver arrived at 12:10 p.m., and Oreb soon got a call on her cell phone from the MetroAccess dispatcher, saying the driver couldn't find her. Oreb wheeled to the spot where she was told the driver was waiting, only to see the MetroAccess van a healthy distance away.
She called MetroAccess and was connected to a second dispatcher. She said she saw the van and gave directions to relay to the driver. But to her dismay, the van went around a nearby building three times, never approaching where Oreb was waiting.
A third dispatcher called, and Oreb asked the dispatcher to tell the driver not to leave. The dispatcher said the driver could not wait any longer because the driver had been looking for Oreb for an hour. Oreb, who said she was upset by the thought that the van was going to drive away, said the dispatcher started screaming at her on the telephone and at the driver on the radio. Oreb hung up and wheeled over to the van. By the time she boarded, it was nearly two hours after the driver had arrived.
Oreb said she had similar problems for two weeks and tried to file a complaint with MetroAccess but insisted on speaking with a supervisor. She was told someone would call back, but no one did, she said. After Tuesday's fiasco, she called a Metro board member, the office of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and MetroAccess director Christian Kent. On Thursday, MetroAccess sent two vans -- one to pick her up, and one with a supervisor. The pickup was smooth, Oreb said.
But riders should not have to "call everybody under the sun" to get a problem fixed, she said.
In interviews and public forums, several riders said the issue is drivers.
In some instances, drivers are arriving too early for pickups -- outside the scheduled time -- and then notifying dispatchers to send automated telephone recordings that inform riders the vehicle is outside and will leave shortly. Riders say they panic because they fear being stranded or penalized as no-shows.
MV spokeswoman Nikki Frenney said she was unaware that the automated alerts were being triggered incorrectly and said it was a "kink" that the company would work out.
Another rider, Snider, the disability advocate, is blind and said he has spent many recent afternoons waiting outside his Silver Spring office for his MetroAccess ride. Drivers have told him they are not allowed to leave their vehicles, so he walks up and down the street, tapping his white cane to attract their attention, or asks a pedestrian for help.
"It makes me furious," Snider said. "It's embarrassing and insulting."
Kent, the MetroAccess director, said in an e-mail that drivers are required to "announce their arrival and/or approach the person, so long as they remain within the vicinity and eyesight of the vehicle." In all cases, he said, they are required to escort customers from the curb to the vehicle.
"That message has not been conveyed by MV to its drivers," Snider said.
More than 200 of MV's drivers are new and have been given extensive training, including in map-reading, Frenney said.
When MV took over, some subcontractors with experienced drivers were not kept. Also, drivers are no longer paid per trip, but by the hour, said Inez Evans, an MV vice president. The minimum pay is $11.75 an hour, she said. Riders say they are furious about the lack of response to complaints. In the first few weeks under MV, complaints flooded Metro's customer service line daily but were passed on to MV only once a week, creating a huge backlog, MV officials said.
Starting Jan. 31, Metro began passing complaints to MV within a day, and MV said those are investigated within five days. But for riders who complained before Jan. 31, the contractor has been given up to two weeks to respond.
Snider, who said he has filed about eight complaints about MV's service, said he has not received a telephone call or letter.
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