By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 17, 2006; B01
Metro board Chairman Gladys W. Mack publicly apologized yesterday for the poor service suffered by disabled riders using the MetroAccess system and said a new committee would be holding a public forum to hear directly from affected patrons.
A few minutes before Mack's apology, Ann Pimley, 56, a blind resident, told Metro board members about her recent attempt to reach the Cannon House Office Building. Instead of heading to Capitol Hill, her MetroAccess driver had circled the Jefferson Memorial several times. Finally, she said, a pedestrian gave the driver directions to Pimley's destination.
The Cannon building, a frequently visited location in Washington, is bounded by Independence Avenue, First Street, New Jersey Avenue and C Street SE.
"I told them they could drop me off at Independence Avenue," Pimley said.
But the reservation agent at MetroAccess said the computerized scheduling system required a street address, and the system did not have one for the Cannon building.
A supervisor put in a specific address, Pimley said, but the driver, using a Global Positioning System device, ended up going around the Jefferson Memorial.
Pimley suggested that the contractor, MV Transportation, review its reliance on GPS and "put the correct information into the system, so riders don't have to go through this aggravation and stress that I had to go through."
Nikki Frenney, a spokeswoman for MV Transportation, said the company was reviewing all the locations in its database to determine whether identifying landmarks need to be added. Pimley's driver went to the Tidal Basin area because the reservationist entered "SW" instead of "SE." As drivers and dispatchers become more familiar with buildings and customers, she said, "situations such as what happened to Ms. Pimley last week will not occur."
MetroAccess came up again in Dan Tangherlini's first official remarks before the Metro board after being sworn in as the agency's interim general manager. Acknowledging that the service is one of his top priorities, Tangherlini called Pimley's suggestions a "great idea."
"I don't have a 23-point plan," he said. "I have a one-point plan -- to put the customer first."
After the meeting, he said he wanted to look into ways to provide better and "less rigid" ways of giving directions to drivers.
It has been a month since MV Transportation took over the MetroAccess curb-to-curb van service for the 16,000 disabled riders across the region who are physically unable to ride the subway or buses. Riders say problems continue even though MetroAccess officials and MV Transportation executives say the service is improving.
Board member T. Dana Kauffman and Dennis Jaffe, who heads the recently formed Riders Advisory Council, will co-chair the new committee on MetroAccess. It also will include MetroAccess riders. A public forum will be held next month to hear from riders, and Jaffe said he wants to invite staff from MetroAccess and MV Transportation. Within 45 days, the committee is supposed to suggest ways to improve service.
The ad hoc advisory committee "will provide some contract oversight, talk to riders, measure the service against other transit systems and come up with recommendations," Mack said in a statement.
A report released this week by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board found that MetroAccess does not meet the needs of its riders, is focused on cutting costs at the expense of good service, fails to adequately communicate with passengers and compares poorly with similar services in other major cities.
Some riders who have had repeated difficulties with MetroAccess questioned the need yesterday for the advisory committee.
"If the problems are that bad, then Metro needs to fix the problems and not just delay a solution by allowing people to ventilate," said Harold Snider, a MetroAccess rider who also heads the Montgomery County Commission for People With Disabilities.
In his first day on the job, Tangherlini said he felt an "incredible and distinct honor" to be in charge of the Metro system, which carries 1.2 million riders a day, has a $1 billion operating budget and employs almost 10,000 people. He had hoped to ride the new eight-car trains yesterday on the Orange Line, an experiment to reduce overcrowding.
But he didn't make it to the Vienna station early enough during the morning rush. "I still have a lot to learn," he said after the meeting.
One longtime Metro employee made a special trip to yesterday's meeting to praise Tangherlini. Speaking to the board, Metrobus driver Don Folden thanked the board for choosing the former D.C. transportation director, who until recently represented the District on the transit board, to fill Metro's top job. At Folden's suggestion, Tangherlini rode his bus recently for three hours, talking to riders.
"We don't have to do a national search," Folden said. "We have people who have talent here in D.C."
