MetroAccess Provider Under Grace Period

Montgomery Officials Question Fine System For Company Running Service for Disabled

Metro officials said yesterday that the company now operating the transit service for disabled riders in the Washington region would not face any penalties for poor performance until after a grace period written into its contract ends April 15.

The transit officials explained the penalty process in response to questions about the MetroAccess service from Montgomery County Council members concerned about the record number of complaints from disabled riders since the company took over the service Jan. 15.

After the grace period, the transit officials said, the company's monthly on-time performance would have to be 92 percent or lower to trigger a $30,000 penalty. If missed trips account for 2 percent or more of total trips, the penalty would be $12,500. Metro pays the company, MV Transportation, more than $3 million a month to provide the service for the region's estimated 16,000 disabled riders who are physically unable to ride the subway or regular bus.

Council member Steven A. Silverman (D-At Large) said at the council's transportation committee briefing yesterday that the size of the fines raised serious questions about the leverage Metro has over the company.

"This is such a limited penalty," he said. Silverman, who is running for county executive, said the contract's "built-in failure rate" was "unacceptable." He likened the penalties to what some officials say is Montgomery's weak enforcement of penalties against poorly performing cable companies.

But, he added, "this isn't cable. These are people who are disabled and standing there waiting for rides."

MV took over the service under a four-year, $204 million contract. The contract is the largest in MV's 30-year history. The company can earn up to $6 million in bonuses over the four years if it meets on-time performance goals, provides timely telephone responses and maintains low rates of passenger injuries and complaints, a company spokeswoman said.

Metro board member Robert Smith, who represents Maryland, defended Metro's selection of MV, saying board members had expectations that the contractor would "do this service better" than the previous contractor. He said the service is "extremely complex" to provide and that Metro is "doing at least as well as others in the nation" in operating paratransit.

Metro's interim general manager, Dan Tangherlini, who has said MetroAccess is one of his priorities, told the County Council members that Metro has created an ad hoc committee to provide recommendations to the board and is forming a critical management team to investigate and reduce the number of MetroAccess trips during which riders are stranded or picked up more than half an hour late.

MetroAccess street supervisors will also be taking photographs of troublesome pickup locations and, if needed, find alternative locations, he said.

According to figures provided by MV, the company was under the 92 percent threshold for at least half of February. The on-time performance for Monday was 93.1 percent.

A spokesman for Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said last week that the level and intensity of complaints from the public had not abated.

One MetroAccess rider, Harold Snider of Rockville, said his MetroAccess driver tried to pull him out of the vehicle last Wednesday morning after the driver mistakenly thought Snider had canceled the trip.

"He tried to lift me out of the seat that I was buckled into," said Snider, who is blind and has had repeated problems with MetroAccess drivers since MV took over the service. At Snider's insistence, the driver checked with the dispatcher and was informed by the dispatcher that the trip was legitimate and had not been canceled.

Snider, who is one of the riders on the new Metro ad hoc committee, said he complained about the incident to Metro officials and was assured that the driver, who worked for a subcontractor, would be removed from service.

Nikki Frenney, a spokeswoman for MV, said the error occurred because the driver had not pushed a button to indicate the rider had been picked up. So a dispatcher pushed a button from headquarters to indicate that the task had been completed. But the message sent to the driver's data computer, located in the vehicle, displayed a "trip canceled" message.

Frenney said MV officials are working with the manufacturer of the device and software technicians to have the message changed.

Staff researchers Bobbye Pratt and Derek Willis contributed to this report.