Metro News Release

For immediate release: June 30, 2002

WMATA to prep Metro Information Persons (MIPs) to provide customer assistance on July 4th

MIP orientation meeting set for July 2 at 2 p.m.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) will prepare Metro Information Persons (MIPs) for their voluntary duty on Independence Day. MIPs are regular Metro employees who are volunteering their time on July 4th to support station managers by assisting customers in Metrorail stations. MIPs will be prepared for providing this assistance in a meeting on July 2, 2002, at 2 p.m., in the Meeting Room of Metro headquarters, 600 Fifth Street, NW.At that time, the more than 100 volunteers will receive their Metrorail station assignments as well as their bright red MIP T-shirts which say "Ask Me" and matching caps which say, "Metro.""MIPs serve an important function on July 4th by assisting station managers with the crowds of customers expected at the downtown and end-of-the-line stations in particular," stated Jan Davis-White, coordinator of the MIP program. MIPs will play an even more vital role this year since Metro’s Smithsonian station will be closed on the Fourth of July. MIPs give customers, many of whom are first time users of the system on July 4th, the system map and walking maps in the brochure titled, Metro’s 4th of July Service " Special Metrorail Map, Downtown D.C. Walking Map, and Tips for Using Metro on July 4th. The MIPs also show customers how to use fare card machines, provide answers on how much to pay to travel by Metro, and inform customers about the best way to get around on Metrorail. The brochure on Metro’s July 4th service is also available as long as supplies last in Metrorail station Take One racks and on Metrobuses as well. "To serve as a MIP is a rewarding experience, as many of them return year-after-year to volunteer," Ms. Davis-White noted. "And, they get to keep the T-shirts and caps as souvenirs of their volunteer service to WMATA," she added.[Media: Here is a great opportunity to obtain film footage and photographs of the MIPs in their "uniforms" of bright red T-shirts and caps. If you plan to cover this orientation meeting, please let us know by calling Metro’s Media Relations Office at 202-962-1051.]

News release issued on June 30, 2002.