Metro News Release
For immediate release: September 22, 2005
New company to oversee MetroAccess service
Metro has hired a California-based company to manage MetroAccess, the curb-to-curb transportation service for persons with disabilities.
The transit agency’s Board of Directors today approved a four-year, $210 million contract with MV Transportation. The deal includes options for two, two-year extensions, totaling about $350 million. The company also can earn up to $6 million in bonuses over the first four years if it meets on-time performance goals, provides a timely telephone response to users and has low rates of passenger injuries and complaints.
MV Transportation is taking over for LogistiCare, Inc., whose seven-year contract ends in mid-January. MV Transportation is one of the largest paratransit providers in the country, operating more than 130 contracts in cities such as Orlando and San Francisco.
"We’ve made several service improvements to this new contract, including a new reservation and scheduling software that should minimize missed and excessively late trips and maximize on time performance. Automatic vehicle locators will enable us monitor service delivery in real time. Dispatchers will redirect drivers if they’re running behind schedule and customers will know when their ride will arrive," said Pamela Wilkins, acting assistant general manager of contract services.
Other contract improvements include:
Requiring the contractor to install cameras on 255 vehicles to improve driver training and to monitor operations.
Giving a free trip voucher to any MetroAccess passenger who has experienced a missed or excessively late trip.
Using new vehicle performance and maintenance tracking software.
Using scheduling software that will ensure the most trips are delivered with the fewest vehicles in the shortest time
Cutting the reliance on taxis providing rides from 20 to 5 percent.
Requiring operators to leave information about Metro’s no-show policy on MetroAccess users’ doorknobs if the patron is a no-show for a scheduled ride. Users who repeatedly don’t show up for reserved rides or provide late cancellations are suspended from the program.
Implementing systems where users can go to the Internet or call to automatically book reservations or check on a vehicle’s location.
Since last March, Metro has increased oversight of its paratransit service with additional auditing and monitoring requirements. The agency also appointed new managers to oversee MetroAccess earlier this year.
About 16,000 people in the Washington region are registered for MetroAccess, which has more than doubled in use and more than tripled in cost over the last several years. It cost $12.5 million to provide 477,160 passenger trips in fiscal 1999, compared to $42 million and 1.2 million passenger trips in fiscal 2005.
News release issued on September 22, 2005.