Metro News Release
For immediate release: March 16, 2006
Metro upgrades, adds more vehicles to MetroAccess fleet
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Board today approved equipping 77 vehicles with navigation and communication devices. Twenty-two of the vehicles would be an addition to the fleet, bringing the size to 332.
Metro will spend over $1 million to outfit the vehicles with computers, including global positioning system (GPS) technology; onboard cameras and radios. The money will also cover insurance and two additional dispatchers. About 15 percent of the MetroAccess rides are provided by taxi cabs. The additional vehicles will cut the reliance on cabs down to nearly five percent as part of regular MetroAccess service, which is a requirement of Metro’s contract with MV Transportation, who provides the service.
“Taxis are best used as a backup option for short, local trips,” said Christian T. Kent, Director of MetroAccess. “But as the demand for paratransit services has grown in recent years, we have come to rely upon taxis far more than originally intended. Because they are not directly controlled from the MetroAccess call center and are not equipped with GPS technology, they are much more difficult to track and are therefore less reliable for MetroAccess customers. If a taxi driver has difficulty finding a location, the customer may experience service delays or even be mistaken as a “no show” because of the time that elapses while we attempt to connect the driver with the customer.”
The 77 vehicles are not new and are already part of Metro’s fleet.
A Critical Trip Management Team also has been investigating the causes of missed and excessively late trips and is aiming to significantly reduce those problems by the end of the month. An ad hoc committee, made up of MetroAccess riders, Board members, and others, is expected to give an interim report on recommendations for the service next month and a final report in June. The committee also will be considering the comments from MetroAccess riders received at this week’s public forums.
“Service has been steadily improving over the past several weeks and has actually exceeded our on-time performance goal on a number of days,” Kent said. “Now our challenge is to sustain that level of performance over the long term.”
Preliminary data show MV Transportation’s on time performance has been above or near the goal of 93.5 percent in recent weeks. Yesterday’s on-time performance was 95.4 percent, Tuesday was 94.2 and Monday was 96 percent.
News release issued on March 16, 2006.