Metro News Release
For immediate release: April 4, 2006
MetroAccess Improvements
MetroAccess officials and its paratransit contractor MV Transportation have made numerous improvements to the service since MV Transportation took over the curb-to-curb transportation service for people with disabilities on January 15. Immediate changes included a new reservation and scheduling software, automatic vehicle locatorsystem, GPS technology and cameras installed in MetroAccess vehicles. Other improvements to date include:
January 2006
Comprehensive review and correction of outdated customer information, which was a major source of late and missed rides.
Additional telephone lines installed in the MetroAccess Call Center to handle call volume. Repaired malfunctioning lines by Jan. 20.
MV Transportation hired 10 additional temporary employees and brought over another 10 dispatchers from other sites to address the high call volumes. Metro added temporary customer service employees to assist with high call volumes from MetroAccess customers.
MV Transportation hired more than 250 new drivers between October and January.
A dialysis center coordinator was hired on January 17 to ensure that MetroAccess customers using these facilities were scheduled properly and able to keep their appointments and travel home from them in a timely manner. A hot line was established to assist the centers in obtaining quick resolution of service problems.
Metro began posting daily service updates on its Web site, including the level of on time performance and the number of late trips and complaints in mid January.
InstantAccess telephone service was established January 20, allowing riders to confirm or cancel their MetroAccess trips using the keypad on any touch-tone telephone. The information is available 24-hours a day at 301-562-5360, Option 3.
A temporary on-line service was established for MetroAccess customers to log on and check or update their personal and trip data to help ensure greater accuracy.
MV Transportation employees personally made telephone calls to people with visual impairments to let them know that their ride was approaching while a new automated call alert system was being developed.
MV Transportation changed the focus from customer pick up times to arrival times as a way to reduce instances in which riders arrive late to their destinations.
Preliminary numbers for on time performance for the month of January were 88.2 percent. (The MetroAccess contract establishes 93.5 percent as a goal based on common industry standards.)
February 2006
MetroAccess began a weekly conference call on February 2 available to all MetroAccess customers.
MV Transportation completed the backlog of outdated customer information for regular users on February 5.
Metro and MV Transportation officials established an automated telephone calling “alert” service on February 6 that places an automated call to a rider to let that individual know when the MetroAccess vehicle is approaching the pick-up location.
On February 16, the Metro Board created an Ad Hoc MetroAccess Advisory Committee to review the service and make recommendations.
A MetroAccess Critical Trip Management team was created on February 21 to investigate the causes of missed and excessively late trips and to significantly reduce those problems by the end of March.
On February 22, MetroAccess riders began receiving automated telephone calls a day in advance to remind them of a scheduled trip. The confirmation call was a new feature intended to assist customers keeping track of their reservations and to provide them with an option to cancel a trip if their travel plans changed.
On February 22, Metro posted the MetroAccess Customer Guides on its Web site.
Preliminary numbers for on time performance for the month of February rose from 88.2 percent in January to 91.5 percent. (The MetroAccess contract established 93.5 percent as a goal based on common industry standards.)
March 2006
The Metro Board’s Ad Hoc MetroAccess Advisory Committee met for the first time on March 6 to review the service and make recommendations. Interim report scheduled for April 20; final report in June.
The Riders’ Advisory Council and the Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee sponsored two public forums for MetroAccess riders on March 13.
On March 16, the Metro Board approved equipping 77 vehicles with navigation and communication devices. Twenty-two of the vehicles were 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 funding will also cover insurance and two additional dispatchers. The additional vehicles will reduce the system’s reliance on taxicabs down to nearly five percent of MetroAccess service as required in Metro’s contract with MV Transportation.
Interim General Manager Dan Tangherlini announced on March 20, less than a month after the creation of a Critical Trip Management Team, that there was a 37 percent reduction in excessively late trips.
Preliminary numbers for on time performance for March was 93.4 percent, up from 91.5 in the previous month and nearly at the contract goal of 93.5 percent.
April
Metro announces on April 4 that the Crticial Trip Management Team cuts missed and excessively late trips in half between February and March.
D.C. is the process of creating special reserve parking spaces on New Hampshire Avenue Northwest for MetroAccess vehicles. The spaces will allow for easier pick up and drop off of passengers using the DuPont Circle Dialysis Center.
Metro posts Frequently Asked Questions about MetroAccess and a Customer’s Bill of Rights on its Web site.
News release issued on April 4, 2006.