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Accessible Services Advisory Committee

2006 Accomplishments

During 2006, the Accessible Services Advisory Committee gave advice on:

• The Transit Now proposal
• Stop Announcements for the fixed route bus system, and
• Customer service issues for Access paratransit

Additionally, the committee received briefings and gave feedback on coach purchases for fixed-route and Access, reviewed the Access registration process, worked with Metro Transit and Local 587 on a video for operators about calling out stops, published an article in the Local 587 newsletter on stop announcements, toured the Access dispatch center and participated in countywide efforts for coordinated special needs transportation planning.

Transit Now

The committee reviewed the Transit Now proposal and sent a letter to King County Executive Ron Sims supporting the following elements of the proposal as benefiting riders who are seniors or have disabilities:

• Increased fixed route service and coverage;
• RapidRide, bus rapid transit, in five key corridors;
• Enhanced amenities, such as shelter, lighting, protection from the elements, increased safety;
• Service to previously unserved rapidly developing areas; and
• Increase in Access service, filling in areas that lack coverage.

Additionally, the committee recommended that:

• ASAC be involved in any capital/fleet purchases for fixed-route or the paratransit system, as issues such as new, larger mobility aids, problems with low-floor buses (poor visibility, no railings), and automated stop announcements should be considered when purchasing new coaches;
• There be a consumer advocate, a Metro employee, not connected with contractor, to address customer service issues; and
• In service partnerships, consideration should be given credit for improved pedestrian access, e.g. sidewalks, street crossings.

Stop announcements

The Accessible Services Advisory Committee’s major focus on the fixed-route system in 2006 continued to be the stop announcement, or calling out stops, program. Since 2004, the committee has been working collaboratively with Metro Transit Operations and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587 on reviewing and making recommendations on the stop announcements program.

In 2006, the committee sent an advisory letter to Kevin Desmond, General Manager, Metro Transit, stating that Metro Transit must step up its program to meet the spirit and the letter of ADA, that is, full inclusion of people with disabilities. They recommended that Metro Transit should

1. Increase monitoring and audits;
2. Improve programs that educate and inform operators and riders; and
3. Provide operators with the proper tools for calling stops.

Access paratransit

ASAC began working with Metro Transit’s Accessible Services to develop a customer-oriented performance measure, as opposed to ones that measure system efficiency or productivity. The committee is working on the following as potential customer-oriented performance measures:

1. the number of late rides per month (not percent), broken out into late by 1-15 minutes, late by 15-30 minutes, or late 30 minutes plus;
2. some measure of time spent on the van;
3. some new measure of all calls to dispatch plus calls to customer complaints.

Regarding measure #3, members noted that most people complain to dispatch and believe that is recorded. Also, any call to dispatch is a virtual complaint, that is, a problem with service, and should therefore be counted as a complaint.

Last update: December 22, 2005