A Blind guy’s Vision for MetroAccess Free-Fares
“The test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its…” most vulnerable “…members.”
Pearl Buck, author of the Good Earth, and winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for literature
Vision Zero: This is how I see it
The Vision Zero strategy is a European model that has been adopted in the DC Metro area that is intended to bring Safe, healthy, equitable mobility, for all, but like many innovations the disabled were not catered for in its original construct. I have yet to find one disabled person who supports it. The concern is that Vision Zero ironically endangers the safety and mobility of the disabled. Floating bus stops are more difficult for blind folks to locate; Bikers and scooter folks complain about the dangers from cars, but they are not so concerned about the fear and stress that they cause disabled people and other pedestrians when they recklessly ride on the sidewalk and run the traffic lights. I can go on and on. We in the disabled community need to have our own Vision Zero plan. I have developed such a plan.
The plan that I have developed has a vision to pay zero on WMATA ADA paratransit. I call it Vision Zero for Metro Access.
The plan is extremely fiscally responsible, sustainable, FTA compliant and I can predict that it will be popular with the tri-state funders of paratransit and disabled commuters.
Why Free-Fares for Paratransit Riders?
- MetroAccess paratransit revenue at 5 million dollars is 0.00% of the Metro operating budget and 1% of net operating revenues. Paratransit fares are a mere rounding error in the Metro budget. Our fares do not even register at Metro. However, economically disadvantaged disabled MetroAccess customers on fixed incomes are asked by Metro to pay among the highest paratransit fares in the United States. I guarantee you that the punitive paratransit fares are registering very vigorously in the pockets of the disabled. The city of Olympia Washington went free-fares in 2020 when their net operating transit revenues dropped below 2%. MetroAccess is at 1% and dropping.
- The city of Alexandria, VA, the home of Paul Smedberg, the Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors, went fare-free in September of last year. So, Mr. Smedberg has a free fare public transit benefit himself. Economic justice requires that financially vulnerable disabled people should be granted that benefit as well.
- If the compassionate decision makers at Metro can find it in their hearts to give 40-million dollars, a 32% increase to paratransit contractors in FY2022 for serving fewer passengers, then they must be able to find 5 million to pay for free-fares for disabled riders. That 40 million could have paid for 8 years of free-fares for MetroAccess disabled paratransit riders.
- MetroAccess passengers deserve a break because we were hit with a 180% increase in paratransit fares in February of 2011 and most of those fares are still hanging over our heads today.
- Disabled MetroAccess riders deserve compensation for years of overcharges. Last year Metro admitted that they have been overcharging disabled MetroAccess customers on top of the Metro high double the regular fare model. They claim that it has occurred only 1% of the time. I do not believe that because of the many years that I have been paying the incorrect high fares.
- Try as it might, Metro is unable to explain the multitude of different fares that are charged by MetroAccess in a way that matches up with documented Metro policy. Members on the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) readily admit that they cannot explain the fares either. Everyone is entitled to be given a clear consistent explanation of their bill. MetroAccess passengers do not currently enjoy that. Free-fares will fix that problem immediately.
- The ugly unspoken truth about Metro’s extremely high paratransit fares for disabled riders is that they are punitive. Yes, Essentially people who are disabled are being financially punished for using ADA paratransit. This punishment is being used to drive down demand for the service. The years of Metro’s punishment of the disabled must end.
How do you pay for it?
My Vision Zero ADA paratransit free-fares plan can be easily paid for with the millions of dollars in windfall savings that Metro is currently experiencing because of the Abilities ride program. The math is quite simple. The cost of each Abilities ride is $20.00 on average. The average cost of each regular ADA paratransit sedan/van ride is $119.00. Passengers accompanying disabled riders are included in that average so, the actual ADA paratransit number is higher. Each time that MetroAccess uses the Abilities ride service to fulfill its paratransit obligations, Metro saves 83% on the dollar: $99.00. Metro Access plans to provide 240,000Abilities rides in FY2023. This gives us a projected savings of $23,760,000. Savings from one year alone will pay for my Vision Zero free-fare plan for at least 5 years out. The slush fund that is created by Abilities ride is so large that even if my math is off by a mile the financial soundness of my plan will still hold.
There was so much money generated by the Abilities ride in FY2021 that Metro started charging MetroAccess an extra 5 million dollars for something call multi-modal costs. Everyone at the table is getting their cut of the pie and the disabled lunch is being eaten because we are not at the Metro table where the spoils are carved up.
Is my Plan FTA Approved?
Free-fares for ADA paratransit falls within FTA regulations. The FTA has only a ceiling for paratransit fares, it does not set a floor.
Summary
Given these facts and numbers it is amoral, crewel, and inhumane for WMATA to continue to charge disabled riders double the regular Metro fare to use MetroAccess. There is no justification for it. For those who are concerned about sustainability, it is not just sustainable the Abilities ride program is a cash cow standing on top of a gold mine as my Metro FY2023 budget derived numbers show. What is so remarkable about this is that the more Metro invests into Abilities ride, the more Money Metro saves. Also, it is the preferred mode of MetroAccess service by all the disabled MetroAccess riders I know. It is a gift that keeps on giving. MetroAccess riders must not continue to be burdened with crippling fares by Metro when we are the most economically vulnerable of WMATA’s customers, while contractors and the big wigs at Metro eat our lunch. The disabled do not deserve this because we are not second-class customers or the children of a lesser God, like we are sometimes treated by Metro.