Metro Access Watch

One of the most disturbing policies at WMATA is the requirement that all cash paying disabled passengers must pay their fare on the sidewalk, before boarding all paratransit vehicles. By comparison, no Metrobus customers are required to do the same. Actually, WMATA is the only one of the top three largest paratransit systems in the […]

New York City, Greater Washington DC, and Chicago are served by the three largest public transit systems in the United States. To bring some perspective to the issue of paratransit fares I thought that it would be enlightening and revealing to compare how our local greater Washington WMATA paratransit fares and alternative paratransit services stack

There is mounting evidence on a daily basis that makes clear to me that WMATA MetroAccess is dysfunctional and in desperate need of reform and reboot. Asking questions is just one way to begin the process to bring about meaningful change. There are so many questions that need to be answered that are ignored or

February 28, 2022 Attn: Mr. Paul J. Wiedefeld General Manager Washington Metro Area transit Authority (WMATA) 600 5th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Dear General Manager: Excessively high fares for disabled people who use WMATA MetroAccess ADA paratransit continues to be a major source of undue punishment for those of us who use the service,

Ancil Torres Silver Spring, MD   February 21, 2022 Attn: Mr. Paul C. Smedberg Chairman WMATA Board of Directors Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) 600 5th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Dear Mr. Chairman: I write to you today to fervently appeal for your full support and endorsement of my detailed Vision Zero for MetroAccess

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates, business magnate, software developer, author, and philanthropist When the clock strikes 5:00 P.M. tomorrow February 15, 2022, Metro will be closing their FY2023 budget hearing and feedback season, but we are still having difficulty being heard. This year I took advantage of the

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

Making the Case for Reform of MetroAccess For the past 27 years, disabled people of the DC metro area who use our local Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA)and the MetroAccess paratransit system have been plagued with gross ineptitude, disastrous paratransit policies, and discriminatory practices. As taxpayers, citizens, and riders we are entitled to much