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, we in the disabled community need a bailout.
In your FY2023 budget proposal, you approved flat fares and major cuts for Metrorail and Metrobus passengers, but you approved no flat fares or any cuts for ADA paratransit riders who must pay double the fare. MetroAccess was not even mentioned in your opening remarks of the budget. Our fares were increased by $180% 10 years ago and we in the disabled community are still carrying much of that burden today.
MetroAccess disabled customers continued to be treated like second class customers. This discrimination must end.
The now- you see-it-now you don’t Abilities Ride program that provides free fares for riders is an experiment that only benefits disabled people like me who can use it. There are many disabled people who cannot use it for varying reasons. They are being left out in the cold. That is wrong and unjust. Free fares should be made available for all MetroAccess ADA paratransit disabled riders and not just the ones who can use Abilities ride.
Also, Metro admits that it has been overcharging ADA paratransit customers at least 1% of the time. Disabled Metro customers already pay among the highest paratransit fares in the country. The anecdotal evidence says that it is much more than 1%. This is yet another Metro scandal on top of Metro’s financial abuse of disabled customers. Justice demands that an independent forensic audit and investigation be done to determine the full extent of the overcharges.
The Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) should be “sinking their teeth” into this one, but over the years I have been attending their meetings they do not seem to serve my interest and that of the disabled people I know. This is why their meetings are poorly attended by the disabled community. No riders have any expectation that they can get anything of substance out of the AAC. So, why attend the meetings?
I have submitted a free fares proposal call Vision Zero for MetroAccess to you and others at WMATA. I ask you to give my plan a fair review. If my plan is adopted, it would clear up this problem immediately.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Ancil Torres
WMATA MetroAccess Customer