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The 'Trip from Hell'
Thousands of us depend on Metro (both bus and rail) every day to get us where we need to go.
But what about those with disabilities? According to a story in The Examiner this week, they pretty much endure a hell most of us couldn't even imagine.
Reporter Kytja Weir looked at one man's trip on MetroAccess and the difficult nature of the service. Not only was it like pulling teeth to get the driver to his Maryland home in time for his downtown meeting, his return trip took nearly two hours in a van with no air conditioning.
Metro charges $2.50 base fare for each trip, and with the cash-strapped agency up to its neck in costs these days, they're looking for ways to reel in the cost of the service.
I'd be interested in hearing from other MetroAccess riders. What are your experiences?
1 comments:
I'm starting a new site that is geared for disabled persons in the Metropolitan area. This site will be for disable persons to submit areas in Wash. DC, Maryland and Virginia to give credit to businesses, theaters, bars, clubs etc that are TRULY handicap accessible.
The setback is...I don't have a disability, you see. I've been a paratransit operator for 3 years and alot of my riders have become friends. One day I dropped a guy off at the Marriott hotel in Greenbelt to go to the bar. He told me he had called ahead to ask if they were accessible. They told him they were. When I picked him up 6 hours later, he told me that they made him go out of the front, around the parking lot and he and his date entered through the kitchen. When they went to eat, they had to wait 45 mins as other diners were uprooted and reseated..WITH food in hand. The look of embarrassment and shame doused his face. When he went to the bar section, there was a 7 inch step that hindered him from entering the bar area.
I'm looking to set up a "directory" as well as an interactive community on this website. Somewhere that they can submit places that are TRULY accessible by persons with ALL disabilities.
Please check out www.AccessTheDMV.com
I'd be happy to add your site as a backlink.
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