King County Metro has announced that much-needed improvements are coming to Metro Access, a bus service for people with disabilities.
Passengers have complained for years that service just wasn't reliable.
“You’re always late or always hours early, literally hours either way, it’s horrible,” said Kibibi Monie, a rider who spoke with KING 5 in June 2017 after an audit revealed several persistent problems.
“My son has been left out in the cold and dark for two or more hours waiting for his ride,” said Rose Yu, whose son has developmental disabilities.
Metro says it heard the complaints and is making changes. It just signed a contract with a new company which will take over Access service in the fall with the goal of improving on-time performance.
“What we’ve learned from this is our disabled population needs us more than ever,” said Chris O’Claire, Metro mobility division director.
Customers will also be able to schedule and pay for trips using an app or website. And customer service calls will no longer go to an outside company. Metro will hear those directly.
“We're going to have a more transparent conversation with our customers so that we can hold our contractors accountable,” O’Claire said.
The Transit Riders Union, which pushed for the fixes, says it would like to see the county move away from a system of using contractors to run buses.
“We really, ultimately, would like to see this service brought in-house to King County, but in the meantime, I think this contract is a big step forward,” said Katie Wilson, general secretary for the group.
Metro says some of the improvements, such as narrowing the pickup windows for scheduled rides, are already in place.
The other changes will be rolled out later this year and into next year after the new contract takes effect.