After almost two years of raising Cain, we may have some results!
Yesterday, I went to my monthly meeting of the Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee (E&D) for Metro, our transit company here in Washington, DC. Since August of 2004, I had been showing up at these meetings complaining about the sad state of the buses on my route. Most had nonworking lifts, and some of the buses did not even have lifts! I would show up with my log containing all the information, letting them know that I was an ADAPT member who was uncharacteristically trying to be nice, but that I was fast losing patience, and ADAPT was ready to act.
They had all kinds of Metro muckety-mucks wanting to meet with me to discuss what could be done because they knew of ADAPT, and didn’t want to endure a protest. Finally, I was asked to join the Committee, and I warned them to be VERY careful of what they asked for because they knew that I was a hellraiser, and I wasn’t about to be merely window dressing. They unanimously elected me onto the Committee, and after a while, made me chair of a sub-committee on lift buses. Well, guess what? After months of all kinds of excuses from the muckety-mucks as to why they couldn’t put any of the new ramp buses on my route, I received a call on Friday, which was confirmed yesterday during the meeting, that there will be 35 of the new ramp buses added to my route on April 30th. I told them I would hold them to their word.
When the new buses are out on my route, I will continue my campaign to make sure that the same thing happens in other neighborhoods. I have told the Committe, as well as the higher-ups, that if this is happeneing to me, it is happeneing to others. Metro wants to encourage people with disabilities who can, to use the fixed route system instead of the paratransit system, which is horribly overburdened, and worse than useless. In order to achieve this, Metro must make sure that ALL of it’s lift-equipped buses actually work, and that drivers are properly trained in their use, and that they are sanctioned if they use shennanigans and tomfoolery to deny people with disabilities a ride. So, we shall see, and I will continue to update any progress.