Cap Metro Power Play Fails
Howdy Comrades!
The newly constituted Access Advisory Committee fought a recent power play by Special Transit officials. Access members began to get calls from STS users complaining that Metro was forcing them to accept trips at least two hours prior to their appointment times. In the past, the same trips were provided as late as one hour prior to the appointment. Consequently, STS users began arriving at their destinations long before buildings even opened. In one instance, an elderly woman in a wheelchair was required to accept a ride at 5:50 AM in order to get to a medical appointment scheduled at eight o’clock that morning. The STS vehicle delivered her at her destination at approximately 6:30 AM, and she was unable to enter the building because all doors were locked. Her medical condition caused her to soil herself about thirty minutes before anyone working at the office arrived to assist her. A flurry of email between Access members and STS officials ensued. Metro contended that scheduling was a purely administrative matter totally outside the authority of Access to review, much less approve.
The blind and disabled communities in
Regards,
Chairman Mal
Power to the Peeps!
posted by Chairman Mal at
3:28 PM
5 Comments:
Chicanery and contempt are a poisonous concoction. It is great that you guys were able to rebuff the moral troglodytes at Cap Metro. Blind of the world unite! Long Live Chairman Mal.
Posted by Lennon Marx
We will not stand for management games. The blind will go to the Capmetro board if necessary
We will not stand for management games and will go to the Capmetro board if necessary!
The incident described earlier, involving egregious treatment of a disabled
rider on the special transit service, designed explicitly to carry disabled passengers, is absolutely outrageous. Unfortunately, the inconvenience which this particular rider experienced is all too frequent. Furthermore it is representative of the prevailing attitude of transit management and
staff...namely don't let special transit riders, governing boards or consumer groups know about forthcoming policy and procedural changes...and then, when criticism from passengers occurs, rationalize the policy changes by explaining to the public that the new rules are a result of what consumers said that they wanted. Why, thinks management, should they bother to inform consumers before policy changes are put in place, since that would diminish management's power, and even more important to the transit authority, take the agency further away from it's unavowed agenda of shrinking the numbers of special transit riders, so that the need for
special transit services, as well as its city budgetary expense will shrink. I don't want to be associated with the statement, in any way, shape, or form, so please copy and paste it into your blog anonymously. I don't want to lose my medical voucher trips.
I think the access committee are a bunch of wimps if they don't go to the board or the press. If we can have a rail system, why can't elderly and disabled people who pay taxes be treated with respect. Demographics show that sts will increase instead of decreasing.
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