ST. LOUIS — Metro Transit is proposing changes to its reservation system and disability advocates worry it's not the best decision.
Metro's Call-A-Ride dispatches out of the Central Facility on Spruce Avenue, serving nearly 300,000 riders each year.
Services were cut last year in areas of south county, west county, and north county. Since then, disability advocates have been vocal over what they call a lack of accessibility. Now Metro said it wants to shorten its booking window from three to five days to next-day reservation only.
Duane Gruis, who was born with cerebral palsy, has relied on Call-A-Ride services for years. He is just one advocate out of many who have their own thoughts about the proposed policy change.
"It makes me nervous to go to the next day service, because it means that every day you have to get get in there [call] right away to get your ride. And sometimes that can be 30-45 minutes of time, today, it was was 20 minutes. So it isn't always bad. But there's times when you have to make sure you have that time available in the morning to get the trips. I would like to see them expand their reservation window to up to like 14 days like Kansas City," Gruis said.
The reasons Metro is considering the change:
- Maximize Capacity: We do not have the resources to deliver all the daily customer trip requests. This proposed change would help maximize vehicle capacity and trip routing efficiency.
- Reduce Call Wait Times: Hold times and phone calls are significantly longer on Fridays. That is the day with the heaviest volume of calls because customers can schedule their trips up to five days in advance.
- Reduce Cancellations: Historically, we have seen that the number of cancellations and no-shows drop when the booking window is shortened.
Here is a statement from Charles Stewart, Chief Operating Officer at Metro Transit, about the proposed next-day only reservations option that is under consideration.
“The community has been telling us they want on-demand or next-day reservations. Changing the scheduling window is something we could implement to help deliver the most Call-A-Ride trips with the resources we have," Stewart said.
In a February report on Metro's Operations report it shows, they denied 6,500 requests from customers wanting rides. And the transportation company only filled 122 out of the 201 Call-A-Ride operator positions.
Metro says they received more than 150 comments through public comment last month. The company says "ADA Services and Call-A-Ride teams are currently analyzing the comments, exploring options and using data to further explore individuals experiences".
STL Metropolitan Alliance for Reliable Transit which has 80 members responded to Bi-State Development in a letter in late April opposing the changes.
Here is their position:
- We ask Bi-State Development (BSD)/Metro Transit (Metro) NOT to make this change.
- We ask that you instead institute a true policy of one-to-five days in advance reservations for all Call-A-Ride customers on every day of the week. (That is, the maximum would always be five days instead of five days only on Fridays.)
- We ask that you move toward adding same-day reservations to that menu of options so that there is true equity in transportation received by people with disabilities as compared to other Metro customers.
- Regardless of the number of days in the final policy, we would like to be able to make reservations by telephone, online, and using an app.
Metro says their 'Community Connect' open houses will give riders the public an opportunity to interact with Metro Transit employees and ask questions if needed. Gruis says an open line of communication is exactly what disability advocates have been asking for in the last few years that problems have arose.
"We'd like to see an open dialogue with with Metro about these issues. And we'd like to see progress they have been working on directly. Some of this process of changing the the reservation system really doesn't address the issue of serving the community," Gruis said.
Metro Transit is holding four 'Community Connect' events this month:
- Tuesday, 21st 5-7pm at the Urban League Ferguson Community Empowerment Center
- Wednesday, May 22nd 5-7pm at the Cherokee Center
- Wednesday, May 29th 2-4pm Deaconess Center for Child Well Being
- Thursday, May 30 2-4pm Virtual (Zoom)
The transportation system says the events will be used as a platform to interact directly with Metro Transit teams, hear about the latest updates and influence the decisions that shape commutes.
Metro says the new changes could take effect no earlier than July 1, Bi-State Development's board will be the one voting on it.
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