MATA Misinforms Disabled Riders

MATAplus Paratransit Guide has an error resurface

Back in December of 2019, Disability Connection had to work hard to correct the MATAplus Rider’s Guide. MATA had made an error in the information they sent to all new riders to the MATAplus service. Very simply, the public transportation provider doubled the service wait times in the guide they printed and had online. 

The problematic phrase was: 

MATAplus is committed to arriving within the thirty (30) minute pick-up window. (NOTE: Thirty (30) minutes before or after the scheduled pick-up time).

That note in parenthesis is does not make sense. If the service window is 30 minutes before and after the pick-up time, than it is a 60 minute service window. The Federal Government allows a service window, but the practical limit is 30 minutes total. MATA had reported to the federal authorities that the service window they use is 30 minutes after the scheduled pick-up time. 

Back in 2019,  Stephen Tennial of Disability Connection wrote about this mistake in the MATAplus Rider’s Guide. Stephen researched the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund paratransit guidance to find a clear explanation of this problem. The Federal Transit Administration directly stated that a 30 minute window before and 30 minutes after was too long [https://dredf.org/ADAtg/OTP.pdf].

DREDF explained the purpose of this window: “The pickup window serves to distinguish between an on time pickup and a late or early one; it also defines the period during which the rider is expected to be ready and waiting for the vehicle to arrive.” 

In the article that Stephen wrote and the letter he sent to MATA Administration gave examples of the pick-up window from other similar transportation agencies. The Maryland Transit Administration has a policy like MATA with a “ready time” 30 minutes following the scheduled time. 

“Another variation on the 30 minute pick-up window is Miami Dade Transit,” reported the DREDF guidance,” where the vehicle can arrive 10 minutes before or 20 minutes after the scheduled pick-up window (-10/+20). The pick-up window should not be longer than 30 minutes.”

The great news is that following Stephen’s advocacy, MATA changed the phrase in the Rider’s Guide. Since January 30 of 2020, the website and print MATAplus Rider’s Guide has correctly said the 30 minute pick-up window is following the scheduled pick-up time. MATA changed the note to say directly:

Customers must be ready to depart at any time during the thirty (30) minute window which starts after your scheduled pick up time.

However, sometime during the pandemic the language was switched back or an older version of the Rider’s Guide replaced the correct one. It was not until this year that the staff at Disability Connection caught the error. We don’t know how long MATA’s riders have been misinformed by this but it is our goal to make sure that paratransit rider’s are correctly informed. 

Disability Connection wrote a letter to MATA today asking for the error to be corrected.