The D.C. region’s disability community is urging Metro to recommend mask usage aboard buses and trains and at stations, after the transit agency — and others across the country — made face coverings optional following a court ruling that voided a federal mask mandate for public transportation.
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Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee passed a motion to be presented to Metro’s board on Thursday urging the transit agency to continue following recommendations by health experts on masking. They cite concerns about virus spread among vulnerable passengers, particularly seniors and people with disabilities.
“Mandating it, according to the judge in Florida, is illegal. But recommending is not illegal. And all the science shows that wearing a mask is protective, of you and everybody else that is with you,” said Phil Posner, who chairs the committee.
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Advocating for mask use aboard buses and trains is a priority for the group, which advises Metro on accessibility improvements. In recent years, the committee has successfully pushed for improvements such as better station lighting, slip-resistant platform tiles and clearer announcements in stations.
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During the coronavirus pandemic, the committee — which reports to the Metro’s board — is pushing for a flat fare for the MetroAccess paratransit service, for more bus investments and better messaging at stations about elevator outages.
The Washington Post spoke with Posner, a retired academic with a doctorate in medical sciences who has been a committee member for 15 years, about challenges facing the region’s disabled and older residents who depend on transit and the effects of covid-19 on transportation. Posner, 77, is a visiting professor at the University of Florida and an advocate for multiple sclerosis patients.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: Metro is working to bring back riders. What’s it going to take for some in the disability community to get back on the bus and trains?
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A: Metro is trying very hard. They’re improving their ventilation systems on the buses and in the trains. That helps. But I can tell you we have people come to our committee meetings and they talk about how uncomfortable they feel now that the buses or the rail cars are getting crowded, and there are people that are coughing. I know when I have gone out and somebody without a mask sits next to me, I just get up and move away. Sometimes it’s very difficult to do that if the cars or the platforms are crowded.
Q: The mask requirement in public transportation was important to people with disabilities who ride trains and buses?
A: It may be inconvenient for some, but what is a life worth? We as a country need to figure out how to protect the most vulnerable. Most of the people that I know with disabilities have multiple conditions. Many of them are more susceptible to covid. They are immunocompromised or they have diabetes. They are less likely to want to go out where there are crowds. And they are very, very nervous about using a system that has a lot of people on it. It is not the fault of the system. It is the fault of the pandemic. And part of it is the fault of people, because there are always people that will ignore the recommendations and we can only wish that everybody was nice and considerate. We are asking Metro to strongly recommend masks be worn.
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Q: Given the risks in crowds, are people choosing MetroAccess instead, and is that service back to normal operations?
A: For MetroAccess [users], it has gotten better. In the old days, MetroAccess was only available when there was a parallel bus or rail route. When bus and rail shut down, there was no MetroAccess available. I can remember almost every month we had a bunch of church people come in and say, ‘We can’t get a MetroAccess ride on Sunday because the bus route doesn’t run on Sunday.’ Because of the pandemic, Metro changed that, and MetroAccess is now available 24-7.
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Q: What should Metro do next to make the system more accessible and an easier, convenient option for seniors and people with disabilities?
A: We’re trying to get a flat fare for MetroAccess. [General Manager] Paul J. Wiedefeld put in the idea that on the weekends, bus and rail cost $2. That’s it. It’s not $7 to go from one end of the line to the other. It’s $2 everywhere. As a result MetroAccess does have a flat fare of $4 during those hours. It is twice the $2 bus and Metro fare. So we’re asking Metro to extend the flat rate on MetroAccess to 24/7. So anytime you take a MetroAccess ride you know what you’re going to pay. Sometimes it’s $4 to go someplace and $6 to come home. Please simplify the fares.
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We are also asking them to follow the recommendations of the Bus Transformation project, of improving bus service, including in rural and underserved areas. There are areas in Prince George’s County and Fairfax County where the buses run every 30 minutes or every hour. And worse than that, there aren’t any sidewalks. And so if you are on crutches or in a wheelchair, you can’t get to the bus stop.
Q: Where do you start to address that?
A: For the disability community, when we talk about transportation, we talk about transportation from our bed to our destination. When I get up in the morning, I have to figure out: ‘Does my building have an elevator to get me to the ground level? Does it have an automatic door so I could get out of the building.’ And then once I am outside: ‘Do I actually have a sidewalk? Is it broken up and has bicycles parked in it and delivery trucks parked in it?’
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It’s a continuing fight. The beautiful thing is that the federal [infrastructure] funding is focusing on rural transportation and money is available, but the localities have to apply for that money that they can use to improve the bus stops. WMATA is working with the jurisdictions now to improve bus stops and [access] to bus stops. And that will take time.
Q: How much progress has Metro made to get the system more accessible since you’ve been in the committee?
A: It has changed a lot. The 3000 and 4000 [series] cars had all of these poles that went from floor to ceiling. We used to call them the bird cage because a wheelchair user would get on and suddenly they were trapped. They couldn’t move around the car and it was very difficult for them to even turn around. And so that was one of the first major changes. They managed to get those poles removed in the 6000 and 7000 cars.
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All those flashing lights and extrasensory strips on all of the platforms were not always there, and now they’ve finally completed them throughout the system. Every platform has them for the blind community so they can tell when they’re getting close to the edge of the platform.
They have improved the seats so they are larger and there are hand grips on all of the seats. There are lots of places where you can hold and not have to reach up to the ceiling. They have made fixes to reduce slippage on the platforms and in the trains because when it snows or rains, there’s a lot of water that gets into the station and things get wet and slippery.
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Q: What motivated you to join Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee?
A: I grew up in New York City. I lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco when they were setting up BART. I lived in England and in Paris, and I knew what their Metro systems were like. Metro was one of the reasons that my wife and I moved here. We had been living in Florida and Alabama. There wasn’t any good bus service or paratransit. So, we had an opportunity in 2004 to move here and the transportation was terrific. And then we saw an advertisement from WMATA for the elderly and disabled advisory committee. And so I applied and said, ‘Well, I’m elderly and disabled, so why not, and I ride Metro.’
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Q: How does Metro’s accessibility compare to other systems?
A: I think it’s in the top 5 in every category. WMATA’s accessibility compared to New York, for example, is 100 percent better. I can remember when I lived in New York, everybody always became sick because you went from a street-level station down into a tunnel with too much air conditioning. Then back up to the street where it was very hot and there was no escalator or elevator. New York, Philadelphia, the Bay Area have better announcements. But as far as elevators and escalators, WMATA is as good as anybody, probably better because it’s a newer system.