Photo by Wayan Vota on Flickr.

Paratransit service for persons with disabilities will soon get better for riders, and cheaper for the DC government. New rules will go into effect today, which will let up to 33 wheelchair-accessible taxis offer paratransit rides instead of WMATA’s MetroAccess system. The rules could save the government about $1.8 million a year.

Rising MetroAccess costs were a big part of budget gaps during the recession. But policy experts already knew the solution: use taxis for many trips made by the current dedicated vans. Taxi operators already have vehicles out there on the road, and can often provide trips for far less than the cost of the vans.

Every time a person with a disability takes a MetroAccess ride, it costs $51. The rider now pays $6; DC (if it’s a trip inside the District) pays $45. But we know that taxis are able to make money charging far less for a ride, and while they would have to buy more expensive vehicles to accommodate a range of disabilities, there’s still a lot of savings to be had.

The new regulations authorize two operators with central dispatching services to start offering rides to dialysis patients, according to Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton. This segment of MetroAccess rides are the first group to try out the new taxi-based system, and many of them are able to walk on their own as well. They will call up these taxi companies for their rides and pay $5, instead of $6. DC will pay $28, instead of $45.

In addition, for every 3,000 trips the new vehicles take, the operator will have to buy a new wheelchair-accessible vehicle to add to the fleet. In between serving MetroAccess riders, these taxi vehicles can give rides to residents just as other taxis can. That is what makes it worthwhile to offer this service for $33 a ride instead of $51 a ride for MetroAccess’s vans.

Besides the cost advantage, this system should be far more convenient for the actual rider. MetroAccess users now have to book their trips at least a day in advance. Could you imagine not being able to leave your house or neighborhood without planning at least a day ahead? With the new system, riders will only have to reserve an hour ahead.

Linton says that WMATA was only willing to allow this system to serve at most 100,000 trips a year. He didn’t go into specifics about the negotiations with WMATA, but perhaps it has something to do with limits in the WMATA’s contract with the MetroAccess vendor which guarantee enough rides for that company.

If taxis could serve all of DC’s 3,000 eligible MetroAccess riders, Linton estimates that the city could save $15 million a year. That’s a big savings. Linton said that if DC’s schools used the same system to transport students with disabilities it could save another $15-18 million a year.

Other jurisdictions, like Arlington, already use taxis for paratransit. Such a switch would also improve service for people with disabilities that make it impossible to use Metro rail or bus, and also move toward getting WMATA out of the business of providing a service which should more properly be the responsibility of the local government anyway.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.