Texas Transit Association

Houston METRO’s “METRO Solutions” service plan, to be voted on in November, will include a planned 50 per\cent increase in mobility service for people with disabilities and senior citizens in the Houston area.

Manager makes own opportunity
MetroLift service part of Nov. 4 vote
By LUCAS WALL, Houston Chronicle Oct. 20, 2003

Every now and then, Auturo Jackson takes one of those calls.

As the manager of Metro’s department that helps ensure mobility for elderly and disabled people, he sees himself as a watchdog and makes a point of talking with some of the riders who call to lodge complaints about the service.

And when the occasional caller accuses Jackson of being unable to understand what it means to be disabled and struggle with mobility, he sits a little straighter in his wheelchair and calmly dispels that notion.

Paralyzed from the waist down since a high school accident, Jackson believes he has a perspective that helps him give customers’ interests top priority as he runs the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s MetroLift program.

Although the intense debate over light rail has dominated discussion about Metro’s Nov. 4 transit-expansion referendum, the ballot proposal calls for increasing other services as well, including MetroLift routes.

MetroLift, which operates vans and taxis throughout Metro’s service area, accommodates about 23,000 people who need extra help getting around.

Jackson, who grew up in Houston’s Third Ward, was paralyzed at age 17 while roughhousing with Lamar High School football teammates. Now 36, he has had almost two decades to gain a firsthand understanding of his customers’ difficulties.

In his efforts to make sure MetroLift meets their needs, he has been known to call for rides under a phony name and check out the service for himself.

“Overall, people see that `hey, maybe he is out to protect my interests,’ ” said James Laughlin, Metro’s director of transportation programs, who is Jackson’s boss and also is disabled.

Despite his injury, Jackson went on to receive a degree from the University of North Texas in Denton before coming to work for MetroLift in 1989. He began as a part-time reservation operator and worked his way up to manager by 1997.

Although Jackson now drives himself to work from his Stafford home in a car modified with hand controls, he remembers when he couldn’t get around without help. But he also tells customers, when he attends orientation sessions, that they can beat the feeling of helplessness.

“Basically, you have to reassure them this is just another chapter in their life,” he said. “Just another challenge, another opportunity.”

Although the “Metro Solutions” plan that voters will decide on in two weeks is drawing attention mostly for its proposed light rail expansion, it also calls for new bus service, HOV lanes and roadwork.

The transit authority proposes increasing bus service by 50 percent by 2025, including traditional full-size “fixed-route” buses and the paratransit vans and cabs.

“The Metro Solutions plan calls for MetroLift service to grow along with fixed-route service,” spokeswoman Maggi Stewart said. “However that increases, so will MetroLift.”

Jackson, who manages a staff of 75 from his office at the Kashmere bus barn near U.S. 59 and the North Loop, said he is proud of Metro’s record of serving the disabled.

“If we don’t provide that transportation for some of these folks,” he said, “they won’t get to where they need to go.”

To ensure that it stays accessible, he makes it a part of his job to be an ombudsman for those who have trouble navigating traditional transit services.

When people phone MetroLift to complain, he often takes the calls himself, giving them the number to his direct line, cell phone or pager so they can let him know if the problem recurs.

“It’s public transportation, but it’s still a very personal type of service that we provide,” Jackson said. “You want it to be something that people can depend on and something they can count on to make their lives better, not be a hindrance.”

When he decides to check out the service for himself, he sometimes enters a fake name in the computerized list of pickups. He then has his wife drop him at random locations so he can ride MetroLift to work and evaluate drivers’ performance.

With some 400 contract drivers carrying an average of 4,000 people per day, many do not recognize Jackson.

“For the most part, the service has been great,” he said. “But to be honest, there have been times when even I, as a rider out there, have had to wait a few minutes longer than I would like. You go back and address those things and work it out. For the most part, though, the ride’s on time and the drivers are nice.”