metro Access Tales

Tale #1- On the way to the Birchmere the other day, the bus went by the Pentagon to pick up someone. This is to be expected - It is, after all, shared public transportation. The woman we were to pick up was a middle-aged woman in a wheelchair with a briefcase who was obviously going home from work. The Metro Access driver couldn't get the ramp to go down to pick her up. After myriad calls to headquarters, it became apparent that a) this was his first pickup on his first day; and (b) he was never going to get the lift to work. SO, he called headquarters and told them to send another bus for this woman. So, off we go to Birchmere leaving this woman at the Pentagon sitting stranded by the side of the road in her wheelchair. Then we get to Birchmere, and I roll out on the ramp, and, once again, he can't get the ramp down. I ask him to hand-crank it, and he says he's tried, but that is also broken. I think that is highly unlikely, because that is the emergency back-up. Meanwhile, the show is going to start soon, so Susan Craft comes out. Here is a picture of us about 10 years ago. Anyway, Susan has a way, of making things happen so soon I was down and at the show.

Tale #2 - The Red Lobster we went to for my birthday is fairly easy to locate. It is on Lee Highway, in Fairfax City, but apparently it isn't on the Metro Access GPA. The driver who took me there had a terrible time finding It. He even had to stop at a gas station for directions, which is unheard of. The driver who came to bring me home says the got way out in the middle of nowhere and the GPS said."You have arrived at your destination", and he thought, "No I haven't!". He checked to see what I'd said in my original call. and for a landmark I'd said it was across the street from Hooters, and he knew Hooters, so he found me.

Final Tale - I'm fairly certain Metro Access drivers aren't allowed to eat on board. Right? Passengers can't. No driver ever has before. My driver today was a huge fat woman who started the trip downing a handfull of candy. but who, by the time we got there, was throwing the bus in park every red light and running around the bus gathering little containers. By the time I got got home, she had an entire picnic laid out.