To apply for MetroAccess, WMATA’s ADA paratransit service, you complete a two-part application form (Part A by you, Part B by a licensed healthcare provider), call the Transit Accessibility Center at 202-962-2700 to schedule a phone pre-assessment, and then attend an in-person functional assessment at WMATA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Eligibility turns on what you can physically do on a bus or train, not on your diagnosis.
How to Get the Application
WMATA offers the form four ways:
- Download the fillable PDF from the accessibility page at wmata.com.
- Call the Transit Accessibility Center at 202-962-2700, option 1 (TTY: 202-962-2033).
- Email eligibility@wmata.com.
- Write to Metro Transit Accessibility Center, 655 Virginia Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024.
Don’t submit the form until both parts are finished. WMATA will not process a partial application.
Filling Out Part A
Part A collects your name, home address, date of birth, gender, email, phone numbers, and an emergency contact. It also asks about every mobility aid you use when traveling: manual wheelchair, power wheelchair or scooter, walker, crutches, support cane, white cane, portable oxygen, or service animal. If you travel with a service animal, describe the type of animal and the specific tasks it performs. Those details decide what kind of vehicle WMATA sends when you book.
The self-assessment questions matter more than the checkboxes. Focus your answers on getting to a stop, waiting there, boarding, riding, and reaching your destination. “I have trouble getting around” gives evaluators nothing to work with. Be specific: how far you can walk before you need to rest, whether you can stand at an unsheltered stop in heat or cold, whether you can recognize your stop or manage a transfer, and whether stairs or uneven terrain block your path at stations.
Filling Out Part B
Part B has to be completed by a licensed or registered healthcare provider who knows your condition firsthand — a physician, psychiatrist, physical therapist, or similar professional. You are not allowed to fill this section out yourself.
Your provider enters their name, phone number, license number and issuing state, office address, and specialization. They document your written diagnosis with the applicable diagnostic codes, then answer functional questions:
- Whether you’re being treated for hypertension, along with a safe blood-pressure ceiling for the in-person assessment. This matters because the evaluation may involve walking up to half a mile.
- If you have epilepsy, whether you’ve had a tonic-clonic seizure within the past four months.
- Whether you need a personal care attendant when using public transportation.
- Whether your disability is short-term (expected to improve within one year but lasting at least 90 days) or long-term (little expectation of improvement). This drives temporary versus longer-term eligibility.
- How, in the provider’s own words, your disability prevents you from independently using Metrobus and Metrorail. Not just that it does, but how.
- Whether any medications you take impair your ability to travel independently, and how.
- Whether extreme temperatures, ice, or snow worsen your condition, and to what degree.
This is where applications most often stall. A provider who writes “patient has arthritis” without noting that the patient can’t walk more than 100 feet or grip a handrail forces WMATA to circle back for clarification. Make sure your provider understands the real question: not whether you have a disability, but whether you can use a bus or train.
How to Submit the Application
Do not mail or fax the completed form to WMATA. Mailed applications are returned with instructions to call the Transit Accessibility Center instead.
Once both parts are signed, call 202-962-2700 and select option 5. A specialist conducts a phone pre-assessment, reviewing your application with you over the phone, so have the form in front of you. Based on that call, the specialist decides what type of in-person appointment you need and schedules it. If you need transportation to the appointment, say so during this call; WMATA provides a free ride from anywhere within the core service area.
Bring the original signed application to the appointment. Copies, faxes, and scans aren’t accepted. The paper document with wet signatures from you and your provider has to be there on the day.
What to Expect at the In-Person Assessment
The assessment takes place at WMATA headquarters in Washington, D.C. A certified or licensed therapist evaluates your ability to perform tasks tied to riding public transit. That can include walking a measured distance of up to half a mile, navigating curbs or ramps, reading bus route information, and demonstrating how you use your mobility device.
Before the physical portion starts, the evaluator takes your blood pressure. A resting reading of 160/100 or higher stops the assessment until your provider certifies in writing that you can safely complete it. Having that clearance documented in Part B ahead of time can save you a wasted trip.
This isn’t a pass/fail fitness test. Evaluators want to know whether you can realistically use the fixed-route system. If you can walk to a bus stop a block away but can’t manage it below freezing, that specific limitation feeds into a conditional determination. Be honest about what you can and can’t do. Overstating your abilities may result in a denial; understating them may flag inconsistencies with what your provider wrote.
Eligibility Categories
WMATA assigns one of three levels:
- Unconditional. Your disability prevents you from using Metrobus or Metrorail under any circumstances. You can book MetroAccess for any trip within the service area.
- Conditional. You can use fixed-route transit for some trips but not others. Barriers such as extreme temperatures, snow and ice, or inaccessible paths between your location and a stop may qualify you for MetroAccess on a trip-by-trip basis. On days you can manage the fixed-route system, you ride it instead.
- Temporary. Your disability is expected to improve. Eligibility lasts for a set period, after which you reapply if you still need the service.
The Decision and the 21-Day Rule
Federal regulations require WMATA to make a determination within 21 days of receiving your completed application. If WMATA misses that deadline, you’re entitled to presumptive eligibility: you can use MetroAccess until WMATA issues a final decision, even if that decision is ultimately a denial.
The result comes in a formal letter. If you’re approved, the letter states your eligibility type and any conditions attached to your service, and you receive a MetroAccess ID card with your eligibility expiration date printed on the front.
If You’re Denied
A denial letter includes information about the appeal process. Federal regulations give you up to 60 days from the date of the denial to file a written appeal. Someone who was not involved in the original decision must review it, and you’re entitled to an opportunity to be heard and to present your case.
WMATA isn’t required to provide MetroAccess while your appeal is pending. But if WMATA hasn’t issued a decision within 30 days after the appeal process wraps up, you get paratransit service from that point until a final decision arrives. The decision comes in writing and has to state the reasons behind it.
If you’re found ineligible for MetroAccess, you may still qualify for WMATA’s Reduced Fare Program for riders with disabilities. WMATA automatically enrolls denied applicants who meet the reduced-fare criteria and sends a Reduced Fare Disability ID card, which functions as a SmarTrip card with discounted fares on Metrobus and Metrorail.
Visiting from Another City
If you’re already certified for ADA paratransit in another city and you’re visiting the D.C. area, you don’t have to apply for local eligibility right away. Bring documentation showing your paratransit eligibility from your home transit agency, and you can use MetroAccess for up to 21 days in any 365-day period. If you don’t have that documentation, WMATA can ask you to prove where you live and, if your disability isn’t apparent, to verify the disability itself. After 21 days of visitor use, you’d need to apply through the standard process.