Is King County’s Flex commuter van a flop? We tested it out

This week, KUOW's Casey Martin is taking part in "#WeekWithoutDriving," a challenge to Seattle drivers to get out of their cars and find different ways to get around. Organizers hope the car-free week calls attention to gaps in the city's transportation systems, especially for disabled people who can’t drive. Casey is stepping up to the challenge, finding a different mode of transportation to get to the office every day this week.

On my second no-car day, I attempted to try out King County Metro’s Flex, an on-demand van service that works like a ride hailing app and costs as much as a bus ride. Unfortunately for this rider, there was zero flex to today’s performance.

On Tuesday morning I excitedly downloaded the Flex app from Metro. The on-demand service launched earlier this year and I had yet to hail my own, personal shuttle.

After entering in some basic contact information and how I would pay for the ride (my ORCA card), the app showed me the greater Seattle area on Google Maps-style page.

Just like on Uber or Lyft, I punched in my current address and my destination. There was a pause.

My screen read, “We’re finding you the perfect ride!” and, “Considering all nearby vans.”

As a frequent bus rider, I'm used to waiting a bit for my ride to show up.

But after a few moments a new message popped up: “We’re sorry to report that we’re currently experiencing a technical issue. We’re on the case, and we should be up and running soon!”

I thought maybe it was my spotty phone connection to blame, so I walked to a nearby coffeeshop to use their WiFi.

No luck. After relaunching the app and trying to hail a van, I received the same error message over and over again.

Looking at the reviews of the Metro Flex app online, I’m not the only person who’s been burned hoping to catch a ride.

Kathy Hsieh wrote in August that the app, “doesn’t work about 20% of the time.” Others said it has glitched and vans have gone to the wrong address, or their ride didn’t show up at all.

The service is still new, only a couple months old. Right now rides are limited to just seven neighborhoods in South Seattle and on the Eastside.

Metro makes clear on their website that if the service is experiencing very high demand, “your initial ride request may not be accepted,” and people should try again in a few minutes.

While the service is affordable and could be very convenient, the lack of dependability highlights one of the many obstacles for people who can’t drive or don’t own a car.

Disability Rights Washington, which organizes this national challenge of #WeekWithoutDriving, says this is the point of the project — for more people to understand how difficult it can be to get somewhere without hopping into a car.

After my 45 minutes of attempting and failing to hail a Metro Flex, I then faced the choice of walking to a bus stop or calling a rideshare. One is affordable while the other saves time. Right now, there aren’t a lot of options in between, at least not yet.

I will try Metro Flex another day and in another location. Maybe that will help.

Tomorrow for my car-less week I plan to e-scooter in and around Seattle. It’s not the fastest form of transportation but as long as I charge it in advance, I know I will get where I’m going.