The New York Times Profiles Activist Jean Ryan

    This week, New York Times reporter Ariel Kaminer wrote a profile about transit activist Jean Ryan and provided an overview of the Access-A-Ride service. In "A Godsend, Except When It's Not," Kaminer described a morning trip on Access-A-Ride with Ryan, saying the trip was timely and the driver was polite.

    Kaminer also discussed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Access-A-Ride policies, including the 30-minute window when customers must be ready to board the van before it is considered late, and the requirement that customers reserve their ride 1-2 days in advance.

    Explaining Ryan's use of Access-A-Ride, Kaminer wrote:

"There’s an express bus near her home, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed cutbacks include curtailing it on weekends. Car services are out, since her chair cannot be folded up and thrown into a trunk. So Ms. Ryan, 65, increasingly relies on Access-a-Ride, the vans that provide door-to-door transportation for disabled people, for $2.25 — the same as for a subway or a bus.

    Click here to read the article.

Comments

[JR]

Everyone talks about how much it costs to ride Access-A-Ride, but no one talks about how much it costs to ride buses and subways until recently when I saw the cost for a few routes. Buses and subways are subsidized, too, and I think the general public is not aware of this.

Some of the commenters for the NY Times article talked about the inaccessibility of the subways for wheelchair users, not only because of the erratic and only partially installed elevators, but also because of the gap between the platform and the cars. Those are the reasons I do not ride the subway. I can't see why I would want to endanger myself in the doorway of the subway and get stuck there. And, no, I don't have a strong person traveling with me to lift me over the gap.