Transportation Access

The Impacts of Tropical Storm Irene

    During and after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the tri-state area, people with disabilities and their advocates reported lack of accessibility at some evacuation centers and insufficient disaster planning for the disability community.

    The City ordered evacuations from “Zone A” neighborhoods that are considered the most vulnerable to flooding. Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY) surveyed six of the shelters for those residents and found problems with accessibility. 

Gotham Gazette Story Features Transit Issues

    Gotham Gazette has published a lengthy online story about transportation accessibility challenges in New York City called "Much of Transit System Remains 'Out of Service' for the Disabled."

    Journalist Jillian Jones provides an overview of historical and current issues within the transit system, including the limited number of accessible taxis, lawsuits against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and elevator outages. She interviews Jim Weisman of the United Spinal Association, Deirdre Parker of the MTA and Edith Prentiss of Disabled in Action and provides links to public investigations and reports.

    Click here to read the article.

U.S. Airways Refuses to Fly Wheelchair User

    Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker and author who uses a wheelchair, was refused a flight on US Airways on the way to an event celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

    The incident occurred September 23 at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, where he was leaving for a trip to a conference on self advocacy. 

    Tuitel, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan said an airline employee told him he was “too disabled to fly without someone with him.” Tuitel has cerebral palsy.  A flight attendant had helped him transfer to a chair specially fitted for flight prior to an employee telling him to leave the plane.

    Tuitel, 47, was on his way to Kansas City, Missouri to speak at the 2010 National Self Advocacy Conference. The theme for this year’s event was “Jazz It Up: Celebrating 20 Years of Self Advocates Being Empowered” in commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the ADA. Tuitel missed the event.

No Elevator at Renovated Dyckman Street Station

    DNAinfo reporter Carla Zanoni discusses the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's renovation of the Dyckman Street station in Upper Manhattan in this article, "Disability Advocate to Alert Feds About Lack of Access at Dyckman 1 Train Station."

    According to Zanoni, the $24 million project did not include the installation of an elevator because that would have required half of the total project cost. The MTA is only required to spend 20 percent of project funds to increase accessibility at renovated stations.

    Click here to read the article.

Brooklyn Heights Park Visitor Finds Danger to Wheelchair Users

    Transportation accessibility advocate and lawyer T.K. Small published an article on the Brooklyn Heights Blog discussing his frustration in trying to visit Pier 1 Park this week using a wheelchair.

    Small, a new member of Community Board 2, said the only way to get to the park involved a dangerous path through Furman Street traffic.

    "The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation have dramatically failed in preparing an adequate plan for getting people to/from the park. At both Pier 1 & Pier 6 there is a serious accident waiting to happen. Having people cross a busy on-ramp to a major highway or walk in the street while construction is occurring, is simply a bad idea," Small wrote.

    Click here to read the article, "Brooklyn Bridge Park Access Denied."

MTA Approves Access-A-Ride, Bus and Subway Cuts

    By Emily F. Keller

    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board approved a wide-ranging package of service cuts that will take effect by the end of June unless alternative sources of funding are allocated to prevent them.

    The changes, which the board approved at its March 24 meeting, include an expansion of the original proposal to transform a portion of door-to-door Access-A-Ride trips into a feeder service that would bring customers to accessible bus and train stations instead of taking them all the way to their destinations.

    This article was published in Able News.  Click here to read the story.

Community Bids Farewell to Harry Wieder

    The New York Times published a very personal obituary of Harry Wieder, a disability and gay rights activist in New York City who passed away tragically last week after being struck by a taxi. He was buried in Forest Hills, Queens in a ceremony that drew friends, family, disability rights activists and elected officials. Wieder was 57.

    The article does an excellent job giving those who have never met Wieder the chance to feel like they know him. To read the obituary, click here.

MTA Budget Cuts Will Hit Disabled

But even as the transit system reduces some services, it continues other efforts to improve accessibility.

By Emily F. Keller

Thursday, Apr 22, 2010

Emily Keller/City Limits

    Clara Bailon is one of 900,000 New Yorkers with a disability who is bracing for Metropolitan Transportation Authority service cuts this June that promise to make an already challenging transit system more difficult to use.

    But even as the budget ax falls, disabled riders will continue to benefit from long-term technological and capital improvements that make the system more accessible.

    Bailon of the Bronx is a power-wheelchair user and transit safety advocate who takes buses, subways and Access-A-Ride vehicles to athletic activities, to see family and friends and, occasionally, to attend public hearings—where she tells the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) about accessibility challenges she experiences while traveling.

    Click here to read the full story.

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.