Transportation Access

Coalition for Pedestrian Safety Calls for Greater Recognition

    The Coalition of Pedestrians for Accessible and Safe Streets (PASS) is calling on city officials for a seat at the table in planning discussions for bike lanes, crossing signals and pedestrian malls.   

    Karen Gourgey, president of the New York chapter of the American Council of the Blind, said recent changes in street geometry have not included accessibility features needed for people with visual impairments and blindness to travel safely.  

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.

MTA Approves Plans to Cut Subway, Bus and Access-A-Ride Service

    By Emily F. Keller
   
    The Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority passed a budget and financial plan that would shrink service options for disabled riders beginning in April 2010.

    The service cuts are similar to those that were approved and then rescinded earlier this year when the state government provided a $2.3 billion annual funding package.

     However, the paratransit cuts have changed. In lieu of the proposed fare hike that drew strong criticism, the MTA has proposed changing the nature of the service, bringing customers to accessible subway and bus stops rather than their destinations.

    Gary Dellaverson, the MTA’s chief financial officer, said “the amount of savings that are associated with that are quite substantial.” The savings are estimated at $40 million in 2010 and $80 annually for the next three years.

    In a presentation to the Board’s Finance Committee on Monday, Dellaverson said the MTA also plans to tighten eligibility screenings and increase the use of taxi vouchers for Access-A-Ride customers.

    Critics say the MTA could achieve the same savings with less pain for customers by increasing its use of taxi vouchers for riders who are able to use cabs instead of the costly van service.

Access-A-Ride Eligibility Process Leads to More Withdrawals

    By Emily F. Keller  

     Thousands of potential applicants for New York City's Access-A-Ride paratransit service informally withdraw their applications every month by missing their appointment for an in-person assessment.

    About half of the people who call Access-A-Ride to register have missed their eligibility appointment since March 2007, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority changed the application process. The new policy requires in-person interviews and physical tests to prove that people are functionally unable to use buses and trains, according to criteria in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Prior to the change, Access-A-Ride registered half of its applicants by mail and referred half for assessments, leading to hundreds of withdrawals per month rather than thousands.

National Study Examines Paratransit Eligibility Testing

    By Emily F. Keller

    A national research institute in Tampa, Florida spent more than $100,000 to study the human impacts of paratransit eligibility testing without interviewing any customers.

    Two senior researchers for the National Center for Transit Research examined industry data and spoke with 39 transit agencies through written surveys, ten phone interviews and one in-person conversation for the study, "Impacts of More Rigorous ADA Paratransit Eligibility Assessments on Riders with Disabilities." The researchers, Jay Goodwill and Deborah Sapper, did not interview paratransit applicants or customers or include transit riders groups in the data analysis that spanned 18 months with funds from the Florida Department of Transportation.

    One of the study's objectives was to "measure the impacts of the more restrictive procedures on those disabled persons who have been denied services." But the researchers did not speak with anyone who lost service.

    Goodwill, a former transit agency manager, said paratransit customers were not consulted for budgetary reasons and to protect their confidentiality, since medical information and identities are revealed in the application process."That was a conscious decision at the beginning," Goodwill said. "We couldn’t just do a random survey because that’s not reliable or statistically valid. Would we only get the ones who have axes to grind? Or quite often you only get people who have good things to say."