Sunday, July 26 marked the 25th anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, which has helped improve access on streets and in transportation facilities for people with disabilities. Yet one transportation system in particular, New York City’s subway, still has a long way to go.
Of the city’s 468 subway stations, fewer than 100 are fully wheelchair-accessible. The MTA pledged to make 100 “key” (centrally-located) stations accessible by 2020, but large swaths of the city will remain unreachable by subway for wheelchair users. Some stations–like the Lexington Avenue Line at Union Square and Broadway Junction–cannot accommodate ADA specifications based on existing platform dimensions. Even the city’s first annual Disability Pride Parade lacked nearby accessible transit.
Older systems, like the NYC subway, Metro-North and NJ Transit, are among the least accessible in the nation, and enormous costs hinder efforts to retrofit aging stations to accommodate wheelchairs. Meanwhile, newer systems (especially those built after 1990) are the most accessible; transit networks in Portland, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles and Washington, DC are 100 percent accessible.
NYC wheelchair users still face difficulties at designated “accessible” stations, dealing with gaps between platforms and subway cars and unreliable elevators. Unintelligible verbal announcements and uneven platforms prove challenging for individuals who are blind or deaf. Several disability advocates have created modified subway maps showing accessible stations–and the limited service available for people who rely on wheelchairs.
Accessibility poses problems for other modes of transportation within and beyond New York. Paratransit–a demand-response, door-to-door service–is a key aspect of mobility for individuals with disabilities across the country. But even MTA’s paratransit system, Access-A-Ride, falls short on service and cost value. Private-sector alternatives are also rarely an option: only 4.2 percent of yellow and 14 percent of green taxis are wheelchair accessible while ride-share companies Uber and Lyft have notoriously poor reputations for accommodating those with disabilities and even claimed exemption from ADA regulations.
ADA’s anniversary serves as a reminder that plenty of work needs to be done to create a truly accessible transit system for New York City. It is a reminder to celebrate some success, too. New York City Transit’s bus fleet is 100 percent accessible, and by 2020, 7,500 yellow cabs will be able to accommodate wheelchairs, a drastic improvement from the current 600. In late 2014, the MTA Transportation Reinvention Commission recommended creating a station accessibility program with all subway and rail lines and incorporating accessibility into development requirements near inaccessible stations.
Would it be long run less expensive and more enabling to concentrate on making the mobility aids work in the current environment rather than trying to fit the environment to the aids? Try seeing what an accessible washroom is like on many planes or even finding one.
[…] 25 Years Later, NYC Has a Long Way to Go on Accessibility Yet one transportation system in particular, New York City's subway, still has a long way to go. Of the city's 468 subway stations, fewer than 100 are fully wheelchair-accessible. The MTA pledged to make 100 “key” (centrally-located) stations … Read more on Mobilizing the Region (blog) […]
Clark is absolutely correct. We *have* door-to-door, inexpensive to ride, paratransit service. Improve the accessibility on paratransit vehicles, and do individual subway stations along the way, as it comes time.
Our subway infrastructure is over 110 years old. It’d be great if it was all accessible, but even the federal government acknowledges the need to grandfather old infrastructure until it’s fiscally responsible to upgrade it. It would be madness to replace hundreds of subway station accesses…
In this case, the door-to-door service that paratransit provides, meets ADA requirements.