Study: MTA Still Has A Long Way To Go To Serve Disabled Riders
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to make it easier for disabled riders to use subways and buses, but a new report released Tuesday shows the agency still has a long way to go. NY1 Transit reporter Bobby Cuza filed the following report. It's no small accomplishment that every bus in the MTA's fleet is accessible for people with disabilities. But it's undermined by poor announcements, which could cause the visually impaired to miss their stop, according to a new report by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, an MTA watchdog group that did spot checks of Midtown buses.
"The one I was on, I mean there were no announcements at all," said PCAC Executive Director William Henderson. "So it is a problem. A lot of the bus drivers just do not like to do it, or else they do it, and the PA system is so bad, that you really can't understand it."
Better announcements, and better enforcement of cars blocking bus stops, which can prevent disabled riders from boarding, are two of the group's recommendations to improve accessibility.
The report does acknowledge the significant progress the MTA has made. Back in 1992, the agency promised that 67 key subway stations would be made fully accessible by the year 2010 – a milestone the MTA reached this past summer, two years ahead of schedule.
But the report notes even so-called accessible stations often have broken-down elevators. And it recommends that stations display floor plans showing where elevators are located.
"We'd like to be able to use the elevators, but we need to know where they are," said Dr. Jan Wells, associate director of PCAC. "And we think there should be diagrams posted in good places in the subway, and on the website."
Speaking of the MTA website, the report says it's staffed by just two people. It recommends hiring more. The PCAC would also like information on elevator and escalator outages more prominently displayed on the website, and for the list to include escalators the ones at Union Square – perpetually out of service, but not listed on the MTA website because they're controlled not by the Transit Authority, but by a real estate company.
The PCAC says plans to send riders real-time email and text-message alerts should include elevator and escalator outages.
The group says these additions can be done relatively cheaply.
"Everybody knows that money's tight. Let's at least do the things we can with the funding we have available," said Henderson.
For now, of course, that funding isn't much.