Disabled Riders Sue MTA Over Bus Line Cuts

Disabled riders and advocates have filed a lawsuit against the MTA, saying its June 27 transit cuts hit disabled riders harder than other commuters.  

Two wheelchair users and a commuter who relies on a walker joined with disability rights organizations to say the MTA has violated federal law. They say because so few subways have elevators, disabled riders don't have the same alternatives as riders without disabilities.

Only 73 of the 468 subway stations are officially wheelchair accessible.  

Pavita Krishnaswamy of South Brooklyn Legal Services is one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs. She says the the cuts are denying people with mobility impairments equal access to the public transit system, and the cuts disparately impact disabled riders.

"You got people who rely almost exclusively on the bus system to get to their jobs, to get to their medical appointments, to go to the movies and see their friends," says Krishnaswamy.

She says eliminating bus lines forces disabled riders to pay more for taxis or rely more on Access-A-Ride, the MTA's paratransit service. But she says the MTA is also reducing that service. For example, she says, the MTA will shift certain riders to a "feeder service" where riders will be picked up at home and dropped off at the closest accessible bus stop or subway station, rather than be driven directly to their destination. And for a certain category of riders, MTA will allow use of Access-a-Ride only during extreme weather conditions.  

Another lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Jane Greengold Stevens of New York Legal Assistance Group, says cutting Access-a-Ride is the opposite of what the MTA should be doing in light of the extensive bus cuts.

"If the bus lines or even some of the bus lines are not restored," Stevens says, "then they're going to need to not only rescind the cuts to Access-A-Ride, but also actually augment it in order to meet the need created by the elimination of the buses."

The MTA declined to comment on the litigation.  

WNYC first reported on the lawsuit earlier this month. To hear what it sounds like to ride the subways in a wheelchair, click here.