Bus Protest Stops Traffic : Disabled Group Wants Access on Greyhound

A protest by about 20 disabled people in wheelchairs in downtown Los Angeles against the use of Greyhound buses on Orange County Transit District routes caused afternoon downtown traffic gridlock Friday but resulted in no arrests.

One of the leased Greyhound buses on a Fullerton route was surrounded by the demonstrators from American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation and the bus’s driver remained parked at the curb at 6th and Flower streets for more than nine hours.

Originally, the disabled group also surrounded an OCTD “super bus” for about three hours but finally allowed it to proceed on its Fullerton route. Neither bus had any passengers.

Members of ADAPT, some of whom crawled under the wheels of the bus, said they have selected Greyhound nationwide for demonstrations because it has made no accommodations for the disabled. Diane Coleman, an ADAPT spokeswoman, said Greyhound is in “flagrant violation of California’s access laws” requiring mechanical lifts for the disabled on public buses.

‘In Violation of the Law’

“Greyhound flat-out refuses to accommodate the disabled and is in deliberate violation of the law requiring such access,” said Bill Bolte, 57, a veteran of other ADAPT demonstrations against lack of public transit and access to public buildings. Bolte and another demonstrator crawled under the bus’s front wheels and stayed there for several hours.

In the past, Greyhound has denied discrimination against the handicapped.

Officials at OCTD also denied that they discriminate against the handicapped.

OCTD spokeswoman Joanne Curran said that since the agency already provides access to the handicapped on other buses in its Fullerton-to-Los Angeles express service, it did not add the accessibility feature to 12 Greyhound buses it began leasing last month.

Curran said the disabled access was offered on other OCTD buses last February, after the agency received one request--the only such request in the past 14 years. Since there had been no other requests for wheelchair access, she said, the OCTD did not ask Greyhound to install ramps on any of its buses.

‘Really Isn’t a Need’

“There really isn’t a need to have Greyhound convert all their buses,” she said.

Los Angeles police blocked traffic during the rush hour along 6th Street from Flower to Hope streets. The rerouting of traffic caused a domino effect, and downtown traffic inched along on other streets. Motorists sounded horns incessantly as engines and tempers overheated.

Although some of the demonstrators openly said they hoped to be arrested, Los Angeles Police Capt. Gregg Berg said, “We don’t have any intention of taking these folks into custody.”

Another officer pointed out that booking a person in a wheelchair “is about a 12-hour process each, and we don’t intend to arrest them.”

Although the demonstration was nominally against the OCTD, it actually was directed at Greyhound.

Picket signs said “Greyhound is a Dirty Dog” and “Greyhound has a dog of a policy.”

ADAPT has conducted demonstrations against Greyhound around the country, and arrests have resulted in some cities.

Times staff writer Jim Carlton contributed to this story from Orange County.