Valtrans Bars Disabled Rider Who Doubted Safety of Bus

Los Angeles transportation officials applied the brakes Wednesday to a disabled Encino woman who charges that shuttle buses used by handicapped San Fernando Valley residents are unsafe.

Officials ruled that Paula Singer cannot ride city-subsidized Valtrans buses until she has the brakes repaired on her 3-year-old wheelchair.

Singer, who was partially paralyzed 14 years ago by a stroke, charged that she was barred as revenge for complaining that unsafe wheelchair tie-down straps are used on Valtrans’ 40 van-type buses.

Valtrans officials deny both that improper restraints are used to secure their passengers’ wheelchairs and that they are carrying on a vendetta against Singer.

First Such Case

But Valtrans manager Robert Miller acknowledged that Singer is the first person to be kicked off any of Valtrans’ buses in the five years they have carried as many as 1,200 handicapped and elderly passengers a day across the Valley.

The ouster came as officials inspected Singer’s motorized wheelchair during a showdown meeting in the courtyard of her Newcastle Avenue apartment house. As her neighbors watched curiously from nearby balconies, Miller pushed her a few feet across a patio while she sat in her chair with its wheels locked.

Singer claimed that a Valtrans driver challenged her chair’s brakes July 7 after she complained about the bus tie-down straps. Later, when two private wheelchair supply companies attested to the quality of her brakes, Valtrans charged that her chair’s tires were bald, Singer said.

“It was only when I opened my mouth that the tie-downs were substandard that they started doing this to me,” said the woman, who used Valtrans to travel to summer school computer classes at Cal State Northridge.

Story Disputed

Virginia Lamb, Valtrans’ chief driver, disputed Singer’s story. She said Singer’s wheelchair was observed slipping forward when another driver hoisted her onto the bus with a hydraulic lift.

“We didn’t want to take a chance with her falling off. Our insurance is high enough already,” Lamb said.

In addition to the tests by Miller and Lamb, Singer’s wheelchair brakes were checked Wednesday by Steven Cannistraci, a senior city vehicle inspector; Honorio Cabanilla, a city transportation department administrator, and Tate Miller, manager of a Northridge wheelchair supply firm.

Cabanilla said the wheelchair restraining straps used on Valtrans’ buses have passed inspections by both the city and the California Highway Patrol. He speculated that gears in Singer’s chair motor may be slipping and allowing its wheels to turn when it is parked.

Tate Miller said repairs will cost $100 to $400, depending on whether the motor needs replacing. He sided with Singer, who said it will take about six weeks for her to secure Medi-Cal money to pay for the repairs.

“I’m not going to say it’s safe, but her chair is not going to move,” Tate Miller said. “It’s not going to roll down a bus ramp.”