Disabled Complain About RTD Service
About two dozen disabled people and supporters told a Los Angeles Human Relations Commission on Thursday that public transportation problems are preventing them from being active participants in society.
“Many disabled people are complaining about driver attitude,” Betty Wilson, director of the Mayor’s Office of the Disabled, told the commission during the City Hall hearing. “Buses pass disabled persons and fail to stop. Drivers don’t know how to use lifts.”
Jackie Tatum, of the Westside Independent Living Center, said the problem has become so bad that “the reality is that people with disabilities do not feel the RTD is a viable solution to their transportation needs.”
Teresa Moren, coordinator for the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s services for the disabled, said the agency is trying to improve its service but needs help from the public in learning of problem drivers.
“If these people are passed up by the (bus) operators or the operators refuse to work the wheelchair lifts, we want to know about it,” she said.
Moren said about 35,000 disabled people board the district’s buses each day. About 92% of the district’s 2,260 buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts, but 11 of the lifts malfunction each day because of mechanical problems.
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