Obstacle Course : Getting around in a wheelchair on public transit is a challenge that takes a bit of planning as well as savvy. : City Smart / How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California

Getting around Los Angeles is hard enough in an automobile. If you’re car-less and in a wheelchair, the sprawl looms ever vaster. Sidewalks peter out into dirt. Curbs without cuts loom like cliffs. And a transportation system focused on cars just doesn’t work for the many wheelchair users who can’t drive or afford a car.

Still, more than 200,000 wheelchair users here find it possible to be surprisingly mobile, with a bit of savvy, a bit of planning and a lot of patience. Some of their tips may be helpful not only to other wheelchair users, but also to parents with strollers, senior citizens and anyone with limited mobility.

Even if you’re not in a wheelchair now, it’s worth paying attention to access issues: After an accident or an illness, anyone can turn into a wheelchair user overnight. Veterans of public transit have hard-won advice to share with others.

The Red Line subway, the Blue Line light rail and the Metrolink commuter trains get rave reviews from many wheelchair users. With clean elevators, no turnstiles and platforms that let wheelchairs roll right onto the trains, they are a big improvement over the slow-moving lifts and narrow aisles of buses.

Metrolink connects Downtown Los Angeles to the suburban valleys and Orange County, and hooks up at Union Station to the Red Line and the Blue Line, which can take you around Downtown and to Long Beach.

“The Blue Line is the best thing they ever did [for wheelchair users],” says Nick Franklin, who uses a combination of trains and buses to get from North Hollywood to Long Beach. The Red Line can take you to City Hall and county buildings, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Music Center, the Central Library and the Seventh Marketplace mall. At Union Station you can also catch wheelchair-accessible Amtrak trains to Anaheim, San Diego, Santa Barbara and points beyond.

Although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was a national pioneer in making its buses wheelchair-accessible, many wheelchair riders can tell horror stories of broken lifts and drivers who refuse to take wheelchair passengers.

Randy Horton recalls occasions when he had to roll his chair in front of a bus, like the lone protester standing in front of the tank in Tian An Men Square, in order to force a driver to pick him up.

But even Horton, a member of the MTA’s Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee, says bus service has improved. All buses are now equipped with lifts, drivers are required to undergo sensitivity training and the MTA says the lifts work 97% of the time (although Horton says that in his experience it is closer to 80%). If a lift is broken, drivers are required to call another bus to the scene, and there is a disabled riders’ hot line to handle complaints and dispense information.

Many cities have dial-a-ride services within their borders, but until recently it was difficult to get from one of the region’s many municipalities to another, and hard to get service after 5 p.m. Now, Access Services offers 24-hour-a-day, curb-to-curb transportation throughout much of Los Angeles County for the qualified disabled for $1.50 a trip. The city of Los Angeles offers City Ride to senior citizens and the disabled and the Paratransit Referral Service lists other cities’ vans.

It helps to have an experienced guide show you the ropes of taking buses and other public transit in Los Angeles. The Independent Living Center of Southern California--a nonprofit, consumer-oriented service center for the disabled--offers trainers who will take you on buses and offer their expertise on various transport options until you are able to get around on your own.

Audrey Harthorn, a wheelchair user and trainer, says she instructs not only recently disabled people, but also people who have been using wheelchairs for years and are trying public transit for the first time.

Mastering the transit system helps mobility, but sometimes it’s just easier to make sure your regular destinations are close by. Choosing a home in a lively urban neighborhood with lots of shops and services within rolling distance is the best mobility solution for some people.

Even though she has a hand-controlled car, Jena Coghlan says her life improved markedly when she moved from a sprawling residential neighborhood to an apartment just two blocks from Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. Rolling out her door, she can shop, see movies, or have a coffee.

“If I want a bagel I can just go,” says Coghlan.

The high-rises of Bunker Hill, where jobs, restaurants, shops, and public transportation are all nearby, also get high marks from wheelchair users.

In some cases, the fastest and easiest way to get somewhere is by computer. On-line services provide a way for wheelchair users to work at home, do research and contact other people.

Computers “put you on a pretty much even footing” with everyone else, says Kirk Kilgour, who typically spends half his day in front of a screen, using a stick held in his mouth to navigate the Internet. Kilgour, a quadriplegic former Olympic volleyball player, uses his on-line capabilities mostly for business (he travels internationally as a sports broadcaster and produces industrial videos) but he has also met dates on socially oriented forums.

Kilgour uses Compuserve’s disability forum. America On-line has a forum called “Disabilities” with numerous message boards on topics such as travel, equipment and specific disabilities. Recently people have exchanged information on camping, golfing in wheelchairs, beach access and mobility issues for disabled mothers.

There are also independent bulletin boards for the disabled, including the Disabled Individuals Movement for Equality (DIMENET) and Able Inform.

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Where To Get Help

TRANSPORTATION

MTA Disabled Riders Hot Line

Information on bus and rail; complaints. Open 6 a.m.-midnight

MTA Customer Relations

P.O. Box 194, Los Angeles 90053

(800) 621-7828

*

Access Services

Van and taxi service for disabled for most of Los Angeles County.

24 hours a day, $1.50 per ride

P.O. Box 1169, Pomona 91767

(800) 827-0829

TDD: (800) 827-1359

*

City Ride

Van and Taxi Service for disabled and seniors in city of Los Angeles

P.O. Box 866003

Los Angeles 90086

808-RIDE (from any area code)

*

Info Line Paratransit Referral Service

Information on dial-a-ride services in L.A. area

(800) 431-7882

*

Wheelers Accessible Vans

Drive-yourself rental vans with hand controls and wheelchair lifts available in Los Angeles and most major airports nationwide

(800) 456-1371

*

Metro Rail (Red and Blue Lines)

All trains and stations have excellent accessibility with no lifts

Disabled fare is 45 cents; monthly pass, $12

(213) 626-4455

*

Metrolink (commuter trains)

All trains and stations have excellent accessibility with no lifts

Disabled fare: half price

808-LINK from any area code

*

Amtrak

Wheelchair access provided with 24-hour notice.

(800) 872-7245

*

INFORMATION

The following give advice and referrals on transportation, job training, housing and legal rights. Additional services available as listed.

*

Clinishare Resource Center

David Lichtenstein, coordinator

(818) 885-5477

*

L.A. County Commission on Disabilities

(213) 974-1053

TDD: (213) 974-1707

FAX: (213) 620-0636

*

L.A. County Affirmative Action Office

Enforcement of Americans With Disabilities Act

Gordon Anthony, senior deputy

(213) 974-1275

TDD: (213) 974-1911

FAX: (213) 626-7034

*

Office on Disability, City of Los Angeles

City Hall East, Suite 580

200 N. Main St., Los Angeles 90012

(213) 485-6334

*

Westside Center for Independent Living

12901 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles 90066

(310) 390-3611, Ext. 222

TDD: (310) 398-9204

FAX: (310) 390-4906

*

Independent Living Center of Southern California

Hands-on training in how to use public transport

14402 Haynes St., Suite 103, Van Nuys 91401

(818) 785-6934

TDD: (818) 988-9528

FAX: (818) 785-0330

*

PUBLICATIONS AND ON-LINE SERVICES

New Mobility

Wheelchair lifestyle magazine

P.O. Box 15518, North Hollywood 91615-5518

(800) 543-4116

*

Accent on Living

Wheelchair lifestyle magazine

P.O. Box 700, Bloomington, Ill. 61702

*

One Step Ahead

Newsletter and information hot line for disabled; March 27, 1995, issue lists disabled computer bulletin boards.

(800) EVN-KEMP

P.O. Box 65766, Washington, D.C. 20035

*

DIMENET (Disabled Individuals Movement for Equality)

Computer bulletin board

(508) 880-5412

*

Able Inform

Computer bulletin board

(301) 589-3563

*

National Cristina Foundation

Distributes free used computers to organizations dealing with the disabled.

591 Putnam Ave., Greenwich, Conn. 06830

(203) 622-6000