MTA Agrees to Boost Service to Disabled

Settling a federal class-action lawsuit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed Monday to improve service to riders who use wheelchairs

Under terms of the pact, approved by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall, an independent firm will be hired to monitor the agency’s compliance.

The American Civil Liberties Union brought the lawsuit two years ago on behalf of riders who complained that wheelchair lifts on the MTA fleet were often out of order, and that drivers frequently failed to stop for them.

ACLU attorney Peter J. Eliasberg said after Monday’s hearing that the MTA has since made significant strides to improve service for the disabled, but much more needs to be done. Many of the MTA’s 2,000 buses, he said, are not equipped with proper clamps and straps to secure wheelchairs.

Larry Beauchamp, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who uses a motorized wheelchair, said MTA drivers have told him they don’t have time to see that he is properly secured aboard their buses.

The MTA’s lawyer, Deputy County Counsel Alan Terakawa, said the agency was the first transit system in the nation to make its bus fleet totally accessible to the disabled. “Admittedly, there are times when things don’t work the way they should,’ he said, “but our commitment to the disability community goes back many years.”

He said the settlement’s provisions exceed the requirements of federal and state law, and should result in better service to wheelchair passengers.

In agreeing to the settlement, the MTA denied any liability or wrongdoing. The suit accused the transit agency of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, as well as related federal and state laws.

“To the contrary,” said the agency, “MTA takes the position that it has been in full compliance with both state and federal law, as well as its own policies, with respect to mobility-impaired passengers.”

Nonetheless, the 33-page agreement contains a long list of requirements that the MTA must satisfy:

* Every MTA bus must be inspected daily to determine whether lifts, ramps and wheelchair clamps are in working order.

* A bus can be sent out with defective equipment only as a last resort. In no case will the MTA’s use of such buses exceed 4% on a monthly average.

* Any broken equipment must be repaired within 72 hours, and each bus yard must have on duty at least one mechanic trained to make those repairs.

* Drivers must give wheelchair passengers adequate time to board and exit their buses. They must offer to help them secure their wheelchairs to clamps and safety straps.

* A driver with a broken lift or ramp who comes upon a wheelchair passenger on the street must stop and explain the problem. Then the driver must call for alternative transportation, which can include another bus, a van or a taxi. Ninety percent of the time, the substitute transportation must arrive with 30 minutes.

* The MTA must keep a record of all complaints by wheelchair riders. Complaint forms must be available on all buses. The agency must also accept complaints by e-mail and telephone.

* Bus drivers, dispatchers and supervisors must be informed about their obligation to accommodate people with disabilities. And drivers, in particular, must be told that maintaining their schedules does not take precedence over stopping for riders in wheelchairs.

The MTA must now face a federal suit brought by other disabled commuters.

Last month, the ACLU, the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and Advocacy Inc. sued the MTA and Access Services Inc., a nonprofit agency under contract to the MTA to provide van and cab service to 40,000 disabled people in Los Angeles County.

The suit charged that Access Services, which operates about 450 specially equipped vans, is often hours late for pickups and sometimes fails to show up at all.

Officials at the MTA and Access Services denied the allegations.