OUT OF SERVICE: NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE RELEASES REPORT ON THE MTA’S FAILURE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF DISABLED NEW YORKERS ON PUBLIC TRANSIT

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today released a new report ‘Out Of Service,’ an analysis of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s failure to make the system accessible to disabled New Yorkers. The city’s public transit system, the report finds, is falling far behind other major cities both on timeline and technology needed to be truly, fully accessible. It examines initiatives that the city and state can undertake in both the immediate and long-term to better serve New Yorkers with a range of disabilities.

"Public transportation must be equitably accessible to the entire public, and we cannot accept delays in services to the disabled community," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "As a New Yorker with a disability, it is frustrating to see accessibility treated as an afterthought or as optional, rather than essential. In addition to the long-term goals on too-long timelines, there are things that the MTA can do right now to make our public transit more accessible, and I urge them to prioritize these simple, low-cost improvements that will aid New Yorkers much more than spending on aesthetic or cosmetic changes."

Out of Service: Creating an Equitable Transit System for New York City discusses the consequences of a public transit system that does not safely serve all New Yorkers, and implores the city and state to prioritize investment in accessibility improvements, rather than cosmetic changes or corporate branding.

Accessibility issues with the MTA are perhaps most overt and discussed relative to elevator access, with less than a third of stations currently equipped and the authority required to reach 95% accessibility by 2055. However, as the report makes clear, accessibility accommodations for New Yorkers extend far beyond elevators to include other infrastructural and service adaptations.

Among the key findings of the report are:

• The accessibility needs of people with sensory and cognitive disabilities is largely overlooked when making transit accessibility upgrades, with the primary focus on only ramps and elevators.
• About 29 percent of subway stations are accessible via elevator, but due to frequent elevator outages, the number of accessible stations on a day-to-day basis is actually lower.
• The MTA has invested significantly in aesthetic improvements that make stations less accessible, such as by removing benches and replacing them with leaning benches, or that are underutilized for accessibility purposes, like using new LED screens to display advertisements instead of closed captioning for announcements.
• Accessibility improvements have been slow and uneven; at the current pace of upgrades, the subway would not be fully accessible by elevator until the year 2100.
• The MTA has a number of opportunities for immediate, inexpensive accessibility improvements.

Despite some points of progress and pilot programs, this lack of accessible service continues in part because the needs of the disability community are not sufficiently prioritized in our policymaking and budget allocations. The MTA piloted several accessibility measures at the Jay Street/Metrotech station beginning in the fall of 2019. However, the results of that pilot do not appear to be widely disseminated to the public, and expansion of any of the initiatives involved has been slow and without wide public awareness.

The report recommends a wide range of actions in both the immediate and long term to increase accessibility, including:

Immediate Actions

• Make accessibility a priority, rather than an option or a ‘bonus.’ Implement the efforts from the 2019 pilot program system-wide, beginning with the most trafficked stations
• Improve train boarding so that doors align properly with designated boarding areas, and raised infrastructure closes any large gaps between the train and platform
• Install wayfinding infrastructure including tactile guideways and boarding areas
• Expand the myMTA app and partner with third-parties such as MagnusCards and NaviLens
• Provide travel training opportunities and expand best practice training for employees

Near-Term Actions

• Improve Access-A-Ride, including through expanding access to and reducing cost of e-hail services
• Expand bus service networks with attention paid to critical stops such as senior centers
• Restore accessible benches and ADA-compliant restrooms in stations
• Improve air quality and maintain safe temperatures in station, and provide N95 masks

Long-Term Actions

• Ensure all stations with elevators are truly accessible, with no stairs required
• Improve elevator reliability and robust, real-time notification of outages

While the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects people with disabilities from discrimination in nearly all facets of life, including transportation, New York City continues to prevent disabled people from accessing the most convenient form of transit, in turn perpetuating inequities in employment, housing, schooling, and healthcare. For too long, people with disabilities have been disappointed or cast aside in favor of other less necessary projects. New York City must commit to joining other cities around the country in its commitment to providing excellent service for riders of all abilities.