Physical accessibility on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is incomplete. Although accessibility on all buses is provided in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), much of the MTA's rail system, including its rapid transit (New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway) and commuter rail services (Long Island Rail Road [LIRR] and Metro-North Railroad), were built before wheelchair access was a requirement under the ADA. As a side effect, many stations were not designed to be accessible to people with disabilities.
A state law, the New York Human Rights Law, prevents discrimination on the basis of disability. Since 1990, elevators have been built in newly constructed stations to comply with the ADA, with most grade-level stations requiring little modification to meet ADA standards. In addition, the MTA identified 100 "key stations", high-traffic and/or geographically important stations, which must conform to the ADA when they are extensively renovated.
Video Accessibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Context
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has been gradually adding handicapped access to its key stations since the 1980s, as renovations take place. According to the MTA:
- In improving services to individuals with disabilities, the MTA identified stations and facilities where compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) would benefit the most people, analyzing such factors as high ridership, transfer points, and service to major areas of activity. These stations were given priority in our station-renovation program. We are continuing to expand accessibility features to more and more locations.
According to the MTA, fully accessible stations have:
- elevators or ramps
- handrails on ramps and stairs
- large-print and tactile-Braille signs
- audio and visual information systems, including Help Points or Public Address Customer Information Screens
- accessible station booth windows
- accessible MetroCard Vending Machines
- accessible service entry gates
- platform-edge warning strips
- platform gap modifications or bridge plates to reduce or eliminate the gap between trains and platforms
- telephones at an accessible height with volume control, and text telephones (TTYs)
- accessible restrooms at commuter rail stations with restrooms
- Note: not all station buildings have restrooms.
Major bus stops are also required to have bus stop announcements under the ADA. The MTA is required to maintain these components under the ADA law; for instance, buses with malfunctioning lifts will be taken out of service.
The MTA created the New York City Transit ADA Compliance Coordination Committee (CCC) in June 1992. The committee works to coordinate the MTA's accessibility plan, as well as reaches out to disabled MTA riders. The MTA also provides training to disabled riders, the families of disabled riders, and mobility specialists. Between 1995 and 2017, it has trained 748 passengers.
Criticism
The MTA has been criticized for the lack of accessibility, particularly in the New York City Subway. Only 24% of all of the subway system's stations are fully accessible to people with disabilities as of 2018. By contrast, Boston's MBTA Subway and the Chicago "L", which are as old or older as than the New York City Subway, have higher rates of accessible subway stations. A report from the New York City Comptroller published in July 2018 found that, out of the 189 neighborhoods officially recognized by the city, 122 have at least one subway station. Of the 122 neighborhoods with subway stations, only half, or 62 neighborhoods, have any accessible stations. Notably, places such as Woodlawn, South Brooklyn, Astoria, and Stapleton do not have any accessible stations. The Comptroller's report found that approximately 640,000 young, elderly, or disabled residents in the city did not have access to any nearby accessible stations, while another 760,000 residents did have such access. As a result, the unemployment rate tends to be higher among disabled residents of New York City. Additionally, the 25% labor force participation rate among disabled residents is one-third that of non-disabled residents' labor force participation rate of 75%.
Many transfer stations, such as the J and Z trains' platforms at Chambers Street; Broadway Junction on the A, C, J, L, and Z trains; Delancey Street/Essex Street on the F, J, M, and Z trains; and 14th Street/Sixth Avenue on the 1, 2, 3, F, L, and M trains are not wheelchair-accessible, making it harder to travel between different parts of the city. 42nd Street-Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue (7, <7>, B, D, F, and M trains), and West Eighth Street-New York Aquarium (F and Q trains) are also not wheelchair-accessible, with the former having three elevators and the latter having a wheelchair ramp leading only from street level to their respective mezzanines. The G and Rockaway Park Shuttle each have one accessible station, while the 42nd Street Shuttle is not accessible. Additionally, some stations on the LIRR are not accessible, including four consecutive stations on the Babylon Branch, which is entirely above ground.
As per the ADA act, if a station is significantly modified, at least 20% of the renovation's cost must be spend on ADA improvements, but this is not always the case in the New York City Subway system. For example, the Smith-Ninth Streets station was renovated for two years and reopened in 2013 without any elevators, and none of the stations being renovated under the Enhanced Station Initiative, which began in 2017, are proposed to include elevators, except for the stations already equipped with them (e.g. Hunts Point Avenue). There have also been several lawsuits over this issue. In 2011, the MTA added a single elevator at the Dyckman Street station (1 train) after a lawsuit by the United Spinal Association midway during the station's renovation. In 2016, the MTA was sued by another disability rights group for not including an elevator at the Middletown Road station during the 2014 renovation of that subway station. Similarly, in 2017, disability rights groups filed a class-action suit against the MTA because the subway in general was inaccessible, which violated both state and federal laws. The federal government sued the MTA in March 2018 over a lack of elevators at Middletown Road and the Enhanced Station Initiative stops.
Several stations that serve major sports venues in the metropolitan area also have little to no accessibility; the Mets-Willets Point subway station, located adjacent to Citi Field (home of the New York Mets), is only accessible through a ramp at a southern side platform, and is only open during special events. Similarly, the connecting Long Island Rail Road station of the same name is not ADA complaint, nor is the LIRR station serving Belmont Park. The Aqueduct Racetrack subway station, serving the eponymous racetrack in South Ozone Park, was formerly non-accessible until 2013, following a two-year renovation project at the behest of Resorts World Casino, which opened near the racetrack in 2011. Although all New York City buses are accessible, transfers between bus routes, as well as the bus trips themselves, are usually cumbersome because buses run at a much lower frequency than the subway does.
Maps Accessibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Station count
Rapid transit
New York City Subway
In 1983, disability-rights groups filed a lawsuit that sought to block a subway modernization project from proceeding unless elevators were installed in stations, as per a state law that required that access for handicapped riders be provided. In response, a New York State Supreme Court judge officially signed an order that barred the project from proceeding until an agreement reached regarding accessibility in the New York City transit system. Mayor Ed Koch opposed making stations accessible, writing, "I have concluded that it is simply wrong to spend $50 million in the next eight years--and ultimately more--in putting elevators in the subways." A settlement was reached in June 1984, in which Koch and Governor Mario Cuomo agreed to equip 50 stations with elevators (later changed to 54). By 1991, a year after the ADA law was passed, ten of 54 key stations were wheelchair-accessible. At least one train car in each subway train had to be accessible by 1993, and major subway stations were supposed to be retrofitted with elevators or ramps by 1995.
In 1994, the list of 54 stations to be completed by 2010 was amended to a list of 100 stations to be completed by 2020. Of the 100 new stations, 91 were specified immediately. This was due to a modification to the New York Public Buildings Law and Transportation Law. However, this revision also stipulated that the subway and Staten Island Railway were exempt from making accessibility modifications that were, by law, required for other public buildings. Shortly after this modification, 66th Street-Lincoln Center (1 train) and Prospect Park-Brighton (B, Q, and S trains) were added to the list of 91 stations. There were also three options for modifying the list of 91 stations. They included adding Broadway-Lafayette Street (B, D, F, and M trains) and Bleecker Street (6 and <6> trains); replacing Broad Street with Chambers Street (both served by the J and Z trains) and Church Avenue with Kings Highway (both served by the B and Q trains); or modifying dates for several key stations. The public supported all of these options.
The Federal Transit Administration approved the list of 95 key stations in June 2000. Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue (A train) and East 180th Street (2 and 5 trains) were added to the 100-station list in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Subsequently, a new South Ferry station (1 train) and the existing Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum station (2, 3, 4, and 5 trains) were respectively selected in 2003 and 2004. The hundredth station was the subject of some debate, but the MTA ultimately decided to choose Bedford Park Boulevard (B and D trains).
As of January 2018, out of 472 total stations in the New York City Subway system, 118 (or 22%) are accessible to some extent; many of them have AutoGate access. If station complexes are counted as one, then 94 out of the system's 424 stations are accessible to some extent. Additionally, there are 16 more non-ADA-accessible stations with cross-platform interchanges, as well as other same-platform transfers, designed to handle wheelchair transfers. The MTA is primarily working to make 100 "key stations" accessible by 2020 to comply with the ADA law. As of February 2018, 86 of these stations are accessible while 4 are under construction and 10 are under design. It has also retrofitted 34 "non-key stations" and is planning to retrofit 11 more non-key stations.
As part of the 2015-2019 Capital Program, $300 million was allocated to enhance station access and provide ADA-accessibility at fifteen stations chosen by the city. Four stations were chosen in January 2018: 170th Street (4 train), Broadway Junction (A and C trains' platforms), Livonia Avenue (L train), and Queensboro Plaza (7, <7>, N, and W trains). Four more stations are being evaluated. These stations are the J and Z trains' platforms at Broadway Junction, as well as Union Street (R train), Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue (7 and <7> trains), and East Broadway (F train) stations. In April 2018, the MTA added an ADA-accessibility project at Westchester Square-East Tremont Avenue (6 and <6> trains) as part of the 2015-2019 Capital Program. As of May 2018, ADA-accessibility projects are expected to start or be completed at fifty stations as part of the 2020-2024 Capital Program. This would allow one of every two to four stations on every line to be accessible. In June 2018, it was announced that the Sixth Avenue station on the L train will receive elevators while it is closed during the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown.
Because of how they were designed, many existing subway stations were built with narrow platforms, as such making it difficult to install wheelchairs in such stations. Many local stations have only been made accessible via transfers to adjacent express platforms on separate levels; these stations include 74th Street-Broadway and Bleecker Street. Nine station complexes in the system have a mix of accessible platforms and non-accessible platforms. The last subway station to be built without ADA-access was 57th Street on the IND Sixth Avenue Line, opened in 1968. All stations built since then are fully ADA accessible. Due to the state accessibility law, the stations on the Archer Avenue and 63rd Street lines were made fully accessible upon their openings in 1988 and 1989, respectively, prior to the ADA law in 1990.
Manhattan
As of January 2017, there are 55 ADA compliant stations in Manhattan, or 39 if stations in complexes are counted as one. Stations built after 1990 are marked with an asterisk (*).
The Bronx
As of December 2015, there are 13 ADA compliant stations in the Bronx, or 12 if stations in complexes are counted as one.
Brooklyn
As of December 2016, there are 27 ADA compliant stations in Brooklyn, or 22 if stations in complexes are counted as one.
Queens
As of January 2018, there are 23 ADA compliant stations in Queens, or 20 if stations in complexes are counted as one.
Staten Island Railway
As of January 2017, there are five ADA-accessible stations on the Staten Island Railway. Stations built after 1990 are marked with an asterisk (*).
Commuter rail
As of December 2017, 187 out of the 248 stations in the entire MTA commuter rail system are accessible by wheelchair. Many of them are ground or grade-level stations, thus requiring little modification to accessibility. A few stations, including the entire Babylon Branch, are above ground, but some have been renovated or retrofitted with elevators to meet ADA standards. The majority of accessible stations in the MTA's railroad system are Long Island Rail Road stations; during the late 1990s, the LIRR began converting much of its low-floor, at-grade stations into high-floor platforms. Rather than renovate to meet ADA standards, ten low-floor stations, including the surviving five on the Lower Montauk Branch were closed on March 13, 1998, due to low patronage, and incompatibility with then-new C3 bi-level coach cars that can only use high platforms. Five of the LIRR's branches are entirely accessible from east of Jamaica: the Long Beach Branch, Montauk Branch, Oyster Bay Branch, Port Jefferson Branch, and Ronkonkoma Branch. The West Hempstead Branch has all but one non-accessible station along its line, St. Albans.
Long Island Rail Road
As of July 2018, 104 LIRR stations are accessible by wheelchair ramp and/or elevator. Stations that meet full ADA requirements are highlighted in bold. (Other stations are wheelchair accessible but may be missing some ADA features).
Metro-North Railroad
As of January 2018, 79 Metro-North stations are accessible by wheelchair ramp and/or elevator. Stations that meet full ADA requirements are highlighted in bold. (Other stations are wheelchair accessible but may be missing some ADA features). Stations built after 1990 are marked with an asterisk (*).
Buses
All MTA buses and routes are wheelchair accessible, since all fleet were built after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the oldest bus currently in service was built in 1996. Much of the current bus fleet consists of low-floor buses with wheelchair ramps, while older high-floor local buses and all express buses have lifts. Many retired fleet are high-level buses, and many of the fleet built before 1990 do not comply with ADA standards.
The federal government started requiring that half of all MTA buses be accessible in 1981. However, the wheelchair lifts on the earliest wheelchair-accessible buses were unreliable. By 1983, less than a third of the 3,600-vehicle MTA fleet were accessible, and it was impossible to tell which routes had accessible buses because they were dispatched randomly. Drivers sometimes refused to pick up handicapped passengers, or they did not carry keys for lift-equipped buses, or the lifts were operated improperly. As part of a disability-lawsuit agreement in June 1984, Governor Mario Cuomo agreed to equip 65% of MTA buses with wheelchair lifts.
The number of handicapped riders on MTA buses rose eleven-fold between 1986 and 1991. By 1991, a year after the ADA law was passed, the bus system saw 120,000 disabled passengers per year. 90% of the fleet was wheelchair-accessible, compared to other cities' transit systems, which had much lower percentages of accessible buses in their fleets. The last non-accessible bus in MTA New York City Bus's fleet was retired in 1993. However, private operators retained non-accessible buses. The last non-accessible bus on any New York City public transit, Motor Coach Industries' Classic (SC40-102A), ran on these private routes (which later became part of MTA Bus Company) until it was retired in 2007.
In the calendar year of 2017, the MTA recorded over 1.5 million bus customers who used wheelchair ramps or lifts. All MTA Bus operators are required to have ADA training. The newest buses have hands-free intercom systems for drivers.
Access-A-Ride
The New York City Transit Authority also operates paratransit services branded as Access-A-Ride (AAR) for disabled customers who cannot use regular bus or subway service in New York City, and nearby areas in Nassau and Westchester counties, within MTA's three-quarter mile service area. AAR is available at all times. In addition, AAR has dedicated pickup locations around the city.
The paratransit system began as a $5 million pilot program following the passage of the ADA law. The services are contracted to private companies. In 1993, because many disabled riders were being refused service in violation of the ADA, the MTA announced an expansion of the program. The service was carrying 300,000 yearly riders back then. In 1998, in response to a discrimination lawsuit, the Access-A-Ride program underwent another expansion. At the time, despite having 1 million annual customers the program only had 300 vehicles and Access-A-Ride journeys often took several hours, while only twenty-six subway stations were ADA-accessible.
The paratransit system has come under scrutiny by the media for being unwieldy: rides must be booked 24 to 48 hours in advance; it is costly to operate; and vehicles often show up late or fail to show up at all. Its operating cost was $461 million per year as of 2015, which is relatively high considering that only 150,000 people use it every year. Howard Roberts, a former high-ranking MTA official, was quoted as saying that "it probably has turned out to be ... a hundred times more expensive to go with buses and paratransit than it would have been to bite the bullet and simply rehabilitate the stations and put elevators in." The Access-A-Ride service competes with options such as accessible taxis, although accessible taxis only make up a small percentage of the city's entire taxi fleet. As part of the 2018 MTA Action Plan, the MTA would improve the Access-A-Ride interface to make the ride-hailing, vehicle scheduling, and traveling processes easier.
Future accessible stations
The following stations are being renovated to receive ADA improvements:
- 1st Avenue (L train)
- 8th Avenue (N and W trains)
- Bedford Avenue (L train)
- Cortlandt Street (1 train)
- Flushing-Main Street (LIRR: Port Washington Branch)
- Murray Hill (LIRR: Port Washington Branch)
- Nostrand Avenue (LIRR: Atlantic Branch)
- 62nd Street/New Utrecht Avenue (D, N, and W trains)
- 86th Street (4, 6, and <6> trains; northbound local platform only)
- 86th Street (R train)
- Port Jervis (MNRR: Port Jervis Line)
The following station is under construction:
- Grand Central Terminal (LIRR: 63rd Street Branch, as part of the East Side Access project)
The following stations are planned and, if or when built, must be ADA-compliant by law:
- Sunnyside (LIRR: Main Line, as part of the East Side Access project)
- Hunts Point (MNRR: New Haven Line, as part of the Penn Station Access project)
- Parkchester (MNRR: New Haven Line, as part of the Penn Station Access project)
- Morris Park (MNRR: New Haven Line, as part of the Penn Station Access project)
- Co-op City (MNRR: New Haven Line, as part of the Penn Station Access project)
- Floral Park (LIRR: Main Line, as part of the Main Line third track project)
- Elmhurst (LIRR: Port Washington Branch)
- Republic (LIRR: Ronkonkoma Branch)
The following station's improvement is in planning, but has not yet been confirmed for ADA improvements:
- 68th Street-Hunter College (4, 6, and <6> trains)
The following stations' improvements are being designed:
- 5th Avenue-59th Street (N, R, and W trains)
- 14th Street/Sixth Avenue (F and M trains and L train)
- 57th Street-7th Avenue (N, Q, R, and W trains)
- 59th Street (4th Avenue) (N, R, and W trains)
- 77th Street (R train)
- 170th Street (4 train)
- Astoria Boulevard (N and W trains)
- Bay Ridge-95th Street (R train)
- Bedford Park Boulevard (B and D trains)
- Broad Street (J and Z trains)
- Broadway Junction (A and C trains)
- Chambers Street (J and Z trains)
- East Broadway (F train)
- Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum (2, 3, and 4 trains)
- Greenpoint Avenue (G train)
- Gun Hill Road (Seymour Avenue) (5 train)
- Junius Street-Livonia Avenue (2, 3, 4, and 5 trains, and L train; to be made into a station complex)
- Mets-Willets Point (LIRR: Port Washington Branch)
- Queensboro Plaza (7, <7>, N, and W trains)
- Times Square (S train; 42nd Street Shuttle platforms only)
- Union Street (R train)
- Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue (7 and <7> trains)
- Westchester Square-East Tremont Avenue (6 and <6> trains)
The following stations' improvements are pending Federal Transit Authority funds from Core Capacity Grant Program:
- 149th Street-Grand Concourse (2, 4, and 5 trains)
- Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway (L train; station already accessible, improvements only)
- Court Square (G train)
- Seventh Avenue (F and G trains)
- Woodhaven Boulevard (J and Z trains)
See also
- New York City Subway stations
- List of New York City Subway transfer stations
- List of New York City Subway terminals
- List of closed New York City Subway stations
- List of Staten Island Railway stations
- List of Long Island Rail Road stations
- List of Metro-North Railroad stations
Notes
References
External links
- Unofficial March 2015 map of accessible subway stations via WordPress
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments