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Почетна / Категорије / Ознака wheelchair lifts 56
- ADAPT (596)
Page 8-A EXPRESS-NEWS, San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, February 14, 1939 [Headline] Federal court order could have impact on VIA budget Complied from Staff and Wire Reports INSERTED QUOTE: “ The impact of the majority‘s decision will be very substantial throughout the country and will interfere with the local decision-making authority. I feel the court is overreaching." - Judge Morton Greenberg PHILADELPHIA — A court order Monday requiring the US Department of Transportation to require transit authorities to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts could have a significant impact on the budget of San Antonio's VIA Metropolitan Transit. Attorneys who brought the lawsuit that led to the ruling called it the most important decision ever handed down for handicapped people needing public transportation. Carol Ketcherside, assistant for governmental affairs to VIA manager Wayne Cook, said the wheelchair lifts add at least $15,000 to the cost of a new bus. The average life-time of a VIA bus is 12 years, she said, and when the expense is spread across a fleet of 500 buses, the cost for lifts "would be significant." The $15,000 cost does not include the cost for maintaining the lifts or for refitting bus stops to make them accessible, she said. All bus stops being built by VIA currently are accessible, however. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday a Transportation Department regulation requiring all new buses to accommodate wheelchairs conflicts with another allowing communities to offer only an alternative service, such as special vans to the handicapped, which VIA offers. The court said a rule requiring reservations 24 hours in advance for use of the alternative transportation hinders the spontaneous use of mass transit by the handicapped. As a result, the court ordered transit authorities to make "reasonable accommodations to their programs, i.e. purchase wheelchair-accessible buses." The court also upheld a controversial decision requiring the Transportation Department to eliminate a cap on the amount of money transit authorities need to spend on making transportation accessible. A federal judge ordered VIA in 1985 to upgrade its services for the handicapped following a class action suit brought in 1983. The bus company's response was to create VIAtrans, a fleet of specially equipped vans that provide service to the handicapped who give advance notice. Ketcherside also said VIA already spends more than the 3 percent maximum the Transportation Department can require for its accessibility programs. "We far exceed the requirements of the federal government" she said. She said VIA will have to wait to see whether the Transportation Department will appeal the ruling or issue new regulations in accordance with the appeals court order to determine how it will affect the transit company. A coalition of disabled people and 12 organizations called Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) filed the lawsuit last year that led to the appeals court decision. ADAPT contended that a provision of the federal regulations allowed authorities receiving federal transportation funds to exclude the handicapped from "effective and meaningful" access. The provision allows transit authorities to decide among three types of handicapped-accessible transportation: accessible buses, vans for the handicapped, or combination of the two. U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz overturned the provision in cases where the transit authority buys any buses. He also overturned a regulation requiring authorities to spend no more than 3 percent -- of their average annual operating budget on transportation for the handicapped. Katz called the limit arbitrary and said it allowed transit agencies "to eviscerate the civil right" to transit service that Congress mandated for the handicapped. Circuit Judge Carol Las Mansmann in writing the 2-1 opinion also cited Congress' intent. "Congress wanted to provide the disabled with the capability to utilize mass transit to the 'maximum extent feasible.' The DOT has failed to show that requiring the future purchase of accessible buses oversteps this legislative intent." Mansmann wrote. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Morton Greenberg said the section requiring new buses to be accessible was not meant to apply to transit systems choosing paratransit system, such as special vans. He also [said] the 3 percent cap was not arbitrary. “ The impact of the majority‘s decision will be very substantial throughout the country and will interfere with the local decision-making authority," Greenberg wrote, "I feel the court is overreaching." Timothy Gold [Cook] who argued the case before the court, said the ruling was “a major, major victory for the handicapped community ... we can't say enough positve things about it." Gold [Cook], who is now director of the Washington-based National Disability Action Center, said he hoped the ruling would not be appealed in light of President Bush's recent comments about wanting to bring the handicapped into the mainstream." - ADAPT (598)
[Headline] Bus-lift rule leaves agencies in bind PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Advocates for the disabled yesterday hailed a federal court ruling requiring wheelchair lifts on new public buses, but a spokesman for transit agencies said the ruling doesn’t address vexing problems. "We’ve been grappling with this for a long time," said Albert Engelken, deputy executive director of the Washington-based American Public Transit Association. He said wheelchair lifts receive limited use where they exist and are an added expense to transit agencies at a time when federal subsidies have been dwindling. On Monday a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that Congress has made its wishes on accessibility clear and that lift-equipped buses are part of that mandate. The court ordered the U.S. Transportation Department to rewrite a regulation allowing communities to offer alternative "paratransit" service, such as van rides, to the disabled. It said the 24-hour reservations that riders need to make for such services hinder spontaneous use of mass transit. . James D. Fornari, a New York City attorney for a group of veterans with spinal cord injuries, said the ruling will force transit systems to look for the most efficient means of serving disabled people. He said the ruling also could influence Transportation Department regulations being drafted on light rail and commuter rail systems. “We are quite pleased with this decision and I see it as a springboard for making other transit systems which have buses accessible to the mobility impaired, so they can be mainstreamed into American life and society," Fornari said. Transportation Department spokesman Bob Marx declined comment on the ruling. - ADAPT (606)
CAPE COD TIMES, FRIDAY, March 24, 1989 [Headline] Vigil planned to aid disabled By KAREN JEFFREY, STAFF WRITER Twenty-five members of the Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled are in Cambridge today as part of a nationwide effort to support a February court ruling requiring wheelchair lifts on new public buses. More than 100 advocates for people with disabilities from across the state are scheduled to hold a vigil at noon in front oi the U.S. Department of Transportation office in Cambridge protesting the department's proposed appeal of a recent federal court ruling that requires wheelchair lifts on new public buses nationwide. The Cambridge vigil will coincide with similar events in other states. “This is about separate but equal facilities" said Mike Early, CORD president. "The 3rd District Court has ruled you can't have separate but equal facilities for people who are handicapped. And we don't want to see the Department oi Transportation try to appeal that decision." In addition to ruling that new buses for public transportation systems must include wheelchair lifts, the court also ordered the department to eliminate a 3 percent cap on the amount of money transit authorities must spend to improve transportation for the disabled. In its decision, the court noted that 24-hour reservation services required for alternative mass transportation for people with disabilities hinders spontaneous use of mass transit. The court ordered transit authorities to make what the court called "reasonable accommodations to their programs." - ADAPT (608)
The NATIONAL DISABILITY ACTION CENTER Timothy M. Cook, Director For Immediate Release Contact: Timothy M. Cook 202/467-5730 DISABILITY GROUPS DELIGHTED BY DOT RULING ON ACCESSIBLE BUSES United States Transportation Department Secretary Samuel Skinner, stating his strong "support of policies that would substantially improve access to mass transit services for handicapped persons," today proposed a new regulation "requiring all new buses to be accessible,“ and "requiring supplemental paratransit service . . comparable to the service for the general public for persons who could not use the fixed route transit service." The regulation was issued in response to a court suit brought by Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) and twelve other national disability organizations. Wade Blank, head of ADAPT, stated that he was "delighted that the Administration finally has followed through on its commitment to persons with disabilities." The regulation will require all buses that are newly purchased or remanufactured to include wheelchairs lifts in their design and manufacture. According to Timothy M. Cook, of the Washington—based National Disability Action Center, the attorney for the disability groups, "this new rule will immensely enhance the lives of persons with disabilities throughout the country. It will open education, employment, and social opportunities heretofore closed to individuals with disabilities simply because they have had no way to get there." -30- - ADAPT (609)
Austin American-Statesman ~ Tuesday, February 14, 1989 [Headline] Court mandates Wheelchair access on nation’s buses PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal appeals court Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to require transit authorities nationwide to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts. Attorneys who brought the lawsuit called the ruling the most important decision ever handed down for disabled people needing public transportation. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a Transportation Department regulation requiring all new buses to accommodate wheelchairs conflicts with another allowing communities to offer only an alternative service, such as special vans, to the handicapped. The court said a rule requiring reservations 24 hours in advance for use of the alternative transportation hinders the spontaneous use of mass transit by the handicapped. As a result, the court ordered transit authorities to make “reasonable accommodations to their programs, i.e. purchase wheelchair-accessible buses.” The court also upheld a controversial decision requiring the Transportation Department to eliminate a cap on the amount of money transit authorities must spend on making transportation accessible. In Austin, Anthony Kouneski, general manager of Capital Metro, said-Monday's decision “will not significantly affect our service.” Kouneski said more than 50 percent of Capital Metro's buses already are equipped with wheelchair lifts, and that 80 vehicles on order also will be equipped with lifts. He said Capital Metro also operates Special Transit Service vans for people whose disabilities prevent the use of conventional wheelchair lifts. A coalition of "disabled people and 12 organizations called Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation filed the lawsuit last year. ADAPT contended that a provision of the federal regulations allowed authorities receiving federal transportation funds to exclude the disabled from “effective and meaningful" access. The provision allows transit authorities to decide among three types of transportation: accessible buses, special vans for the handicapped, or a combination of the two. US District Judge Marvin Katz overturned the provision in cases where the transit authority buys any buses. He also overturned a regulation requiring authorities to spend no more than 3 percent of their average annual operating costs on transportation for the disabled. Katz called the limit arbitrary. Timothy Gold [sic, really Timothy Cook], who argued the case before the court, said the ruling was “a major, major victory for the handicapped community.” He said he hoped the ruling would not be appealed. - ADAPT (612)
RMN [Rocky Mountain News] 2/14/89 [Headline] U.S. requires wheelchair lifts on transit authority buses PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court yesterday ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to require transit authorities across the country to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts. Attorneys who brought the lawsuit that led to the ruling called it the most important decision ever handed down for handicapped people needing public transportation. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a Transportation Department regulation requiring all new buses to accommodate wheelchairs conflicts with another allowing communities to offer only an alternative service, such as special vans, to the handicapped. The court said a rule requiring reservations 24 hours in advance for use of the alternative transportation hinders the spontaneous use of mass transit by the handicapped. As a result, the court ordered transit authorities to make “reasonable accommodations to their programs, i.e. purchase wheelchair-accessible buses.” The court also upheld a controversial decision requiring the Transportation Department to eliminate a cap on the amount of money transit authorities need to spend on making transportation accessible. A coalition of disabled people and 12 organizations called Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation filed the lawsuit last year. ADAPT contended that a provision of the federal regulations allowed authorities receiving federal transportation funds to exclude the handicapped from “effective and meaningful” access. The provision allows transit authorities to decide among three types of handicapped-accessible transportation: accessible buses, special vans for the handicapped, or a combination of the two. U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz overturned the provision in cases where the transit authority buys any buses. He also overturned a regulation requiring authorities to spend no more than 3% of their average annual operating costs on transportation for the handicapped. Katz called the limit arbitrary and said it allowed transit agencies “to eviscerate the civil right” to transit service. Circuit Judge Carol Los Mansmann, in writing the 2-1 opinion, also cited Congress’ intent. “Congress wanted to provide the disabled with the capability to utilize mass transit to the ‘maximum extent feasible.’ The DOT has failed to show that requiring the future purchase of accessible buses oversteps this legislative intent.” In a dissenting opinion, Judge Morton I. Greenberg said the section requiring new buses to be accessible was not meant to apply to transit systems choosing a para-transit system. - ADAPT (613)
El Paso Times Tuesday, Feb. 14, 1989 p.6A [Headline] Court: New buses must have Wheelchair lifts Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to require transit authorities across the country to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts. Attorneys who brought the lawsuit that led to the ruling called it the most important decision ever handed down for handicapped people needing public transportation. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a Transportation Department regulation requiring all new buses to accommodate wheelchairs conflicts with another allowing communities to offer only an alternative service, such as special vans, to the handicapped. The court said a rule requiring reservations 24 hours in advance for use of the alternative transportation hinders the spontaneous use of mass transit by the handicapped. As a result, the court ordered transit authorities to make “reasonable accommodations to their" programs, i.e. purchase wheelchair-accessible buses," The court also upheld a controversial decision requiring the Transportation Department to eliminate a cap on the amount of money transit authorities need to spend on making transportation accessible. A coalition of disabled people and 12 organizations called Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation filed the lawsuit last year. The coalition contended that a provision of the federal regulations allowed authorities receiving federal transportation money to exclude the handicapped from “effective and meaningful" access. U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz overturned the provision in cases where the transit authority buys any buses. TEXT BOX INSERT: El Paso already buying buses with access El Paso already has a policy that requires wheelchair lifts on all buses, said Mark Dorfman, director of the city's Sun Metro bus service. The policy has been in effect since 1987, when voters approved a half-percent sales tax to finance the city's bus system. City officials promised voters that the additional money from the sales tax would allow all new buses to be equipped with wheelchair lifts, Dorfman said. “We’re getting ready to take bids for 84 new buses, and one of the specifications is that they have lifts,” he said. Dorfman said wheelchair lifts add an average of $15,000 to the cost of a bus. - ADAPT (77)
The Selma of handicapped rights By Melanie Tem One recent Sunday morning, Kathy Vincent, a 41-year-old Denver woman with cerebral palsy, decided to go to church. She left her apartment, which she had just moved into after spending years in a nursing home, and propelled herself to a No.15 bus stop downtown. She saw "what looked like a wheelchair bus" approaching, and prepared to board it via the hydraulic lift. Instead, the driver told her the lift had been disconnected and, "this isn't a wheelchair bus anymore." The next wheelchair-accessible bus would arrive, he told her, in 30 minutes. "By that time," Vincent later recalled, "church would have been over." That incident has made Vincent a sympathizer with the more militant of Denver's disabled community - led principally by the Atlantis Community and HAIL(Holistic Approaches to Independent Living) - who are demanding that Regional Transportation District dramatically increase the number of wheelchair-accessible buses in its system. Specifically, they want the 89 new "articulated" buses on order to be equipped with wheelchair lifts, and have filed a lawsuit to force the issue. Articulated buses aren't suitable for conversion to wheelchair accessibility, according to RTD spokesman Kathy Joyce. Since they can carry more passengers and travel at higher speeds - their articulated (bendable) design allows them to take corners faster - they are intended for use on heavily traveled express routes. Joyce estimates it takes 5 to 7 minutes to load a passenger in a wheelchair, and another 5 to 7 minutes for unloading - delays which RTD considers unacceptable in a high-speed, efficient transportation system. FOR STEVE SAUNDERS, the issues go beyond personal convenience and articulated buses. Saunders, 31, also has cerebral palsy. He lives alone in a Capitol Hill apartment and works at HAIL. Saunders, along with other demonstrators assembled in RTD offices a few months ago, protested the board's decision to order the articulated buses without wheelchair lifts. Demonstrators blocked stairways and chained themselves to doors, to dramatize their point they said. Saunders was the only demonstrator to accept a summons from the police, an action which guaranteed a day in court. Last month he got his day, but had little opportunity to express his views, as the charges against him were dismissed. But, he said later he views the conflict as “a clear human rights issue. What we're demanding is equal access to public transportation, just like everybody else." Many bus drivers and able-bodied passengers seem skeptical about this view of the situation. While all sides in the dispute agree that so far public reaction to the wheelchair-accessible buses has been positive, there seems to be some sentiment now that the activists have gone too far. Several drivers put it this way: "They keep saying they want to be treated like ordinary people, when the fact is they're not ordinary people and they'd better accept that." Attitudes like that are, said Wade Blank of the Atlantis Community, disturbingly reminiscent of earlier civil rights struggles. He calls Denver, "the Seima of the handicapped rights movement." Similar battles have been or are being waged in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country by the handicapped. The 90 percent accessible transportation in Seattle is lauded as proof of what can be done. Blank, who is able-bodied, thinks of himself as a "liberator," and contends the issue of full accessible public transportation is critical as disabled people across the nation organize and develop their power. RTD's Joyce, whose younger sister Heannie is disabled and a member of Atlantis, seems to echo this perspective when she says, "We feel that all this has less to do with RTD’s commitment to accessibility, which goes back a long way and hasn't changed, and less to do with articulated buses than with politics and economics." As corporations bring new money into Denver, she says, Atlantis and HAIL are moving to ensure that disabled citizens will be taken seriously. "They're making a statement," she says. "We understand that. But we can't allow it to change what we do." RTD, she says, is committed to making half of its entire system wheelchair-accessible by July of this year. ANOTHER POLITICAL FACTOR is RTD's first board election, to be held in November. Members of the disabled community are interviewing candidates to determine their willingness to support issues of concern to that constituency. HAlL's Saunders already has announced his candidacy. In other cities, much has been made of the low usage of wheelchair-accessible vehicles by the disabled. RTD's records indicate that of a total 160,000 rides per average day, disabled riders average between 90 and 260 per week. Neither RTD nor the disabled seem alarmed by this fact. Training, they agree, is the key. Saunders and others provide one-on-one training in bus riding to disabled passengers, and RTD trains both drivers and potential passengers. Both sides also seem willing to be patient with the equipment failures that plague any intricate mechanical apparatus. The issue ls complex, emotional and, for the disabled, very personal. Says Kathy Vincent, who can't travel anywhere on her own and has to rely completely on wheelchair-accessible buses: “l never was militant before. But now l don’t have any choice." - ADAPT (83)
The Denver Post 12/2/81 Two photos by The Denver Post / Anthony Suau: First photo: A young man with CP in a wheelchair in a jacket and flannel shirt, his head thrown back, speaks in a microphone that is being held by another man standing slightly behind his chair. Both men are looking intensely at someone or something to their left. Behind them is another person, as if in line. Second photo: An older man in a suit sits behind a table with a microphone. His fingers and thumb are lightly pressed together and to his lips, and his eyes are looking ahead. His expression shows he is listening, taking in information. The two pictures are set so that it appears the man in the suit is listening to the man in the wheelchair testifying. Caption reads: Wheelchair Rights Left [first photo], handicapped persons, including Barry Gin, left, met with Regional Transportation District officials Tuesday to discuss the use of wheelchair lifts on buses. Holding the microphone for Gin is Eloy Espinoza. Above [second photo], Lowell Hutson, RTD board chairman listens as members of disabled community argue that not putting wheelchair lifts on the new buses is a violation of their civil rights. Story on Page 4-B. - ADAPT (84)
Denver Post [Headline] RTD Cries Foul Over 'Stuck' Rider Photo to right of article, Denver Post photo by Ken Bisio: A woman [Beverly Furnice] who is in a motorized wheelchair with her long legs extended straight in front of her, is framed by the front door of a bus. She has her left arm up above her face, as if to protect herself and she has a wary expression on her face. Behind her a large man in shirt sleeves and a tie is holding her wheelchair's push handles and appears to be trying to maneuver her off the bus. There does not appear to be a lift deployed. Part of the universal access symbol is visible next to the door of the bus. Caption reads: Beverly Furnice is helped off an RTD bus. She wound up on a long ride. By BRAD MARTISIUS Denver Post Staff Writer In the 1960s, the Kingston Trio recorded a song about a man trapped on the MTA, doomed to ride forever in the Boston subway. That song seemed prophetic Thursday when a handicapped woman found herself unable to get off an Regional Transportation District bus and ended up seeing much of Denver before finally being assisted off by RTD officials, anxious to avoid a scene. The incident, however, raised the hackles of RTD officials, who felt they were the victims of a ploy by members of the Atlantis Community, 4536 E. Colfax Ave., an organization that aids the handicapped. And Wade Blank, co-director of the Atlantis Community, said he wasn't too happy with RTD substituting one type of RTD lift-bus for another type, leading to a very long ride for the handicapped woman. THE WOMAN, Beverly Furnice, 43, of 1135 Josephine St., has legs which are rigid perpendicular to her body and don't bend because of her condition. This makes it impossible for her to ride in an automobile or taxi, a problem exacerbated by the fact that her wheelchair weighs 400 pounds and doesn't fold. Blank said she rides the bus to work daily, and usually has no problems. However, he said RTD put a different bus on the route Thursday. Asked why Miss Furnice didn't just wait for the next bus, Blank said the special buses on that route run only every two hours. Miss Furnice’s wheelchair is elevated and is longer than many wheelchairs, and was unable to negotiate the bus‘ interior without help, even though the bus was equipped with a ramp to aid handicapped persons in boarding. When she got on the bus, she was aided by Atlantis Community members. But when the time came for her to get off, there was no one to help, and the busdriver, who wouldn't identify himself, refused to leave his driver’s seat, so she had no choice but to continue riding the bus, taking the circuit out to Red Rocks and back. ACCORDING TO Dick Thomas, executive director for RTD‘s department of program management, the driver was assured that help would be available for Miss Furnice when she got off the bus. He said the driver made it clear when she boarded that he wouldn't help her get off. “The drivers have the right to do that," Thomas explained. “It’s in their union contract, and it's there to protect the other passengers. It’s up to the driver's discretion. He can help, but he doesn't have to if he feels it would be hazardous to leave the driver's seat." Thomas said Blank boarded the bus at Miss Furnice's stop and argued with the bus driver, but refused to help her get off the bus. About two hours later, several wheelchair-bound persons from the community were waiting at Miss Furnice’s stop, with the intention of boarding the bus also and riding in sympathy with her. Blank said Friday that the bus incident wasn't a planned protest, but that the wrong bus had arrived at least three times before and that this time Atlantis community decided to make a point about the type of bus used “which was bought without our permission." Blank said RTD frequently replaces one type of lift-bus with other, less accessible types, creating potential problems. “We've asked RTD not to use the less-accessible buses, for just this reason," Blank said. “It's not a problem if the driver is sensitive to the needs of the handicapped." Thomas said the lift-buses, while designed to meet some of the needs of the handicapped, never will be able to meet all the needs of everyone. He said there always will be some handicapped who just won’t be able to use them. - ADAPT (94)
Rocky Mountain News Wed., Dec. 9,1981, Denver, Colo. [Headline] Handicapped set back in battle for lifts on buses The Operations Committee of the Regional Transportation District’s board of directors voted 4-0 Tuesday to stick by an earlier proposal that RTD buy 89 articulated buses scheduled for delivery in 1983 without wheelchair lifts. Its action seriously diminishes the chances that the board will reverse its decision of Nov. 19 to delete the lifts from the articulated buses. But RTD Executive Director L.A. Kimball and three board members agreed to ask the board to reconsider the action after members of the Atlantis Community for the disabled staged a sit-in at RTD headquarters on the day of the earlier vote to protest the decision. The board held a three-hour special meeting on Dec. 1 to hear appeals from the handicapped to put wheelchair lifts on the buses. Atlantis spokesman Wade Blank said members of his organization have been discussing the issue with individual board members and plan to meet with Kimball next week. Blank said he expects to fall short of the 11 votes needed for the board to reverse its position when the issue comes up at the board’s regular meeting on Dec. 17. Blank renewed Atlantis’ threat to file a lawsuit challenging the decision not to buy the lifts and said Atlantis will resume demonstrating against RTD. Atlantis filed a lawsuit in federal court and staged a series of demonstrations aimed at RTD a few years ago after RTD bought nearly 200 AM General buses without wheelchair lifts. U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch ruled against Atlantis in that case, but the case was on appeal when Atlantis and RTD in 1979 negotiated a settlement under which RTD agreed to make half of its peak-hour fleet accessible to the handicapped. The settlement was reached after the federal Department of Transportation issued regulations requiring that all new buses bought with federal funds be equipped with wheelchair lifts and that half of all buses used for peak-hour service be accessible to the handicapped. Those regulations were rescinded by the department in July. RTD officials ordered the articulated buses with lifts in March, while the regulations requiring lifts on new buses were still in effect. Buying the buses without lifts will save $1.1 million, 80 percent of RTD’s federal funds, RTD officials said.