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Forside / Albummer / Tags 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals
+ El Paso 3
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 (594)
El Paso Times 2-16-89 Editorials [Headline] Court decision right The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling requiring wheelchair lifts on all new public buses has long been needed. The tragedy is that it takes court rulings to force many public operations to provide for the disabled. For once, El Paso is ahead of the order. According to bus system officials, all buses on order will have the lifts, which add about $15,000 to a bus’ price. An average bus costs about $200,000. El Paso's attempts at meeting needs for the disabled — separate minivans and buses — have been far from adequate. Reservations had to be made at least a day in advance and buses often only could be used for the basic necessities, such as trips for food and to the doctor. For a long time, evening rides were not available. People in wheelchairs had to depend on friends to get to a movie, theater or any kind of recreation. And too often, that meant no pleasure trips at all. Credit tor this recent court win goes to the Americans Disabled For Accessible Public Transportation, who filed the class-action lawsuit. El Paso has an active chapter of ADAPT. Its members have not been shy in pointing out barriers. Monday's court victory is an important step in eliminating one of those barriers.
ADAPT (202)
Handicapped American, 12/84 Two articles: Article #1: [Headline] Anti-APTA Protest Grows as Disabled Demand Bus Lifts Disabled activists in several states are pressing the attack against the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in an attempt to persuade that organization to support wheelchair accessibility. At its seventh annual delegate assembly in November, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities [CTD] urged all transit providers in that state to withdraw from APTA. “It is the urgent desire of CTD and its 77 organizational members across the state that Texas become a model of full, equal access to all transportation systems," according to the CTD resolution. CTD President Marshall Mitchell said that APTA'S transportation philosophy “is a powerful tool for discrimination and denies the vast majority of disabled persons equal access to the community." CTD is also opposed to paratransit as an alternative to wheelchair lift equipped buses because this "provides disabled people only limited use of the locally operated transit systems in all Texas cities." Mitchell said that not only does paratransit violate the equal protection clause of the l4th Amendment but operating two separate systems "is infinitely more expensive than would be totally accessible systems with only limited door-to-door service to meet the needs of those who could not use mainline service." APTA is holding a Western Regional Conference in San Antonio in April (see related stories). Meanwhile in November a spokesperson for disabled groups in neighboring Louisiana has requested that APTA's board of directors reverse its position on accessibility. Susan M. Daniels, in a letter to APTA chairman Warren Franks, said that "disabled people will no longer sit quiet while their rights are abridged." Daniels points out that the Regional Transit Authority which serves the Greater New Orleans area is not accessible, making it impossible for disabled people in that city to participate on an equal basis in community activities with nondisabled persons. In California, disabled activists are seeking to cut off the flow of public money to APTA. At its December meeting, the California Association of the Physically Handicapped (CAPH) passed a resolution calling upon various branches of the federal government to withhold funds earmarked for APTA because such payments represent "a misappropriation of public funds." More than 60 percent of APTA's operating money comes from public funds, according to the CAPH resolution. CAPH charges that this money is being used in part “to deny handicapped individuals the benefits of transportation services requiring federal financial assistance." In addition to blocking the flow of federal dollars to APTA, CAPH urges "that all public transit agencies be prohibited from paying APTA dues" while any investigations of APTA are in progress. Article #2: [Headline] Texans Plan San Antonio Showdown Chances are if you board a public bus anywhere in Texas you won't find any riders in wheelchairs. That's all going to change if Jim Parker of El Paso has anything to do about it. Parker and several other people in wheelchairs from across Texas have organized the state chapter of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT), a new national group that is trying to force bus companies and manufacturers to equip all buses with wheelchair lifts. In 1979, the Carter administration's Department of Transportation mandated such a policy, but the American Public Transit Association (APTA) successfully fought those regulations in court, arguing that it was a judgment best left to the discretion of the local transit provider. Disabled activists argued that such "local option” policies are no different from the old states’ rights arguments used in the South to block integration and lead to policies similar to "separate but equal" laws. Reagan's Department of Transportation has generally sided with APTA in this dispute and has suggested that paratransit services could provide similar service to the disabled at less cost. Opponents of lifts argue that they're unreliable. In Houston, Metro's Grumman Flexible buses’ wheelchair lifts were removed because the company said they caused too many maintenance problems. Continued on p. 4