[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.

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Tags

24 hour advanced reservation, 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, Albert Engelken, APTA, buses, DOT regulations, paratransit, wheelchair lifts

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