ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS 10-17-83

PHOTO, STAFF PHOTO BY STEVE GROER: A short white man (Mark Ball) with a big afro and tinted, round glasses stands almost hidden, behind a podium with a large RTD on the front. Behind him are rows of other people, (all men), some in suits and ties, some with long hair.
Caption reads: Mark Hall [sic] of Atlantis Community addresses RTD board at public hearing on agency's budget.

[Headline] Handicapped complain to RTD

More than 1,000 handicapped Denver bus riders cannot visit the Boulder Mall and other distant destinations by public transportation because the buses used by the Regional Transportation District on those routes cannot accommodate their wheelchairs, representatives for the handicapped told RTD on Tuesday.

"It's a very touchy subject with disabled persons who feel trapped within the metropolitan area," Mark Ball told RTD directors during a public budget hearing.

The hearing was the public's chance to discuss the agency's budget before it is adopted by the directors. Only a handful of people attended the 30-minute hearing.

'You’re going to have to come up with an over-the-road bus with a (wheelchair) lift," he said. “Boulder isn't very far for you, but I wouldn't want to do it in an electric wheelchair.

Half asked the board to require that all new vehicles be equipped with lifts and other features for handicapped riders.

In the past year, RTD mechanics have worked to improve the design of wheelchair lifts fitted to some buses used on busy Denver routes, officials said.

But RTD assistant general manager Mike Smith said "there is not a high-degree of interest" on the part of bus manufacturers to mass-produce an over-the-road vehicle with lifts, extra-wide aisles and low ground clearance suitable for handicapped riders.

The sensitive subject of handicapped access to public transportation will be raised again next week when representatives of ADAPT, a handicapped-rights group, will address the national convention of the American Public Transit Association at the Denver Hilton.

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Tags

Boulder, Denver RTD, Mark Ball, over-the-road bus, wheelchair lifts

Albums

• ADAPT the beginning with APTA, 1983 -1984

Visits

1605

Rating score

no rate

Rate this photo