San Antonio Light, Tuesday, 4/23/85
Metro

[Headline] Demonstration at VIA offices

PHOTO by Marianne Thomas/San Antonio Light: Top down view of a mass of protesters, mostly in wheelchairs, in a rough circle in front of a reception type desk. This lobby area is filled with protesters. Some have signs taped to the front of their chairs, some are in manual wheelchairs, others in power chairs, at least one person is on a vent.
Caption reads: PROTEST: Members of ADAPT ---- American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation ---- occupy the VIA Metropolitan Transit offices during demonstration yesterday.

[Headline] Disabled protest special bus rules

By Laura A. Lambeth, Staff writer

Sixty handicapped people rolled their wheelchairs into VIA Metropolitan Transit administrative and rode the elevator to the second floor, where they stage a four-hour demonstration yesterday.

The protest, by members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, caused 90 bus company employees to lock themselves in their offices for an hour until officials with VIA and the American Public Transit Association agreed to meet the demonstrators who wanted to express their rights to ride buses.

The protesters found themselves sitting calmly in the hallways from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.. because the APTA leader could not be located.

At least 20 police officers surrounded the building on West Myrtle Street to keep the peace as the demonstrators waited until their demands worn heard by VIA General Manager Wayne Cook and Bernie Ford, head of the APTA, which is meeting in San Antonio this week.

None of the demonstrator were from San Antonio, which prompted VIA officials to say yesterday's protest was aimed at the national leaders.

"The San Antonio community has told us to put transportation dollars into a para-transit system, with


Please turn to PROTEST/B6

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Thursday 10 December 2015

Tags

ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, APTA, Bernie Ford, demonstration, paratransit, San Antonio, VIA, Wayne Cook, wheelchairs

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