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Those regulations were rescinded by the department in July.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.

Created on

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Posted on

Tuesday 10 May 2016

Tags

Atlantis Community, Board Meeting, demonstrations, DOT regulations, LA Kimball, lawsuit, RTD, sit-in, Wade Blank, wheelchair lifts

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