Rocky Mountain News

RTD pleases disabled, reports wheelchair lifts
on buses to be fixed

By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

A Regional Transportation District committee voted unanimously Tuesday to fix the wheelchair lifts on 127 buses, ending a week of heated showdowns that led to the arrest of three disabled protesters.

Amid cheers from the demonstrators who twice last week blockaded downtown buses, the transit directors reaffirmed RTD's policy that much of its regular service be handicapped-accessible.

“lt was all emotional," RTD chairman William Rourke said of the events preceding the compromise. “Everyone kept reinforcing perceptions and speculation, rather than getting down to cases."

The confrontations started last Thursday when three members of the militant handicapped-rights group ADAPT were arrested by Denver police for rolling their wheelchairs in front of buses along 17th Street and East Colfax Avenue.

Mike Auberger, George Roberts and Renate Rabe face fines of $250 apiece or brief jail terms if convicted in Denver District Court next month for causing traffic hazards and disrupting a government agency.

They were among 20 handicapped demonstrators protesting a Feb. 12 decision by RTD’s planning committee to delay fixing the balky electrical systems on 303 buses. RTD officials said the repairs would cost $753,059.

With lifts on about half of its 750-bus fleet, RTD is one of the nations most accessible public transit systems.

This winter, however, electrical and mechanical problems have made the lifts so unreliable that disabled passengers said they frequently suffered frostbite while waiting for an accessible bus.

Handicapped protesters originally wanted all 303 broken lifts fixed.

They relented Tuesday when RTD officials explained 176 of the buses with broken lifts would be retired next year. Fixing those lifts would be a waste, officials said.

“If we had our druthers, we would like to see all of the lifts rewired," ADAPT spokesman Wade Blank said. “But those 127 (that will be fixed) are going to be around for 12 years, so we accepted in the interest of compromise.”

Blank said the protests were sparked by rumors that some RTD officials wanted to scrap all of the wheelchair lifts and replace them with door-to-door vans.

ADAPT members consider such “dial-a-ride” service“ to be unconstitutional because it would be separate from regular bus service.

Rourke said two of the five bus manufacturers bidding to replace the 176 buses heading for retirement would include wheelchair lifts.

RTD is required to accept the lowest bid. Rourke declined to comment on what RTD would do if the low bid does not include wheelchair lifts.

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Tuesday 10 May 2016

Tags

arrests, blocking buses, Denver RTD, dial-a-ride, George Roberts, Mike Auberger, protest, Renate Conrad, Wade Blank, wheelchair lifts

Albums

• Denver RTD

Visits

2183

Rating score

no rate

Rate this photo