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Budget, Education & City Services
CB5 joins the Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY (CIDNY) in requesting that MTA ensure New York City’s mass transit system is 100% accessible and ensure that On-Demand service is available to all Access-A-Ride users
WHEREAS, CIDNY is a non-profit organization committed to full integration, independence and equal opportunity for all people with disabilities and the removal of barriers to their full participation in the social, economic, cultural and civic life of the community; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five is committed to an efficient and effective public transit system that meets the needs of all New Yorkers; and
WHEREAS, Over 170,000 Manhattan residents have disabilities, or over 10 percent of the borough’s population, and over 106,000 of those have ambulatory disabilities[1]; and WHEREAS, Three-quarters of our subway system remains inaccessible to people with disabilities and is therefore a continuing violation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act that guarantees equal opportunity for all people with disabilities to public services[2]; and
WHEREAS, The inaccessibility of New York City’s transit system is a key factor in the 60% unemployment rate for people with disabilities [3]; and
WHEREAS, Access-A-Ride, the paratransit service for people with disabilities who cannot use public transit for all or part of their trips and is a vital service for those who depended on it to live, work, shop and explore their city, does not and cannot as currently constituted meet all the transit needs for people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, Currently only 1,200 Access-A-Ride users, or only 1% of all users, are eligible for On-
Demand Service; and
WHEREAS, E-Hail, a service offered by Access-A-Ride, is both cheaper for the city and more
convenient for the riders, but is restricted to a small segment of Access-A-Ride users, with the criteria for
inclusion in the program very opaque; and
WHEREAS, All New Yorkers, with and without disabilities should have access to the benefits of an
effective and efficient mass transit system; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five calls on the MTA to make every subway station fully accessible,
at the rate of at least twenty stations each year, and expand On-Demand Service to all Access-A-Ride
users; and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five requests that the MTA expand access to the E-Hail program to
additional Access-a-Ride Participants, while making the criteria for inclusion into the program more
transparent; and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five requests that the MTA fund and implement all aspects of the
proposed Fast Forward plan pertaining to accessibility, including (i) enhanced sensitivity training for all
employees, with targeted training for bus operators, station agents, and Paratransit employees, (ii) a new
Access-a-Ride scheduling and dispatch system by the end of 2019, (iii) 50+ newly accessible stations in
the next five years, so all riders are no more than two stops away from an accessible station, (iv) enhanced
elevator outage and alternate routing information on website, kiosks, email, mobile app and text alerts; (v)
install 150 audio capable bus signs in collaboration with the Department of Transportation; and (vi) the
installation of bus stop announcement systems in all buses.
[1]2016 figures from the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Report
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/11/nyregion/nyc-subway-access.html
[3] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/07/25/only-four-out-of-ten-working-age-adultswith-
disabilities-are-employed/