Disabled In Action: DIA Activist Newsletter July 2005

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Frieda Remembered

mild mannered but passionate
the most determined person I ever knew
tired but tireless
she never gave up
loving but tough
humble but well-known
and her smile lit up her face

Frieda Zames
Photo by Fusun Ateser

Frieda Zames, Disabled In Action’s long-time leader, died on June 16, 2005, in her sleep while she was recovering from an appendectomy. It is easy to think that she’s just out sick for awhile, not really gone. The impact of her death will take awhile to sink in, and we’ll be taken aback that she’s not here to write an article, go to meetings, demonstrate, go to a movie with, call, write a DIA flyer, go to a restaurant with, strategize with, give a talk, or visit.

I so wanted to call her after her memorial service on June 19th and say, "Frieda, guess who I saw today, someone you haven’t seen in several years!" She would have delighted in the fact that so many people came together, but she would have wondered why all the fuss was about her. She probably would have assumed that only her family and a few close friends would attend her formal memorial service. So many people felt close to Frieda. She had a way of making us all feel like her close friend. And the fact that there were obituaries about her in the New York Times, the Sun, and Newsday would have floored her as she never seemed to think of herself as famous or influential.

Photo of Frieda Zames and her sister Doris at City Hall July 22 2004

Frieda reading from their book with her sister Doris
Photo by Philip Bennett

Several hundred people with and without all kinds of disabilities came to Frieda’s memorial service, and probably fifty were in wheelchairs and scooters. At the service, Doris Zames Fleischer, Frieda’s sister and co-author of their book, The Disability Rights Movement: from Charity to Confrontation, talked about Frieda’s early life after Frieda contracted polio at age 2 ½ and lived apart from her family in institutions for almost all of the next 10 years.

Frieda was an amazing woman. Her early education was spotty because of low academic expectations of children with disabilities and poor teaching in hospitals and "convalescent homes," where children with disabilities were sent. She had many early surgeries. But Frieda eventually lucked out and got a good teacher who realized her potential. It happened this way: Frieda would get a week’s worth of homework from the teacher and she realized at a young age that if she did it all on Monday, she would have the rest of the week to read whatever she wanted in the library. The teacher found out and gave Frieda more work, really challenging her.

Frieda was smart in every school subject, but excelled in math, and instead of isolating her, it made her popular because she could help other kids, especially when she got out of the institutions and lived at home and went to public school.

Photo of Frieda Zames, Carr Massi and others at TLC hearing in August 2004

Frieda (pictured left-of-center, with hat) in group at a TLC hearing
Photo by Philip Bennett

Frieda earned her undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College. She was using crutches then and her mother went to college with Frieda to carry her books for her. The college was inaccessible and Frieda had to laboriously and precariously go up two steps to get into the buildings. It never occurred to her at that time that she had a right to access without steps.

In the seventies, Frieda’s thinking changed, and she became a champion of disability rights when she wasn’t teaching college math at New Jersey Institute of Technology. She had earned a Ph.D. in math at New York University by working during the day at an office job and going to school nights.

No longer was her disability and lack of access her own problem to deal with. It became a civil rights issue that was a societal problem, not just hers alone. Buildings should be made accessible to everyone instead of excluding people. She was instrumental in making her campus wheelchair accessible. Buses should be made accessible to everyone, not just people who could easily walk onto them, and New York City bus access was an early project that Frieda got involved in.

When Frieda got a car with hand controls, it gave her freedom to participate in society and have an active social life. She could go out of the city and to other boroughs with ease. Eventually, she would give up her crutches and use a scooter for mobility. Frieda delighted in her ability to speed around the sidewalks of New York, get on and off buses, and go where she needed to go, but she also continued to drive until about a year ago when she reluctantly gave up her car. Not having a car was frustrating because with limited and slow bus service, and no meaningful accessible taxi service, she could not easily go to other boroughs or out of the City to visit friends or family and attend music festivals and The DIA Singers’ practice.

Photo of Nadina LaSpina, Frieda Zames, Carr Massi and other activists

Frieda (pictured right-of-center) smiling with other activists
Photo by Philip Bennett

DIA (Disabled In Action) was Fried ’s passion and she was very involved in every aspect of DIA. So many people found out about DIA through Frieda. Besides inviting many new people to attend DIA meetings, Frieda found people to do jobs within DIA , represent DIA at meetings and hearings, and write for the newspaper. If no one volunteered for a job, she would volunteer to do it on top of everything else she did. She regularly attended many meetings and hearings, sometimes three in one day.

Frieda and Robert Levine founded The One-Step Program, a program in cooperation with the NYC Commission on Human Rights to eliminate the barriers of single steps into doctors’ offices, restaurants, stores, and office buildings (housing barrier complaints go straight to the Commission). That program is still going on in DIA (see our website – www.disabledinaction.org). Among many other initiatives, Frieda was instrumental in Ferries for ALL and the Taxis For ALL Campaigns and was active in them at the time of her death. Senior issues, healthcare, and housing issues occupied her time, too. She was an active member of the Disabled In Action Singers. Frieda had been president of DIA more than once, and at the time of her death she was Vice President for Legislative Affairs. She volunteered on the CIDNY (Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York) board and the WBAI (Pacifica Radio) board, too, and was very involved in NYSILC (New York State Independent Living Council).


Reading the ADA Proclamation Photo by Philip Bennett	Frieda getting a Proclamation from Speaker Miller and CM Lopez Photo by Philip Bennett

One of Frieda’s great skills was her ability to bring people together to work on something or simply to have fun. She made so many friends.

We need to turn our grief into action. For Frieda’s sake, our own, and others’, we need to continue the struggle for disability rights. We need to put in One-Step Complaints (go to www.disabledinaction.org to make a complaint). We need to continue to work for accessible ferries and taxis. We need D-SCRIE (senior citizens’ rent increase exemption for people with disabilities) and more accessible housing. We need affordable health care and medications. We need access to healthcare through accessible exam tables and equipment.

Frieda did not give up. She remained optimistic that positive change would happen with time and hard work.


Frieda telling Speaker Miller, "We need accessible taxis" Photo by Philip Bennett	Frieda testifying about accessible taxis at a TLC hearing Photo by Philip Bennett

Frieda is survived by her partner of 34 years, Michael Imperiale. Frieda’s sister, Doris, her brother-in-law, Leonard Fleischer, niece Abby Fleischer, and nephew Joseph Fleischer also survive her.

By Jean Ryan, whom Frieda brought into DIA, welcomed to the newspaper committee, and then in typical fashion soon invited to be editor. Frieda was my mentor in disability rights after I had become disabled later in life. She took me under her wing as she did many others. Frieda brought me to meetings, introduced me to people, and became my friend.

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Taxis For ALL Campaign (TFAC) has been in a state of high gear for well over a year. The TFAC steering committee, headed by Terry Moakley, includes the groups of DIA (Disabled In Action), USA (United Spinal Association), 504 Democratic Club, Disabilities Network of New York City, the MS Society, and CIDNY (Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York), as well as DIA’s lawyer from NYLPI (New York Lawyers for the Public Interest), and a consultant. As of the time of writing of this article (mid-July, 2005), we understand that the accessible taxi bill, Intro. 84, is being revised by Councilmember Margarita Lopez, and we are seeking to have input into the content and wording of the bill.

We agree with Councilmember Margarita Lopez that New York City needs to have a 100% accessible taxi fleet in order for people with disabilities to successfully use cabs which are exclusively a hail system in our city. As of this writing, only 29 cabs out of 12,787 taxis are wheelchair-accessible. They are minivans which have been specially converted to be accessible to wheelchair users. We liken an accessible cab sighting to an Elvis sighting because they are now almost that rare. We seek to have a law which will mandate that all NYC taxicabs, as they wear out and need to be replaced, only be replaced with accessible vehicles, not sedans like the Crown Victorias.

For more than a year, the Taxis for ALL Campaign has held a weekly conference call to exchange information, plan strategy and divide up work. We have attended meetings with politicians and the taxi industry, we have written letters, and we made many phone calls. In 2004, we met with the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), Iris Weinshall, who is also a Commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, but she did not offer support for our efforts even though many other U.S. cities have accessible cabs and London’s entire taxi fleet is wheelchair-accessible. Weinshall serves as special advisor to Mayor Bloomberg on transportation. The TLC’s position is that a change to 100% accessibility would be too drastic and should wait until a special taxi vehicle is designed and built. We disagree with these positions as being obstructive to change.

We have had 3 roll-ins (two in Manhattan and one in Queens) where we tried to hail a cab at a taxi stand but only saw inaccessible sedans. We spoke up for wheelchair accessibility at a taxi design conference at the New School and testified at Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) hearings. One of our posters said, "27 is Bupkis!" (Yiddish slang for nothing) because only 27 accessible medallions were going to be offered for sale out of 300 medallions. We even marched in a Queens parade and handed out leaflets about accessible taxis to spectators and urged them to call Speaker Miller about the taxi bill.

At roll-ins and at other times, we give interviews to the press about converting the taxi fleet to wheelchair accessibility. Cable TV news station NY1 has covered the issue, as have some network TV stations and several radio stations, including WBAI and WNYC.

"Make taxis accessible for all," a NY Daily News editorial demanded in May, 2004 with a similar sentiment in a second editorial. The New York Times published a lengthy overview article on accessible taxis that was largely favorable to our cause. It read, "The issue with yellow cabs is spontaneity," said Edith Prentiss, an advocate for the disabled and a Manhattan resident who uses a motorized wheelchair. "I don't need to make a plan like I'm invading Europe, which is really what it often feels like."

We are hopeful that a revised bill which includes 100% conversion of the fleet over time as well as the designation of the upcoming 300 new taxi medallions for accessible vehicles will be presented and passed by the NYC Council in July, 2005 or very soon after. It would be a fitting tribute to Frieda Zames’ memory and her struggle for a taxi she could finally get into with her scooter. Ten years ago, she was one of the founding members of the Taxis For ALL Campaign along with Robert Levine and Marvin Wasserman. We want this for Frieda’s memory as well as for all New Yorkers and visitors who need accessible taxis. No more delays! No more excuses! No more discrimination! Taxis are a form of mass transit and it is our civil right to use mass transit.

Note: On June 30th, 2005, the New York City Council passed a budget which included 1.3 million dollars for taxi conversion. Text of Budget Item for Accessible Taxis:
Taxi and Limousine Commission
Disabled Accessible Taxi $1,302,000
In an effort to promote and encourage equal accessibility of yellow medallion taxicabs to the disabled public, the Council allocated $1.3 million in funding to subsidize a Disabled Accessible Taxi program. This initiative would subsidize the cost of converting current yellow taxi medallions to disabled taxicabs by providing a cash grant to current taxi owners and operators to retrofit and place in service accessible vehicles or by reducing the medallion cost during auction.

Over one million people ride the New York City subway system on a daily basis, however many people with disabilities avoid the subways due to concerns over accessibility. Gaps between trains and platforms, elevator breakdowns and a lack of accessible stations serve as deterrents to potential riders. Now the Transit Authority has introduced yet another obstacle for disabled riders; the closing of token booths.

On May 22nd the New York City Transit Authority closed token booths at eight subway stations (including three at accessible stations); by the end of 2005, 81 booths will be shuttered and by the middle of 2006 that number will be up to 158. Transit Authority President Lawrence Reuter says that he would like to see all booths closed within the next two to three years. Rather than progressing towards greater subway accessibility, booth closings are demonstrative of regression on the part of the TA.

Token booth clerks are lifelines for riders with disabilities as they are often needed to buzz disabled riders in and out of stations. Additionally, elevator intercoms, used in emergency situations currently connect to token booths.

The loss of clerks will make the already daunting task of riding the subways even harder. Many disabled riders have been stuck trying to get out at the World Trade Center (), Canal Street (Southbound ) and Church Avenue (Southbound & ) stations, often for extended periods of time. None of those accessible stations have token booths.

Transit Authority spokesman Paul Fleuranges says that disabled riders will not be affected by the closures as none of the eight shuttered token booths are in locations where disabled riders in wheelchairs or scooters enter or leave the subways "We are very sensitive to their concerns, but at the same token, their concerns aren’t valid," he said. Disabled riders beg to differ.

Fleuranges ignores the fact that riders using wheelchairs or scooters are not the only disabled riders who need to use service gates. Riders who use service animals and some people who use walkers, crutches or other mobility aids are able to use stairs and frequently use non-accessible stations, but can’t enter through a regular turnstile and therefore must be buzzed through a service gate.

While none of the eight booths closed so far are at entrances that are accessible to riders in wheelchairs, the closings sets a dangerous precedent. It is a slippery slope, particularly with 150 additional closings already announced and plans in the works to close all booths; it is only a matter of time before they close those at accessible entrances. Upcoming closings at three accessible stations (Penn Station [, , ]; World Trade Center []; Crown Heights – Utica Avenue [, ] may have a direct impact on riders who use wheelchairs.

So how will service gates be opened to let disabled riders in and out once all booths are closed? According to Fleuranges, "If a customer can only use the service gate, but the agent is not in the fare control area, the customer can contact the full-time booth location by using the passenger intercom." He admits, however, that at the present time station agents can only open service gates from inside of token booths.

The problem with this is that such intercoms are not available at all stations. Furthermore, intercoms are technological devices and like all technological devices they frequently break down; station agents don’t.

Instead of sitting in the booths, station agents, now re-designated as Station Customer Assistants or SCAs wearing burgundy vests will roam the platforms and provide "personalized assistance to customers." Disabled riders should be concerned about the ability to locate an SCA when assistance is needed.

Riders who are blind or visually impaired depend on the token booth operators for information that is otherwise only available in the form of maps and posted notices that they can't read. At a recent meeting of the MTA’s New York City Transit Committee, Lynn Zelvin, a blind rider from Manhattan, asked, "What good is someone in a burgundy vest to a blind person?" The response: dead silence.

It is bad enough that less than 9% (50 out of 468) of stations are wheelchair accessible, but now the TA is taking actions that will diminish the ability of disabled riders to use those stations and that is simply inexcusable. We should be progressing toward greater accessibility; instead disabled riders are seeing regression.

Perhaps the MTA should change its slogan from "Going your way" to "Going the wrong way"?

When it comes to subway accessibility that is certainly the direction in which they are headed.

The author is Campaign Coordinator for the Disabled Riders Coalition.

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Other concerns with regards to which the TA has declined comment include:

NYCT policy entitles PCAs to ride free of charge when accompanying a disabled rider, however ID must be presented to a station agent and access authorized from inside the booth.
Persons with disabilities who have a reduced-fare ID , Medicaid Card or Access-A-Ride card and pay full fare are entitled to a free Return Trip Slip. Such slips are issued out of token booths.
Many riders with low vision or poor manual dexterity find it difficult or impossible to use MetroCard vending machines. Once booths are closed that will be the only way to purchase MetroCards.
Station Customer Assistants will be limited in their ability to assist such riders in purchasing MetroCards as union policy prohibits them from handling money or fare cards outside the confines of token booths.
The closed booths are painted red and have signs indicating that fare cards are not sold there, however such signage is not provided in Braille making it difficult for blind riders to identify such booths.

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AUGUST 28TH, 2005 - PENN STATION (, , )
LIRR CONCOURSE (BOOTH # N068)
Reason: There is no AutoGate (a system which allows riders with a special card to independently open a service gate) at this entrance nor is there an intercom. While the TA says that this is not an accessible entrance (due to a ramp that is slightly too long to meet ADA standards), it is practically accessible and infinitely more convenient than the “accessible entrance” designated by the TA.

January 29th, 2006 – World Trade Center ()
Church Street & Fulton Street (Booth # N094)
Reason: While this is booth is not at the accessible entrance, there is NO BOOTH at the accessible entrance. Thus the elimination of a 24-hour booth at this station should be cause for concern.

For more information or to request a complete list of upcoming booth closures, please E-mail disabledriderscoalition@nysyddic.org or call 914-490-0518

- Michael A. Harris

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On June 30th, after several years of hard work on the part of activists and Councilmember Margarita Lopez, the Accessible Commuter Ferry bill, Intro. 398-A, passed the New York City Council by 50 pass votes to 1 excused vote. Hip, hip, hooray! Frieda Zames worked so hard for this bill, and she died on the day it passed out of the joint Disability and Transportation Committees in the City Council.

The Ferry Bill provides for safe access to slips, piers, docks, floats, gangplanks, and the commuter ferries themselves, as well as to the terminals and the shuttle buses which go to and from some ferries. When the bill takes effect (after Mayor Bloomberg signs it or there is a council over-ride if it is vetoed by the mayor), ferry companies and the NYC Department of Transportation will have until the end of 2008 to make all ferry facilities accessible. Three-fourths of the shuttle buses must be accessible by March 1, 2007, and the rest must be accessible by the end of 2008. Many ferry shuttle buses have not been wheelchair-accessible at all.

Photo of DIA activists with Margarita Lopez after passage of commuter ferry bill

June 20, 2005, Ferries for ALL, with Margarita Lopez after Intro 398A was passed out of committee
Photo by Donny Vasquez

This bill is important because commuter ferries are a form of mass transit in New York City and they are not currently covered under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). As a result, people with disabilities have not been able to reach the ferries because of inaccessible shuttle buses, terminals, piers, floats, docks, slips, or gangplanks, or because the boats themselves are inaccessible. Sometimes there are steps or steep ramps or a huge vertical or horizontal gap between the pier or float and the boat (see photos in December 2002 Activist - http://www.disabledinaction.org/activist/2002-12/index.html#ferries).

To see the complete Ferry Bill, go to:
http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/attachments/67110.htm

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DIA members give testimony at City Council hearings, NY State legislative hearings, City agency hearings such as the TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission), and MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) hearings. Edith Prentiss, a DIA board member, has often given testimony on a variety of issues, including healthcare issues, senior issues, human rights, and transportation issues. Here follows a sampling of her testimonies on transportation and human rights issues.

February 24th, 2004 City Council Committee on Transportation, Oversight - Local and express bus service in New York City: What is the responsibility of the MTA and has that responsibility been fulfilled?

In the most simplistic terms, the MTA’s responsibility is to provide equitable service throughout their entire service area with all riders paying the same proportion of the expense. I believe the MTA has failed.

Disabled franchise bus riders receive totally disparate levels of service. For numerous reasons, many elderly and disabled passengers prefer surface transit rather than the subway. The MTA has failed miserably in providing surface riders with service equitable to subway riders.

At a time when more disabled people are using mass transit, reducing the number of wheelchair slots seems stupid. Upper East Side wheelchair users rarely if ever encounter not being able to get on a bus, but those of us at the far terminus of any of those lines have experienced buses that can’t pick them up.

Franchise passengers envy our route map/schedule poles. Have they ever read them? Most are illegible, faded or rain damaged. Try reading the schedule on the pole way over your head.

Many times when bus stops are obstructed, drivers don’t bother curbing and drop us on the street. We’ve heard about the NYCT/NYPD pilot program on Lexington photographing and ticketing. We’ve also seen how efficiently Fifth Ave gets towed weekday afternoons. How about the rest of us?

Sanitation and DOT plows throw snow in curb cuts, along and on sidewalks. No one, not even the MTA, cleans their sidewalks and curb cuts, The MTA cleaned a 12-inch path off the curb cut for people to cross the street. When a bus stop is cleared, it’s usually a small area near the pole or in the shelter, not where the back door will open.

Is this any way to run a transit system?

February 18th, 2004 - MTA Riders Council Subway Forum

Before getting to the subway elevator, I usually call the Elevator / Escalator Service Outage line). Why does the tape tells you to press one but then drones on for 68 seconds?, Not being listed on the tape is no guarantee that an elevator will be working, even though the tape says its updated during the day. [Editor: The MTA now says it updates the elevator hotline 4 times a day: 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m., and 10 p.m.]

You quickly learn alternate routing, if any. The real problem is when you’re stuck in a station where there is no next accessible station.

The agent answering the intercom often has no idea where or how you can exit the system. At one time, the MTA posted paper signs by every elevator that listed an alternate route. It would be helpful if that information could be permanently mounted at the elevator and in the booth. The cuts to the MTA NYC Transit Information Line to 6 AM to 10 PM leaves you without access to information on what bus if any would get you where you’re going from 10 PM to 6 AM.

What happened to AutoGates? It seems as if few stations have them. And those that do are often poorly designed so that the agent is unable to see us swiping our card. Some agents insist you wait in line and then we do the swipe the card routine. Then there are the one that eat cards, forget trying to get an autogate card replaced! [ Editor: Call 646-252-4703 to have a card replaced.]

Why does it seem the LIRR & MetroNorth elevators break down less frequently and are repaired faster? Why is the MTA so dependent on elevators? There must be places where a ramp/elevator combination, would be appropriate.

The MTA’s publication, Accessible Connection, advises us to board in designated areas and states that such signs are posted in all accessible stations, but we all know they don’t. I never mentioned the gap, which make all travel and transfers problematic. If you use a station often enough, you learn its gaps, ignoring the boarding area. But unknown stations can be a problem. Getting off is easy, just plop down to the platform, but good luck getting on a train. The first hurdle is that the time is against you as you try to enter the train without running over passengers who step in and stop, while you’re jumping the gap.

Is this any way to run a subway?

August 25th, 2004 - New York City Taxi And Limousine Commission

Taxis are part of New York City’s transit continuum, except for those of us whose chairs or scooters do not fold or who cannot transfer into a cab. At recent meeting, it was said that yellow cabs focus on airport and midtown, both places disabled New Yorkers and visitors go!

As a disabled New Yorker, whose chair does not fold, I am mostly limited to long hours waiting for and riding buses, as every subway trip is fraught with the possibility of getting stuck when elevators break down. Not being able to simply go out onto the street and hail a cab is a major problem. The lack of accessible transit options affects all aspect of our lives, including professional, recreational, religious, and medical.

It is unacceptable that it is close to impossible to travel without advanced planning and sometimes even with advance planning. The solution is a requirement that medallions may only be affixed to accessible vehicles. At the present rate of turnover of cabs, it would rapidly jumpstart an accessible fleet. This would transform New York City from an inaccessible one-option transportation wasteland.

At the same time, it is essential that the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) rigorously enforce the "accessible vehicle rule" in all for hire vehicles and post the information on their web site. There are 12 livery bases in my community, Washington Heights & Inwood. Why do I need to call all 12 when I need a car?

It is ironic that while the TLC drags its feet on accessible cabs, they’re mandating credit card machines and put out a RFP (request for proposal) for high tech usage in cabs. They propose GPS (global positioning system) for driver and passenger and text messaging in the back seat. Please, if you need money - stop at the ATM, to figure out where you are – look out the window, if the driver can’t figure out where they’re going – look in the map book and go back to training, if a passenger needs to text message – use your phone.

Neither Access-A-Ride nor a Ride for All (an accessible car service) are the sole solution to the problem. Like many disabled New Yorkers, I am not registered for AAR, as it did not meet our needs for spontaneous travel. With only 3 or 4 vehicles, it is unrealistic to expect A Ride for All to be able to fill New York City’s need for accessible transportation. Separate but equal is unacceptable in education, so why is it okay when transporting the disabled?

Only by requiring all new medallions and existing medallion replacement only be sold or placed on accessible vehicles and by rigorously enforcing the ‘accessible vehicle rule’ will disabled New Yorkers have transit options as required by law.

September 22, 2004, New York City Council Committee on General Welfare - Intro 22 Human Rights Laws

By passing Intro 22, the Council has the opportunity to make a substantive contribution to redeem the promise of New York City’s Human Rights Law. With the exercise of leadership, there is simply no reason why this measure should not become law promptly.

The Human Rights Commission does some work in seeking accommodations for people with disabilities. But there were only 144 accommodation cases reported in the latest Mayor’s Management Report for an entire year, in a city where hundreds of thousands of housing units and commercial establishments continue to have barriers to accessibility. No agency is going to be able to go after all violators of the law. It is only if people understand that there are consequences to violating the law that more landlords and businesses will voluntarily make the accommodation that are necessary.

The City Human Rights Law offers a means independent of federal law by which to vindicate the rights of qualified applicants. But it will only work if the law is amended, as is proposed by Intro 22, to require courts to interpret the local law independent of federal law, with a view towards liberally interpreting the statute to accomplish its broad objectives. Intro 22 is designed to make sure that we have the tools necessary to wage an effective fight against discrimination. It should be passed without delay.

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AAR officials recently said that they do not punish people for late cancellations, but they do send out warning letters and temporarily knock people off the service for having repeated no-shows, although their cut-off is way more than the 7 in six months that they say is their cut-off.

While this is good news, AAR's policies should be revised to have a 2-hour late cancellation cut-off and riders should be notified that they will not be punished for late cancellations, which are usually beyond people’s control, anyway. Why should disabled people have to plan our days and weeks with military precision. Who lives like that? No one, and we should not have to, either. AAR's practice of saying one thing in print and actually having a more lax policy creates undue stress on AAR riders who are worried about canceling late if our plans change. The current stated policy is that it is a late cancellation if we cancel after 5 p.m. the day before a scheduled ride. This must be changed and riders must be notified.

AAR Pick-up Sites Listed

A frequently updated list of AAR pick-up sites is on the DIA website at www.disabledinaction.org. Click on the AAR button on the left. (Or go here: www.disabledinaction.org/aar.html)

Taxi Authorizations and Savings

Access-a-Ride officials reported that the AAR strike of half the carriers in the spring of 2004 provided an opportunity to test the practice of using taxicabs as supplementary AAR vehicles. In fact, all ambulatory riders were given taxi authorizations instead of a van pick-up and the vans were used exclusively for people, mostly scooter and wheelchair users, who could not take inaccessible taxicabs. This practice meant that some people could not go where they needed to go because they did not have the funds to lay out in advance, before reimbursement. Some people were spending $400 a week just to go to work by taxi. AAR officials discovered that by authorizing taxis, they were able to order about 20 less vans, and now they authorize taxis more than they used to. Just think of the savings and the convenience if we had a usable amount of wheelchair accessible taxis!

AAR reduces turnaround waiting times in another borough and within the same borough

AAR used to require riders to stay in another borough for up to 2 ½ hours before a return ride could be scheduled. Now riders can return in one hour. We think turnaround time should be reduced to 15 to 30 minutes to be more like fixed transit.

Free Travel Training

Any customer who is eligible for AAR may apply for free travel training to use buses and subways. For more information, contact Michael Levy at 718-393-4148. This includes how to get on (including practice) a bus with a wheelchair or scooter or walker, etc., as well as which routes to take and general tips, especially if your route is complicated. People with any kind of disability can take travel training.

Continuing Full Eligibility

Since September 2004, applicants undergoing certification and customers being recertified for paratransit service have been considered for a new status – continuing full eligibility. Applicants or customers given this status will not need to be recertified every three years. Instead, customers need only complete a one-page form updating their information.

Continuing full eligibility will be considered for persons who cannot use regular transit bus or subway service under any condition, whose disability is unlikely to improve and/or whose disability is of such severity that successful travel training would be unlikely.

Applicants must participate in an in-person assessment at an assessment center located in their borough and may be required to provide medical documentation that his or her disability is unlikely to improve.

AAR Pick-up Window Changed

AAR changed the window for waiting for AAR to be the exact pick-up time to 30 minutes later. This change has resulted in less confusion and fewer no-shows on the point of the carriers and the customers since everyone knows when the passenger has to be at the pick-up location and when the van can leave (5 minutes after the pick-up time). However, some dishonest dispatchers and drivers lie and say that they were there when they were not or they drive by without stopping. If this happens to you, be sure to call your complaint in to 718-330-3322 and to write a complaint to Paratransit, 2 Broadway, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10004.

AAR Will Move to Long Island City

Access-a-Ride is planning to move to new offices in Long Island City on July 25, 2005. Their toll-free number will remain the same: 877-337-2017. Local number: 718-393-4999. TTY for reservations – 718-393-4149. Their address will be: Access-a-Ride/Paratransit, 33-00 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, NY 11101.

AAR Committee Is Brought Late to Meetings

It is interesting, sad, and a reflection of the problems with lateness that AAR has, especially in the afternoons, that frequently AAR cannot get paratransit advisory committee members to meetings on time. Members have been brought to the meetings from 15 minutes to 90 minutes late. At a recent meeting, three members were 90 minutes late to a two-hour-long meeting. The MTA seems helpless to control whatever the carriers do. Why?

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As a result of DIA’s activism in documenting and publicizing the woes of Access-a-Ride (AAR), the City Council hearings, the NY Daily News articles by Greg Smith, and the activism and persistence of many AAR riders, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) assessed the policies and practices of Access-a-Ride, and issued a report in October 2004. The entire report is available on DIA’s website at www.disabledinaction.org.

On the whole, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found Access-a-Ride (AAR) to be a well-run system, but they picked up on some problems which riders have been complaining about for years, and ongoing reports and negotiations between the FTA and AAR have been and will continue to occur until the issues have been resolved. It is important to note that this report was an assessment, a snapshot at one time, not a deep investigation.

The main body of the report is long, 150 pages, with a list of 17 attachments that were not included in the publicly issued body of the report. The assessment was done on-site in September, 2003 by an independent consultant for the Office of Civil Rights of the FTA, but data was also collected for the six months previous to the onsite visit. The MTA is continuing to give the FTA information in regular reports.

The information obtained might seem to be too old to be relevant now, but the FTA looked at policies and practices of AAR, too, and those affect our AAR experiences even now. Some of the findings have been corrected and some are still waiting for a resolution.

Late cancellation and suspension policies

Perhaps the largest FTA recommendation is that AAR change their late cancellation policy to allow cancellations without penalty up to several hours of the ride. The FTA also recommends that the public should have input on this policy change. The Bay Area (near San Francisco) paratransit system and Chicago paratransit allow cancellations without penalty up to 2 hours before the ride. Changing the cancellation policy would reduce a lot of stress amongst all riders and would still make AAR an efficient service. How many times have we taken an AAR ride when we really did not feel well but we did not want to get penalized for a late cancellation? Too many times to count. And AAR, like all transit agencies, counts on late cancellations to help them keep their schedules.

The FTA also recommended that AAR revise its policy for service suspensions, taking into account the frequency of use of service and the percentage of no-show or late cancellations. Again, the FTA says AAR should obtain public input on this policy revision. It seems that AAR is recommending that the period of time that six no-shows or late cancellations would be allowed would be shortened from 6 months to 3 months, but it still does not take into account how many times a person rides during that time.

Eligibility

The assessment uncovered an eligibility problem with AAR contractors who were often giving eligibility for a PCA (personal care attendant) only if an applicant could not travel alone. They failed to give eligibility to a PCA if an applicant needed a PCA at the point of origin or destination. The contractors have been instructed to be more inclusive. Several other issues with eligibility, such as stopping the clock during the application process and some unrealistic eligibility categories have been corrected.

Service Parameters

AAR provides service throughout New York City, but AAR does not provide service to portions of Nassau or Westchester Counties that are within ¾ mile of NYCT local bus routes as the ADA requires. Thus, AAR customers have to call both paratransit systems, arrange 2 rides, and pay 2 fares. The FTA recommended changing this policy and including areas which fall within ¾ mile of the bus routes which are outside NYC limits. Some MTA buses go well into Nassau County but AAR does not do that. So far, AAR has been resistant to doing this. Perhaps the answer would be to integrate all the paratransit systems in NYC and the surrounding suburban, metropolitan counties. Getting rides from one paratransit jurisdiction to another is a persistent, difficult, stressful, and often time-consuming undertaking for paratransit riders.

Reservations

The reservationists appeared to be well-trained and phone answering times were satisfactory. A problem that has recurred especially since the FTA assessment has happened when the reservationists apparently don’t complete the reservation process properly and we are told we did not make a reservation for the ride we are expecting. This happens even when we go through the confirmation process over the phone. Perhaps an adjustment to the software could be made to greatly minimize this problem because it is disruptive to our lives, it creates undue stress, and it ends up being a form of denial. Anytime we are offered a ride but actually don’t get one, it is a denial.

The FTA found that limiting the times riders can book return trips by making them wait an hour or an hour and a half does not provide service that is comparable to fixed route service. The FTA suggests that AAR shorten the turn-around time more than AAR has. Now it is one hour for another borough or the same borough. It used to be 2 ½ hours for another borough and 1 ½ hours for the same borough. Activists are pushing for 15 to 30 minutes turnaround time.

Reservationists only offer one pick-up time and do not negotiate times as the ADA intends. The FTA also does not approve of making customers call back to get a different pick-up time.

Dispatch and Command Center

Customers were rerouted from one person to another and told to call back instead of being able to have one person handle their problem. For example, it took one call to cancel and another call to rebook a trip. The FTA suggests that it be more of a one-call service.

The FTA consultant noticed that command center personnel wasted their own and the carrier dispatcher’s time by calling during the window to see what the status of the ride was. This caused too much inefficiency. Riders would disagree with this.

Some dispatchers called customers and told them the vehicle was outside. This implied that they better get out there and board early. The FTA says that customers need to be told they need not board early. We know from experience that drivers often do the same thing and sometimes want to leave if you don’t get on the van immediately.

Command center personnel will not let riders call more than an hour before their scheduled pick-up time to say they will be late and will need a later pick-up. The FTA thinks that AAR should allow riders to cancel their ride early and ask for a different pick-up time.

Dispatchers at MV were not on top of things and did not poll drivers often enough.

Vehicles

MV had too many vehicles out of service on some days.

Performance

Taxi Authorizations and black car vouchers -- Black car vouchers and/or taxi authorizations are offered, but only 20% are used. The FTA said, "This appears to indicate that the vouchers have limited effectiveness in reducing the number of missed and late trips."

Late pick-ups – The FTA wants AAR to reduce late pick-ups and pick passengers up sooner. This is a continuing problem as the day progresses.

There were "performance issues" with MV on the weekend. The MTA removed MV from weekend service after a long delay of bad service.

AAR does not have a performance standard for drop-offs with an appointment time and the FTA would like them to have one.

The FTA would like AAR to have a better system of back-up or rescue vans so riders do not get stranded for a very long time. The percentage might be small, but a large number of people are affected each day, and it can be traumatic. Editor’s note – This is a long-standing problem for Access-a-Ride and the riders. There is no excuse to make a person wait more than 30 minutes. It is just too difficult.

Long trips – Some trips are too long. What can AAR do to prevent this from happening?

The FTA suggests that dispatchers call all customers who are going to be no-showed before the van leaves.

The FTA found that complaints are not responded to within 60 business days. Editor’s note – Many riders never have their complaints responded to. Some are responded to 9 months later.

The FTA advised AAR to analyze the computer system to identify and eliminate slowdowns or to allow other functions to be performed on the system while run times are being updated.

No Fault No Shows -- (p. 30) "It appears that more than 50% of the trips categorized as No Fault No Shows, or 0.2% of scheduled trips may be missed trips." This is common anecdotal complaint for riders.

Drivers

Oversight - AAR needs to monitor the adequacy of the driver work force for each carrier and provide assistance, as appropriate, in driver recruitment.

Manifests – Not all drivers understand the difference between estimated time and negotiated pick-up times on the manifest. They need training.

No-shows -- Some drivers leave without talking to their dispatcher first when a customer is a no-show.

Disabled In Action hopes that these kinks can be worked out with the least fuss possible so that Access-a-Ride will be a more reliable, user-friendly service. AAR has improved from where it was five years ago, but it still needs more improvement.

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Under newly passed City and State legislation, people with disabilities will now have DRIE, Disability Rent Increase Exemption, but it will only cover incomes up to $17,000, not $24,000 like the cut-off seniors have under SCRIE (Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption).

It took a huge effort on the part of the housing groups Coalition for the Homeless as well as Tenants and Neighbors, the disability groups of CIDNY (Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York) and Disabled In Action (represented by Frieda Zames and Michael Imperiale). These groups formed the Fair Housing Coalition and worked with Matt Sapolin of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, legislators (especially bill sponsors Scott Stringer and Alexander "Pete" Grannis), and City Councilmember Margarita Lopez to get the DRIE legislation passed.

Next year, we will have to work to have income eligibility parity with seniors, and state legislators have promised to make it a priority. It is arbitrary and unfair that people with disabilities who have low incomes are forced to spend more of their money on rent than seniors do. What makes this particularly galling is that over a period of the next five years, the income limit will be raised from $24,000 to $29.000 for seniors!

The legislation applies only to rent-controlled and rent-regulated residents and awaits the Governor's approval before becoming law.

The bill places an income cap tied to the wage limits under the Social Security Income (SSI) benefit. It is estimated that this expanded eligibility will apply to between 15,000 and 20,000 disabled New Yorkers. People with disabilities who receive SSI, SSDI, disability compensation from the United States military, or Medicaid buy-in program within the income limits would be eligible.

Stringer responded: "It's about time. The City's disabled bear, just as Senior Citizens do, the burden of higher costs of living, especially when it comes to their health. Affording them this benefit is long overdue."

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The next time you think "So, what can I do about it" think about this: One of our DIA members got tired of trying to get around his local Macy’s in Flushing, Queens. So he contacted his council members, the store executives and the Human Rights Commission. He got results. It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy but it was worth it.

I joined him and two people from the Human Rights Commission, Bob Tilley and Ted Finkelstein, Director of Project Equal Access, for a tour of the Flushing store. There is now a wheelchair-accessible push-button entrance by the third door closest to Union Street. Upon entering there is a store directory that lists the accessible bathroom and the elevators. The wheelchair insignia is small, the same color as the rest of the sign and difficult to find so they have agreed to replace it with the traditional blue insignia. Directly in front of you above the merchandise with the other store signage is a sign pointing out the elevator.

As we went through the store we found most of the aisles were passable with the exception of the sale racks. They agreed to take a wheelchair and try to go through the sale racks to make sure they were passable. In two departments we found what is a classic problem in all department stores. The management wants to comply with the ADA but the department heads and sales people in an effort to sell more of their merchandise put things in our way. The head of the store agreed to talk to his people about wheelchair access, and Rachael Stern, Associate Counsel of Federated Department Stores (the parent company of Macy’s), who was working with us for all Macy’s stores, agreed to pass the message along.

The Flushing store has two departments that are on sublevels accessible by a small staircase, so they put in a lift. We have to go to the nearest cashier to get the key (this is a problem so they are going to put in a phone that goes to the department). The lift is dangerous and when we pointed this out they agreed to fix it immediately.

The accessible restroom is in the basement and is totally accessible but there are only 3 stalls in the ladies’ room including the accessible stall, so be prepared for a long line. The restroom was very clean.

They are working on their other stores and continuing to work on this one. They are willing to work with us and have invited us to give them a little time and return to this store and visit their other stores.

If you have an access problem with any Macy’s store within New York City, please call Ted Finkelstein of the Commission on Human Rights at 212-306-7330 or e-mail him at tfinkelstein@cchr.nyc.gov. Recently, he got a complaint about a Macy’s store in the Bronx.

The same DIA member had problems accessing merchandise in Modell’s. After a series of meetings, Modell’s agreed to improve access and has hired a disability consultant to survey their stores and come up with solutions to access problems.

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DIA and several of its individual members entered into a settlement agreement with the City of New York and Green Bus Lines in April of 2005. The agreement was reached less than one year after DIA and its individual members filed a federal lawsuit against the City of New York and Green Bus Lines.

The lawsuit alleged that Green Bus Lines routinely discriminated against DIA members and the plaintiffs by refusing to pick up passengers who use wheelchairs and by operating a fleet of buses that are extremely old and subject to frequent lift breakdowns.

The City of New York was sued because it owned the buses and contracted with Green Bus Lines to provide the fixed route bus service. For about two to three years before the lawsuit, the City of New York also sat on tens of millions of dollars in mass transit monies it obtained from the federal government to buy new buses. Although the City would not admit it, the plaintiffs believed that the City wanted to use the monies to sweeten the deal it wanted to make with the MTA to take over Green Bus Lines and the other private franchise bus lines which also contracted with the City Department of Transportation.

It would be routine for three to four buses to pass by an individual who uses a wheelchair before an accessible bus picked them up. This problem was greatly compounded in bad weather. This problem demoralized riders who used wheelchairs and hurt their ability to get to work, school and to necessary medical treatment.

The agreement provided for a number of changes:

Green Bus Lines has begun replacing lifts on a small class of buses built after the effective date of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Green Bus Lines resolved a funding dispute with the City that held back necessary repairs to the buses, including the lifts.
Green Bus Lines changed the way it reported lift problems, whether they be from a malfunctioning lift to a refusal by a bus driver to engage the lift or stop the bus for a passenger using a wheelchair.
Green Bus Lines hired additional permanent employees to perform repairs on lifts.
Green Bus Lines implemented a policy to perform more rigorous inspections of its lifts.
Green Bus Lines served written notice on its bus drivers of stepped up disciplinary actions for unfounded refusals to pick up passengers who use wheelchairs.

The buses that Green operates are so old that these changes may not be able to prevent a substantial number of lifts from failing while in service. One of the reasons for this is that the majority of the buses are 1985 and 1986 GMC buses with lifts that were made at a time when more people used lighter manual wheelchairs. The lifts on these buses break down much more frequently now because they were not designed for the heavier chairs now commonly in use.

Unfortunately, the Americans with Disabilities Act did not require private or public bus companies to buy new buses in order to make their service accessible to riders who use wheelchairs. It merely required them to buy accessible buses when they replaced the buses at the end of their life.

For this reason, the plaintiffs could not use the ADA to force the City or Green Bus Lines to replace the old pre-ADA buses with new buses. The ADA only allowed the plaintiffs to force the City and Green Bus Lines to repair the buses promptly and to replace lifts on the smaller percentage of buses purchased after the effective date of the ADA that had chronic, defective lifts.

This case may have put pressure on the City to move faster with its negotiations to replace Green Bus Lines and the other private franchise lines with the MTA. The City also released for expenditure the millions of dollars to be spent on new buses that it sat on for so long. These buses will take up to two years to make and come into use.

The future looks brighter for Queens County residents who use wheelchairs and ride public buses. Until these new buses come into use there will continue to be inevitable problems due to the age of so many of the buses used by Green Bus Lines and the other private franchise bus lines and due to those bus drivers who are prejudiced and recalcitrant.

This article was written by Martin J. Coleman, the attorney for DIA and the individual plaintiffs in this case.

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After three years of concerted advocacy from Disabled In Action, first with Mayor Bloomberg’s staff, and then with Matt Sapolin of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) and experts from Eastern Paralyzed Veteran’s Association (EPVA, now known as United Spinal Association or USA), City Hall is more accessible to people with disabilities.

Ramp to City Hall Platform
Photo by Jean Ryan

We initially sought five changes:

A smooth path from the sidewalk on Park Row and also Broadway to the ramp leading into City Hall.
Signage directing people into City Hall after the guard entrance on the Park Row side.
A safe, ADA compliant ramp to the platform in front of City Hall (where news conferences are held).
Independent access through the door at the foot of the ramp leading into City Hall (i.e. a wider door with an automatic feature).
Truly accessible bathrooms in City Hall basement.

Photo of accessible doors at New York's City Hall

New Accessible City Hall Doors
Photo by Jean Ryan

More people with disabilities have been participating in Council activities than ever before, partly because of earlier changes in NYC council structure and the advent four years ago of full committee status for the council Committee on Disability (formally known as Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Disability Services) headed by Margarita Lopez. Many issues which affect people with disabilities have come before the council such as accessible ferries, accessible taxis, Access-a-Ride, senior citizen rent increase exemption for people with disabilities (D-SCRIE), other housing concerns, and mental health issues. The advent of the Disabilities Network of New York City several years ago has also helped to create interest in disability policies and legislation, and the Independent Living Centers, especially CIDNY (Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York), have become involved in working for disability rights in legislation.

Now that some of the basic accessibility changes have been made to City Hall, we will be pushing for more changes such as a smooth and independently accessible entrance from the Broadway side of City Hall, ADA-compliant (i.e. safe and low) door saddles to offices and conference rooms, an accessible entrance to the dais in the City Council Hearing Room, and accessible access to the "porch" at the top of City Hall steps. These are not frills. They are necessary if we are to make sure that people with disabilities -- visitors, staff, and councilmembers alike -- participate fully in the governmental process.

Photo of a handicap sign on the women's restroom door in New York's City Hall

Sign on women's restroom
Photo by Jean Ryan

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