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If you’re disabled, accessing transit can be like solving a puzzle with a lot of missing pieces

Chicago Tribune - 12/2/2019

It used to take Michele Lee three hours to get to downtown Chicago from her suburban home. The trip required a mix of buses and trains, and missing one connection would throw everything out of whack.

Lee uses a wheelchair, and regional public transit for disabled riders can be a confusing patchwork, with multiple obstacles to getting around, according to a new report.

The commute forced Lee, 37, to move to the West Loop for easier transit, leaving her hometown of Glenview.

“I literally couldn’t live there,” said Lee, who suffered a spinal injury in a 2003 car crash that left her a quadriplegic. “It was kind of traumatic, but I couldn’t not have a job.”

Lee is one of hundreds of thousands of people in the Chicago area with disabilities, and their numbers are growing as the population ages, according to a new report by the Metropolitan Planning Council, which tracks regional transit and infrastructure matters. The report, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures, said 7% of people between the ages of 18 and 64 and 33% of those over age 65 have disabilities, including being blind, deaf or unable to walk.

“We’re all aging and everybody is going to experience disability ourselves, or as a caregiver to a family member. You get knee surgery, you break your foot,” said Audrey Wennink, transportation director for the Metropolitan Planning Council. “Everybody is going to face this. We need a kinder, gentler transportation system in a lot of ways.”

The Chicago region has a fragmented system when it comes to the needs of disabled passengers, with rider eligibility rules, hours of service and trip purpose requirements often varying from town to town or county to county, the report found. For instance, a dial-a-ride service may be available in one town and then not go into another.

“The bottom line is that the experience of getting around using these systems ranges from fairly reliable and affordable to maddeningly frustrating and expensive,” the report found.

While Pace provides ADA paratransit or “demand-response” service for those who have trouble using fixed-route public transit, it has limits. “Demand-response” means a rider calls to be picked up and taken somewhere, and plans often must be made well in advance. Trips are only provided at the same times and within the same geographic areas as fixed routes, and dispatching software issues can lead to late arrivals and rides that are longer than necessary, according to the report.

To improve accessibility for the region’s transit system, the report makes a number of recommendations, including establishing a regional mobility coordinator, as well as county-level mobility managers. Other recommendations include:

Providing consistent demand-response services in counties.

Centralizing information on available services.

Improving outreach and travel training programs.

Modernizing routing and dispatch software.

Enacting housing policies that encourage accessible housing near fixed-route transit, like buses and trains.

Sometimes the obstacle may simply be a lack of sidewalks, the report said. Someone may be able to easily use a regular Pace bus to get around, but can’t get to the stop because there is no sidewalk, and wheelchairs don’t run well on grass, Wennink said. “Sidewalks are a big deal,” Wennink said.

A study by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning found that just 10% of Pace stops have complete sidewalks on both sides of the street within a quarter mile of the stop.

The report recommends the state eliminate the requirement that towns provide 20% matching funds for each sidewalk project on an Illinois Department of Transportation route, since this has become a barrier to having good pedestrian infrastructure.

Even where there are sidewalks, they can be blocked. During warm weather, Lee runs into problems getting around the West Loop because of sprawling outdoor cafes and carelessly parked electric scooters. Winter brings snow, and property owners who don’t shovel.

“It’s a minefield, basically," Lee said. “I love eating outside like everyone else, but businesses can be more considerate about it.”

Another issue is the lack of accessible stations. Lee said that sometimes she’ll plan an "L" trip to a station with an elevator, only to get there and find it out of order.

The CTA said it is planning to put money into making more "L" stations accessible for disabled riders, and wants all stations to be accessible in the next 19 years. The plan will cost about $2.1 billion.

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Lee, who serves on the CTA’s Americans with Disabilities Act advisory committee and the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council, said she hopes that the more people know about the obstacles faced by disabled riders, the faster fixes will come.

“It’s not just for people in wheelchairs, it’s for people with crutches and with strollers," Lee said. “It’s better for everyone to have elevators, and access.”

Transportation song quiz

Last week’s song told about having another cup of coffee before getting back in the rig. The answer was “Truck Drivin’ Man” by Terry Fell. But many readers guessed “Drivin’ My Life Away” by Eddie Rabbitt, which also fits. Jim Canzona, of Chicago Lawn, and Dave Mesich, of Streamwood, were the winners.

This week’s song teaches an important lesson -- if you want to buy your sweetheart an expensive gift, a stock car race is a bad way to earn cash. Name the song, who wrote it and someone who had a hit with it. The first person with the answers gets a Tribune pen, and glory. I’ll tweet the answer Monday afternoon from @marywizchicago.

mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com

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