MTA Access-A-Ride system discriminates against disabled New Yorkers, say disability advocates in federal lawsuit

Advocates say the MTA’s Access-a-Ride paratransit system discriminates against disabled New Yorkers by making them wait longer and take less direct routes than riders on the subway and bus systems, says a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The suit in Manhattan Federal Court by three paratransit users and New York Integrated Network, an advocacy consortium for disabled New Yorkers, alleges that Access-a-Ride fails to provide service “comparable to the level of service provided to individuals without disabilities who use the fixed route system,” in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

New Yorkers seeking a ride on the system’s blue-and-white vans are generally required to schedule any trips a day in advance, and to accept a pickup time as much as an hour earlier or later than the requested time.

“You basically have to know your day in advance. It leaves no road for disabled people to have a spontaneous change in plans,” said Britney Wilson, director of the Civil Rights and Disability Justice Clinic at New York Law School, which represents the plaintiffs.

Even when the scheduling system works, the suit alleges, delays abound.

“Access-A-Ride delays often last hours,” the complaint reads. “In theory, once Access-A-Ride passengers wait a full thirty minutes, they are permitted to call to request authorization to take a taxi or car service.”

Those car rides will be reimbursed, but “the reimbursement process takes months,” the suit alleges.

“I give Access-A-Ride a 6:30 pickup time to make it to work for 9 AM, just to make up for the time I know I’ll spend either waiting for my ride or going to the Bronx when I live in Manhattan, only a 30-minute drive away from my job—also in Manhattan,” plaintiff Luz Paulino-Santos said in a statement. “A lot of the time, I still get to work late.”

The suit also slams the paratransit system for a lack of established routes, claiming Access-A-Ride users are “routinely and unpredictably driven all over the city on excessively long routes.”

The suit follows an October letter of findings from the U.S. Department of Justice demanding the MTA address “significant untimely drop-offs and excessive travel times” on Access-A-Ride.

Noting the MTA’s cooperation with its investigation, the DOJ stopped short of filing its own suit, but directed the agency to keep better data on paratransit trips and ensure that the average trip is not more than 15 minutes longer than a comparable bus or subway trip.

MTA chair Janno Lieber declined to comment on the substance of the lawsuit Wednesday, but said the Justice Department’s investigation was based on 2016 data. The system has been improved significantly since then, Lieber said.

“We’ve transitioned most of paratransit from the blue-and-white vans — which pick up multiple people and as a result tend to have longer travel times taking more circuitous routes — to the for-hire vehicles,” Lieber said. “Most people are getting a direct ride.”

“We’ve moved to 95% on time performance and dramatically reduced the rate of no-shows,” he added. “Customer satisfaction has gone form something in the mid 40% to 72%.”

“We’ve made a lot of progress on paratransit, and that is something we’re very proud of.”

The plaintiffs in the Access-A-Ride suit are asking the court to order the MTA to align paratransit service more closely with bus and subway service.

Wednesday’s suit comes on the heels of a court approval for the MTA’s settlement of another ADA lawsuit over elevator access to subway stations.

Under the terms of that settlement, the MTA has committed to making 95% of the system’s subway stations accessible to people with mobility issues.

“MTA’s committment to ADA has never been stronger,” Lieber said. ”It’s really important to me, it’s something I’m quite passionate about.”

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