MBTA: Accessibility for riders increasing
T touts strides made for disabled riders since 2006 settlement
Two years after a landmark settlement, the T says it has dramatically improved accessibility for riders with disabilities, though several subway stations are still without elevators.
At an MBTA board meeting Thursday, officials said they’ve made significant process since a 2006 settlement with plaintiffs from the Boston Center for Independent Living, who claimed the T had failed to maintain bus lifts, station elevators and other accessibility equipment. One MBTA manager, Kathy Cox, Thursday described accessibility in some stations as a “crisis” at that time. For instance, the percentage of time Harvard station’s elevators were accessible fell from 95 percent in 2004 to 28 percent in 2005.
But after the 2006 settlement, numerous changes were made, including the creation of a system-wide accessibility (SWA) department, greater investigation of customer complaints and restructuring its elevator maintenance contract. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Dan Manning, even told the MBTA board Thursday that a once “adversarial relationship has turned into a partnership.”
In 2007, overall elevator performance at subway stations has been at least 97 percent, and in 2008, it has been above 99 percent, officials reported Thursday. Meanwhile, the T’s bus fleet has since become 100 percent accessible for people with disabilities.
“It’s exciting for us, but we have a ways to go,” said Gary Talbot, the SWA’s assistant
general manager.
But T officials admit more must be done. Stations such as Wollaston, Government Center, Symphony, Boylston and Science Park are still without elevators. At Downtown Crossing, riders with disabilities taking elevators must go outside the pay area to switch between the Red and Orange lines. There are also problematic gaps between the platforms and subway cars at most stations.
Though 42 percent of the T’s elevators are older than the average life of 15 years, the MBTA is preparing to install new state-of-the-art elevators — with more space and glass windows — at five stations they say desperately need the upgrades: Harvard and State by Spring 2010, Park Street and Porter by mid-2011 and Downtown Crossing by Fall 2012.
