What Disabled Riders Endure

[MountainLaurel]

A telling article about the DC Metro area's public transportation service for the disabled.

One woman's oxygen tank ran out because she waited so long.

A blind man's ride for a crucial medical appointment never came.

A mentally disabled young man was left standing in the cold outside his locked day center for 20 minutes.

The public transportation system that serves thousands of disabled and elderly people in the Washington region is the subject of a record number of complaints from riders, public hearings and a federal lawsuit.

For the able-bodied, the repercussions of the service problems may be hard to imagine. But for the people who rely on the MetroAccess service to reach medical care, jobs, school and grocery stores, the stakes are extraordinary. Eighty-three percent of the trips are for medical appointments. What happens when a disabled person can't reach the doctor?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030401383.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. .

[China_cat]

2. Try to imagine what it's like not to have public

transportation at all if you're disabled. We have it here in Charleston in the downtown area but not for outlying areas.

[Traveling_Home]

3. That's the problem

when cities create special access transportation for disabled instead of making the whole transit system universally accessible. The OP wasn't posting about the regular bus and subway system with lifts and standard time tables - the regular buses run on time - it's 'our' special pick us up and deliver us type of systems that don't EVER work right.

Better to make the regular system safe and workable for us too.

[Ayesha]

4. Helps, but not the full answer

The problem is that many of us have special medical needs that make it difficult or impossible to use regular public transportation. Lugging an oxygen tank onto a bus must be next to impossible! I personally become very ill if I have to wait for long periods of time in the cold and/or rain. I find buses very bouncy and it's very painful on my joints to ride. I also find that often the lifts don't work, the drivers are rude, and there are various other such issues. Luckily I can drive short distances so it's not a huge problem for me. BTW, the paratransit here sucks too.

[Traveling_Home]

5. Damn - I thought that was the answer to everything

You are right of course - nothing answers everything but I (and you I think) believe a fully accessible public transportation system is where ya start and fill in the gaps from there. Paratransit doesn't seem to work anywhere.

JMO

T