When Raymond Garcia, a 25-year-old college student who uses a wheelchair, first started riding New York City buses three years ago, some drivers refused to pick him up. Passengers accused him of making them late for work, and the wheelchair lift on the bus often broke down, stranding him for hours until a repairman came.
Today, things are different. "I take the bus everywhere. I just wave my hand and the drivers stop," Mr. Garcia said. "The lifts don't get stuck as much anymore, and people don't stare and point when the driver uses the lift, because they are used to it."
In the last five years, the number of handicapped people riding buses in New York City has increased more than tenfold, from 11,000 rides a year to 120,000, according to statistics compiled by the New York City Transit Authority.
Behind the change, which advocates for the handicapped say has significantly broadened the lives of thousands of disabled people, lies a revolution in both technology and social attitudes.
On the hardware side, wheelchair lifts have been installed on most city buses and elevators or ramps have been put in 20 subway stations. But just as important, transit officials say, has been the improved training for transit employees and bus drivers on how to assist handicapped passengers and how to operate and maintain the lifts. 'There's No Excuse'Continue reading the main story
New York City's effort to provide disabled people with access to mass transit now serves as a model for the rest of the country, following last year's enactment of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires transit operators to insure that all new vehicles are accessible to people with physical disabilities.
"There are millions of riders, an antiquated subway system, operating deficits, massive traffic jams and still they have made the system accessible to the handicapped," said Pat Wright, director of government affairs for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, an advocacy group based in Berkeley, Calif. "If New York can do this, then there's no excuse for other cities."
Still, there are problems. The subway system is far less accessible than the buses. And bus drivers interviewed last week said that some passengers still complain that stopping to pick up handicapped riders makes them late, especially when the bus is crowded.
An elderly woman riding on the M15 last week complained to the driver, Eugene Williams, that the bus was late. "Where were you? I had to wait 20 minutes for the bus," she said. Mr. Williams told her that traffic was extremely heavy that day and that he had had to pick up several wheelchair riders. "Oh, O.K. that's understandable," she the woman said. "But try to speed it up. We all have places to go, you know."
The situation is a far cry from the days when taking a bus or subway in New York City often proved to be a nightmare for disabled people. In 1983, less than one-third of the city's 3,600 buses were equipped with wheelchair lifts, and those buses operated only on certain routes and random schedules.
Even if a bus had a wheelchair lift, many bus drivers were not committed enough to making the buses accessible to carry the keys needed to activate the lifts. Other drivers refused outright to pick up disabled passengers, speeding by them at bus stops. Even worse, some drivers who were not careful operating the lifts accidentally dumped handicapped passengers out of their wheelchairs and into the street.
But the Transit Authority, which operates the city's subways and buses, began in 1983 to improve transit service for handicapped riders, following a lawsuit by groups representing the disabled. From 30 to 13 Breakdowns
Under Federal law, at least one car on all trains and subways has to be accessible to handicapped passsengers by 1995. Major subway stations must be accessible by 1993. That will affect 54 of New York City's 469 subway stations. Ten of the 54 stations are already accessible.
Today, about 90 percent of the city's buses have wheelchair lifts, bus drivers are trained to be more responsive to the needs of disabled passengers and lifts are overhauled every three weeks. to insure that they work properly.
Fred Fussel, a Transit Authority bus line supervisor, said that previously, many wheelchair lifts malfunctioned because they were not properly maintained and because older buses were not placed in the proper kneeling position when the lifts were turned on. Mr. Fussel said that because of the rigorous maintenance program and signs in older buses to remind drivers about correct positioning, the number of breakdowns has dropped to 13 a month from 30 a month last year.
Gradually, said transit officials and groups representing disabled people, the word is spreading that the city's buses and subways are convenient and offer handicapped passengers new independence. to come and go as they please.
"Taking a bus is now a normal everyday part of disabled people's lives because the service has improved so dramatically in the last few years," said James J. Weisman, general counsel for the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, which represents veterans with spinal cord injuries.
Mr. Weisman said that because disabled people are now expected to participate in society like everyone else -- to go to work, attend college, raise a family, play sports -- equal access to mass transit is perhaps the most important issue facing themat community.
"Without this equal access to mass transit," said Anne M. Emerman, director of the Mayor's Office for People With Disabilities, "I am afraid that we will lose another generation of disabled people who sit home all day, collect government entitlement and watch television for the rest of their lives."
The Transit Authority charges disabled passengers half the regular $1.15 fare and allows them to pay by mail. Bus drivers give handicapped passengers fare envelopes in which they can enclose a check or cash. The authority estimates that only about 30 percent of the fares are returned.
Providing handicapped people with access to mass transit is expensive. The Transit Authority estimates that it has spent more than $48 million to purchase bus lifts, and that maintaining those lifts costs $1.5 million a year. The lifts cost about $15,000 each.
But for disabled handicapped riders, the expense buys their independence. Last week, John Kelly, 63, who uses a wheelchair, flagged down an M15 bus on First Avenue near 70th Street to go to the doctor's office. The bus driver told passengers near the back door that a handicapped passenger was about to boarding, and they abandoned a row of seats marked for the handicapped.
The driver pushed back the seats to make room, opened the back door and lowered the wheelchair lift. Mr. Kelly's wife, Helen, wheeled him onto the lift and the driver raised it into the bus, securing Mr. Kelly's wheelchair next to the seats.
"My No. 1 problem is transportation, and these new buses have solved it," Mr. Kelly said. "Taxi drivers often won't stop for a wheelchair customer and when they do, it's a hassle getting in and out of the wheelchair. But with the bus, I can get around by myself or my wife can come with me."Continue reading the main story