Battle Over Subway Accessibility Heads Back To Court

From CBS New York:

NEW YORK CITY – Most New Yorkers depend on the subway to get to work, school and complete daily tasks, but in some parts of the city disabled residents have limited or no access.

Disability advocates appeared in court Wednesday to argue that the MTA is legally obligated to make the entire subway system accessible to everyone. It’s a fight they’ve been waging for a long time.

Web Extra: Read the lawsuit (.pdf)

Disability Rights Advocates staff attorney Emily Seelenfreund stopped by CBSN New York to discuss the ongoing lawsuit.

“There’s a set of New Yorkers, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, who can not get around the city like everybody else,” she said. “The subway is the way New Yorkers get around town. But for most New Yorkers who can’t access over three quarters of subway stations, it shapes every aspect of their lives.”

“The MTA is committed to providing accessibility throughout the subway system. That’s why we’ve allocated $5.5 Billion to make an additional 70 stations fully ADA accessible," the MTA said in a statement.

"We continue to pilot new technology and creative solutions that assist people with disabilities in navigating through stations and the Paratransit program is expanding access to the experimental e-hail program. Beyond that, we have no comment on pending litigation."

Check out Seelenfreund’s full interview in the video above.