MTA Sued For Leaving Elevators Out Of Station Renovations

NEW YORK — Disabled straphangers sued the MTA on Wednesday for renovating subway stations without bothering to install elevators or otherwise make them accessible.

The transit agency's failure to include accessibility improvements in station projects is a "longstanding and ongoing discriminatory practice" and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, says the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court. The lawsuit asks the court to order the MTA to install elevators or other means of accessibility in all of its renovated stations.

"The MTA’s actions clearly demonstrate that they value amenities like Wi-Fi over serving passengers with disabilities," said Michelle Caiola, the managing director of litigation at Disability Rights Advocates, which brought the case.

"MTA has a longstanding pattern of ignoring their ADA obligations when altering stations, harming not only those with disabilities, but all New Yorkers who benefit from elevator access, including parents with strollers and senior citizens," Caiola said in a statement.

The class-action lawsuit marks an attempt to hold the MTA legally accountable for the subway system's unfriendliness to disabled riders. Only about a quarter of the stations are accessible, a problem that transit officials say they want to rectify.

The case comes after a federal court handed disabled straphangers a victory in a separate lawsuit over the Middletown Road station on the 6 line in The Bronx. A judge ruled in March that a renovation project there was expansive enough to trigger accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act even though the MTA had not put in an elevator.

The MTA has similarly shirked its obligations at dozens of other stations that it has renovated without making them accessible to straphangers who can't use stairs, the new lawsuit alleges.

The complaint cites the Enhanced Station Initiative, a $1 billion package of renovations that has closed 19 stops for months during construction. The projects added new lighting, flooring, digital displays and other elements without making the stations accessible, the lawsuit says.

The MTA doesn't have to make accessibility upgrades if they are not technically feasible. But the agency apparently has not examined the feasibility of making the stations accessible, the complaint alleges.

"Given that failure, the number of renovations, and the scale of the alterations already made, there can be little doubt that many or most were in fact technically feasible," the complaint reads.

The MTA has a goal of making 50 more stations accessible in its next five-year capital plan, Young said. That would make it so that no rider is ever more than two stops away from an accessible station.

"We know we have a long way to go, but we are fully committed to making this system one that can be used by all New Yorkers," Young said in a statement.

The MTA also noted that Wi-Fi service in subway stations raises revenue for the agency and was installed at no cost.