Access-A-Ride

Paratransit (Access-A-Ride in New York City) was established to satisfy the requirements of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

The ability of Judy, and other older or disabled people like her, to lead any kind of "normal" life is being threatened by cuts in the Metropolitan Transit Authority's MTA Access-A-Ride program.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

The average Access-A-Ride trip costs the agency $48.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

However, under new guidelines, New York City Transit claims that 40 percent of the people with disabilities who use Access-A-Ride are able walk one to five blocks to a bus stop.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

With the help of her neurologist, she successfully petitioned the head of the Department of Transportation to waive continued reevaluations for Access-A-Ride because Parkinson's is an incurable degenerative illness.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

Without Access-A-Ride, or with restricted Access-A-Ride, people with disabilities can no longer get to programs so they stop traveling and enrollment in the programs decline.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

In the evenings, when she says Access-A-Ride is too unreliable, she either takes her chances on the subway or rolls across the bridge.

After MTA Cuts, Altered Routines Andrew Grossman 2011

So now, she gets picked up every morning by Access-A-Ride, a MTA service for the disabled.

After MTA Cuts, Altered Routines Andrew Grossman 2011

Full-time Access-A-Ride drivers, who are largely Black and Hispanic, make $11 an hour, less than $450 a week, or a little more than $20,000 a year.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011

She is upset with the randomness and heartless of Access-A-Ride evaluations and the absence of a policy that reflects realities of the illness.

Alan Singer: People With Disabilities Cut First: Who Will Be Next? Alan Singer 2011