On Tuesday, April 25, two class action lawsuits were filed against New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), accusing it of systematically excluding people with disabilities due to a lack of accessible subway stations.
Calling the New York City subway system “the least accessible in the country,” disability advocates announced that they filed two class action lawsuits against the MTA for “excluding people with disabilities.”
Two class action lawsuits were filed against the MTA Tuesday accusing the transit system of discriminating against disabled riders. The lawsuits were filed by disability rights advocates on behalf of a coalition of other disability rights groups and three individuals.
What’s it like getting around the New York City for people with disabilities? “There is approximately 20 percent accessibility level,” says Michelle Caiola, director of litigation in Disability Rights Advocates’ New York Office. “This is a civil rights issue… in New York City the subway is everything.”
New York’s subway system is the least accessible in the country for people with disabilities, according to a pair of class-action lawsuits filed Tuesday against the MTA.
On Tuesday, April 25, two class action lawsuits were filed against New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), accusing it of systematically excluding people with disabilities due to a lack of accessible subway stations.
New York’s subway system is one of the most robust in the world. It provides nearly 1.8 billion rides every year, giving the city the highest rate of public transportation usage out of any metropolitan area in the United States.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority discriminates against people with disabilities because of its widespread lack of elevators and electric lifts in the subway system, rendering it significantly more inaccessible than other cities with large public transportation systems, according to two lawsuits filed on Tuesday.
There are 472 subway stations in the city, but not even a quarter of them are fully accessible to people with disabilities.
Long Beach will be required to spend roughly $200 million over three decades to bring its curbs and sidewalks into compliance with Americans With Disability Act mandates, attorneys announced this week.