Despite the service cuts, the MTA will continue to move forward with long-term technological innovations and capital improvements to increase transit accessibility, as demanded by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legal requirements.
The MTA says there are nine subway stations under construction to become accessible. Seven are scheduled for completion in the next two years with the installation of ADA elevators. The work falls under a legal mandate to make 100 centrally located stations accessible by 2020.
The MTA is the process of installing Automatic Vehicle Locator Monitoring (AVLM) systems in all Access-A-Ride vehicles to increase trip efficiency and communication with drivers. According to Thomas Charles, vice president of the MTA's Paratransit Division, the AVLM installation has been completed in 1,921 vehicles, or 85 percent of vans.
Interactive Voice Recognition Systems will be installed next, allowing customers to receive notification when drivers are 15 minutes away. Under the current system, riders are asked to wait outside for up to 30 minutes for their vehicle with no notification of delays.
Charles said the voice recognition system is near its final design review with the first phase to be implemented this fall and the second phase to be implemented in the spring of 2011.
"At present, the timelines are not affected by the budget reductions," he says about both improvements to Access-A-Ride.
The MTA is also in the process of installing Braille-Tactile signs identifying track numbers in all subway stations where trains terminate. Those signs will assist people with visual impairments in locating the train that is leaving first. This work will occur within the next few months, according to a statement from the MTA's Station Signage Unit.
"We are in the process of surveying the stations, designing the signs, having them fabricated (which takes eight weeks)," said New York City Transit spokesperson Deirdre Parker.
But achieving results that satisfy the disability community's diverse needs continues to be a challenge.
Kenneth Stewart, a subway rider with blindness, says the MTA should also use raised print on signs that customers can feel with their hands, since many people with blindness do not read Braille.
Stewart has also called on the MTA to repaint portions of the recently renovated South Ferry station. The $527 million project that was completed one year ago added high-tech accessibility features but failed to provide visual contrast between the station columns and floor, all of which are white. This makes them difficult to distinguish for customers who are visually impaired but can see sharp colors like black and yellow stripes.
"They could paint the bottom black," Stewart says. "The trick is to get to the people before they design it. A lot of the things that could be done better are cost neutral."
Parker says, "There are no plans to repaint the South Ferry station."
