Disability rights advocate fight for transit accessibility

Transit advocates continue to fight for accessible subway stations, like this one at Utica Ave. Photo by Marc A. Herman/MTA New York City Transit via Flickr

By Rachel Vick

As a Manhattan Supreme Court judge hears oral arguments in a class action lawsuit against the MTA Wednesday, advocates for the rights of the disabled will rally across the street and at concurrent events throughout the city.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, say the MTA violates customers’ legal right to accessibility because only 20 percent of subway stations are completely accessible to people with mobility issues. 

The lawsuit, filed in 2017, is one of many filed against the MTA alleging a systemic failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2019, advocates filed a lawsuit against the MTA after the agency renovated  the 30th Avenue subway station in Astoria without adding an elevator.

The Manhattan demonstration Wednesday will take place in Madison Square Park at 12:30 p.m. 

In Queens, activists and advocates from the Riders Alliance, Straphangers Campaign, TransitCenter, UPSTAND, AARP-NY, United Spinal Association, Transportation Alternatives, and CUNY Association for Students with Disabilities will come together  from 1:30 to 2 p.m. at the Broadway N/W subway station.

The groups are urging Cuomo to fund the MTA’s 2020-2024 plan, which includes a proposal to create accessible entrances at 70 subway stations.

Simultaneous rallies will take place at 137th Street-City College in Harlem, Burnside Avenue in the Bronx, and the Avenue H and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street stations in Brooklyn.

The MTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.