New York City would not exist without the subway, which moves millions daily. Drivers compete for limited street space and cause traffic. While highway tolls commonly help pay for road maintenance, congestion pricing (implemented in only a handful of cities) specifically aims to reduce traffic, improve air quality, and fund public transit improvements. New York\u2019s plan, signed into law in 2019, was supposed to deliver $2 billion of $5.2 billion in accessibility improvements in the next few years\u2014more than the MTA has spent on subway elevators in its entire history.<\/span><\/p>\n Getting the MTA to prioritize subway accessibility has been the goal of the <\/span>Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group<\/span><\/a> since we formed in 2017 after Governor Cuomo renovated dozens of stations without elevators. That year, many of our coalition partners sued the MTA for failing to make the subway system accessible to <\/span>500,000 disabled New Yorkers<\/span><\/a>. At the time, less than 25% of subway stations had elevators. Today, around 30% of stations do (151 of 493). The lawsuit followed more than five decades of MTA resistance to federal mandates for accessibility, including the Architectural Barriers Act (1968), amendments to the Urban Mass Transit Act (1970), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA: 1990).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before the lawsuit, there was no plan for full accessibility of the subway system. The agency retrofitted an average of 4 stations per year under a post-ADA agreement to make 100 \u201ckey\u201d stations accessible by 2020. Since the 1994 agreement, the MTA has renovated entrances to many non-key stations without making them accessible, ignoring <\/span>ADA regulations<\/span><\/a>. The legality of their actions was challenged on a station-by-station basis, but not for every station. This case used a new legal strategy that took on the whole system. The settlement led to a turning point for the agency, which finally made a commitment to provide meaningful access to the whole subway. They continue to fight a <\/span>7-year lawsuit<\/span><\/a> to keep elevators working and provide travel alternatives and announcements when elevators go out of service.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo New Yorker should have to worry about whether or not they can safely access public transportation,\u201d said Hochul in 2022 when she announced the <\/span>historic agreement<\/span><\/a>. \u201cMy administration will continue to ensure that New York State is accessible for all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That statement rings hollow now. Officials announced that 23 planned station upgrades are on hold, stretching the settlement timeline further into the future. The agreement to make 346 stations accessible has milestones every ten years, as summarized in Hochul\u2019s announcement:<\/span><\/p>\n As part of the agreement reached with accessibility advocates, the MTA has committed, <\/span>subject to extensions of time based on funding commitment caps and other contingencies<\/span><\/i>, [emphasis mine] to procure contracts to make accessible 81 stations by 2025, another 85 stations by 2035, another 90 stations by 2045, and the last 90 stations by 2055.<\/span><\/p>\n The MTA is now facing those \u201cfunding commitment caps.\u201d Under the terms of <\/span>the agreement<\/span><\/a>, accessibility improvements receive a specific percentage (14.69%) of the New York City Transit (NYCT) portion of the budget, expected to be $35.389 billion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Without total funding, the MTA can also lower <\/span>the percentage <\/span><\/i>they spend on elevators to 10%\u2014more than a 30% decrease\u2014if the budget falls under $30 billion. This provision in the settlement was meant to shore up resources for \u201cstate of good repair\u201d work. It also gave the MTA room to reach an agreement with advocates in the face of budget uncertainties that have plagued the agency throughout its history. Despite laws intended to insulate the subway system from politics, MTA funding has been frequently diverted to other priorities. Congestion pricing funds would have been put in a \u201clockbox\u201d for transit improvements. The loss of congestion pricing also jeopardizes federal funding for accessibility and other modernization projects because grants depend on matching state funds.<\/span><\/p>\n Benchmarks for the number of accessible stations also assume <\/span>the same or greater<\/span><\/i> funding levels in future capital plans. The next 5-year plan is due soon, but without the assurance of a recurring source of revenue, the amount the legislature can approve is now uncertain. If recurring revenue is not restored, cancellation of congestion pricing could add ten years to the overall subway accessibility timeline, pushing the completion date to 2065.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There has been speculation that Hochul\u2019s decision was motivated by election-year politics (she\u2019s not up for reelection until 2026), but <\/span>insiders have denied that<\/span><\/a>. The program was, unsurprisingly, unpopular among drivers. Hochul has been grasping for reasons to justify her move, and she\u2019s settled on affordability for people who \u201cmust\u201d drive into the central business district, even though they far <\/span>outearn those who live there<\/span><\/a>. Is she also totally unaware of how unaffordable transportation is for people with disabilities or how much inaccessibility impacts their ability to find and keep gainful employment? In the wealthiest city in the world, it is shameful that the subway is not already fully accessible to people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility disabilities. In a city where <\/span>54% of families don\u2019t own a car<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s unjust that people with disabilities must spend disposable income on private transportation because of the continued inaccessibility of the subway.<\/span><\/p>\n If you can\u2019t ride the subway, the bus and paratransit are your two public, affordable options. New York City has the <\/span>slowest buses in the country<\/span><\/a>. Even though MTA buses are fully accessible, riding the bus with a disability is made harder by the lack of shelter from sun or rain, having to wait when the accessible seating area is full, and the lack of audible announcements of important stops on older buses. The MTA claims 90% on-time performance for its <\/span>paratransit service<\/span><\/a>, Access-A-Ride, but on-time can mean up to 30 minutes early or late. In addition to finding that Access-A-Ride had an unacceptably high proportion of early and late drop-offs, the US Department of Justice recently found the service also had <\/span>excessive ride times<\/span><\/a>, which can be especially hard on disabled bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n Many business owners supported congestion pricing because the reduced traffic would save them time, making the toll worth it. Traffic doesn\u2019t just eat up time; there are a host of negative health outcomes from having more cars on the road, and these, too, impact disabled people disproportionately. They include <\/span>increased pedestrian deaths and injuries<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>longer ambulance response times<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>adverse health effects from poor air quality<\/span><\/a>. Planned investments to mitigate these problems in low-income communities are also indefinitely paused.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve interviewed and spoken to many disabled people who have been unable to find work or have had to quit their jobs because of transportation problems. Because only a tiny fraction of paratransit passengers can access on-demand service, the working disabled people I know rely on for-hire vehicles when they encounter broken elevators as the only option to get where they need to be on time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond the lack of working elevators, subway cars and stations, buses and bus stops, wayfinding, and information design often lack accommodations that would help people with vision, hearing, and cognitive disabilities travel independently on mass transit. As a result, <\/span>disabled people are more auto-dependent<\/span><\/a>. Drafters of congestion pricing legislation recognized this reality and included an exemption for disabled people. The MTA\u2019s initial disability exemption plan did not address the needs of two groups (disabled, auto-dependent, and <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> drive, and disabled, auto-dependent, and <\/span>can\u2019t<\/span><\/i> drive), but they were exploring technology to give more people in the second group an exemption while traveling in multiple vehicles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Improving subway access would lead to long-term recurring savings from the paratransit budget, which is expected to increase to <\/span>$695 million dollars a year by 2027<\/span><\/a>. Doing so would require a vision for creating a truly accessible system, something that the Governor and MTA sorely lack.<\/span><\/p>\n Disabled New Yorkers deserve to be gainfully employed, able to show up to work on time, and use the same mass transit as their peers without fear for their safety or health. They should have the option to spend disposable income at <\/span>diners in Midtown<\/span><\/a> instead of owning personal vehicles or paying for emergency taxis when subway elevators fail. For too many disabled people in New York City, personal daily mobility is far too difficult and expensive. Barriers to access discourage social, civic, and economic participation. Of course, Hochul does not think of these New Yorkers when she talks about affordability. They\u2019re out of sight and out of mind, stuck in traffic, and thanks to her impulsive choice, stuck in the past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Episode 23, Disability Visibility podcast: Paratransit<\/a><\/p>\n Episode 86, Disability Visibility podcast: Transportation<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jessica Murray, Ph.D., is an advocate for accessible public transportation in New York City and a member of the Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group. She was the Associate Producer of the 2021 film <\/span>The Biggest Obstacle<\/span><\/i><\/a>, in which she interviewed and was featured alongside people with disabilities who navigate public transit and fight for greater accessibility. A postcard to the Governor with the \u201cElevators Are For Everyone\u201d logo she designed is part of the <\/span>Activist New York<\/span><\/i><\/a> exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nFOR MORE<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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