TRANSPORTATION,
ADVOCACY AND
IN THE CAPITAL
DISTRICT
By: Donna Suhor, Chair Person, CDCAT
And
Systems Advocate
The Capital District Coalition for Accessible
Transportation (CDCAT) began in May of 2002.
We are comprised
of various agencies such as ILCHV, CDCI, Center for the Disabled, Center for
Disability Rights and more as well as independent advocates from the disabled
community, most of which who rely on accessible transportation for their
independence, employment and quality of life.
Our goals are for equal, safe, accessible and affordable transportation,
especially public transit, and accessible taxis for those of us with
disabilities, living within the Capital Region.
When we began, over a year
ago, we knew transportation would be a formidable and momentous
undertaking. Further back than many of
us can recall, transportation in the Capital Region has been woefully
inadequate. We began our exploration of
systemic change with paratransit – STAR (Transportation
for people with disabilities who are unable to access the fixed-route bus
system). Due to the fact that accessible
transportation had never been a reality in the lives of people with certain
disabilities, many never even contemplated the idea of systemic change. Numerous people with disabilities were simply
afraid to ‘rock the boat’, if they complained, they
would lose even the bad service they had. Many people did not realize that the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides
constructive regulations for transportation services. Due to advocacy organizations such as
Independent Living Centers, large numbers of people with disabilities began to
organize and to fight for our rights.
Today, this battle continues with the formation of the Capital District
Coalition for Accessible Transportation, it continues with - us!
As we embarked on this path
of “change”, many people told us that the Capital District Transportation
Authority (CDTA) would not be amenable to change. The newly formed Coalition
began board meetings, planning, researching and asking questions to the public
about problems and issues. The
We began by writing letters
to CDTA, which then progressed to scheduled meetings to address transportation
issues. A few months after the Coalition
was organized, a new director was hired by CDTA. We viewed this change with possibilities.
With that positive expectation, we made contact with him and established a
dialogue, which developed into regular meetings between CDTA and CDCAT. As a result of our dialogue, CDCAT has been
instrumental in the development of procedures in order to take action on behalf
of consumers/customers in need of assistance when experiencing transportation
difficulties. The following illustrates
some of these procedures, as well as substantive systemic changes made possible
by our efforts toward establishing ongoing communication with CDTA and the
community.
v We have community meetings
every other month, which provides an opportunity for individuals to inform us
on the prevailing transportation problems;
v Our call line is open daily
so when we are contacted by customers experiencing transportation issues
requiring intervention, we are able to immediately contact CDTA and
successfully advocate for the customer.
v We have begun to assist
people with STAR paratransit applications and with appeals.
v One can now more easily
obtain paratransit applications as well as the Paratransit guide booklet and any paratransit
rules in accessible format. We fought
hard for this all summer.
v In February of 2003, CDTA
invited us to participate in their Strategic Development Program, a 2 day
workshop in
v When CDTA began selling
their Swipers on their website, we encouraged them to
also offer STAR ticket books and reduced-fare Swipers
as well.
v
CDTA has requested our assistance in designing a more
accessible website and has asked us to give feedback on what should be in the
next revision of the STAR paratransit applications.
v We have begun to produce
and distribute flyers and other informative materials, such as a guide to apply
for STAR services and a guide for professionals filling out STAR verification
forms.
v Next day service is no
longer scoffed at by dispatchers, not after
v This is the first year that
paratransit users could go to the Schaghticoke
and
v Efforts are finally truly
being made to improve calling out stops for people with visual
disabilities. We are INSISTING that CDTA
make sure that there is a system in place that calls out streets and
destinations whether it’s a driver or automated audio and visual display.
v In December 2002 we
assisted the City of
v We have been fortunate to
have some of our Board Members be interviewed by some local publications such
as; Metroland, the Times Union and the Gazette.
v We drafted a paper for the
area’s transportation metropolitan planning organization; the Capital District
Transportation Committee (CDTC). Their
draft of “New Visions for a Quality Region” barely addressed difficulties
experienced by people with disabilities.
Due to this oversight, we provided them with a 10 page response on what
effects OUR quality of life in the Capital Region.
v We participated jointly
with the
v We met with Medical
Transportation Management’s (MTM), the Medicaid transportation provider for
v We have also made ourselves
available to provide free training for customers and organizations. Due to our availability, we were invited to
speak at a Center for the Disabled’s case coordinators meeting on STAR
including some history on paratransit and customer rights.
v Since taxi issues,
regarding their lack of accessibility for wheelchair users, have continued to
be a problem, we have begun the formation of an Accessible Taxi subcommittee to
address the lack of wheelchair accessibility, particularly for people who are
unable to transfer from a wheelchair to a seat.
v In November 2003, Marsha Chase, Superintendent of
Flexible Services, from CDTA joins the Accessible Taxi subcommittee citing that
accessible taxis can be beneficial to all.
That’s
a long list – but far from complete - of successes and a lot of hard work.
However, we’re committed to achieving change.
We have made a lot of progress and when considering the support we have
received from the
Interested
in hearing more? Our next community meeting is