The MTA may be violating New York City Human Rights Law for requiring people with disabilities to book Access-A-Ride trips by 5 p.m. the day before travel, a federal judge has found.
While U.S. District Court Judge Jessica Clarke ruled that the paratransit system’s scheduling requirement does not violate the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, she did indicate that its routing operation can lead to excessively long trips because of “illogical and unnecessarily circuitous routes.”
The March 29 decision stems from an April 2023 lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that charged the MTA with failing to provide Access-A-Ride users with paratransit options that offer “comparable” service to what is provided to people without disabilities who take the subways and the buses.
“I have to make reservations one day in advance,” said Luz Paulino-Santos, 57, a plaintiff in the case, who commutes via paratransit every weekday between her home in Upper Manhattan and her job in Midtown. “That’s a big inconvenience, because that limits things.”
The class-action suit was filed by Paulino-Santos and two other paratransit patrons along with the New York Integrated Network, an organization which represents people with a range of disabilities.
“There is some assumption that people with disabilities are asking for some sort of grand, private chauffeur service,” said Britney Wilson of the Civil Rights and Disability Justice Clinic at New York Law School Legal Services Inc., which represents the plaintiffs. “By and large, that is not what people with disabilities are asking for — they are asking for the ability to travel with the same level of flexibility as people without disabilities.”
The lawsuit was filed in the wake of an October 2022 Justice Department report that hit New York City Transit’s paratransit operation for excessive travel times and untimely dropoffs — and after the fall of 2021, when THE CITY reported that Access-A-Ride service reliability sunk to its lowest level in years because of driver shortages and increased traffic.
In October 2021, just 66.8% of all paratransit broker trips arrived on time at pickup locations no more than 15 minutes after the promised time, MTA data shows.
But in recent months, the MTA has pointed to key turnarounds in paratransit service, including improved on-time performance in 2023, as well as fewer driver no-shows, a drop in wait times, increased customer satisfaction and ridership returning to pre-COVID levels.
On-time performance for broker trips — which account for most Access-A-Ride trips — was at 83.2% in February, according to agency statistics. The paratransit service’s goal is that no less than 85% of all trips arrive at the pickup location no more than 15 minutes after the promised time.
MTA data shows that in February there were nearly 176,000 people registered to use paratransit services — up from under 150,000 in 2018 — and agency spokesperson Kayla Shults added that a record 213,512 trips were booked in the seven-day period between March 8 and 14.
She pointed out that the federal judge had sided with the MTA on claims that the transit agency had violated parts of the ADA.
“The Court’s decision dismissed some of the plaintiffs’ claims and did not include any findings of liability against the MTA on the other claims, as Access-A-Ride is compliant with all federal and local accessibility and human rights regulations,” Shults told THE CITY in a statement.
The judge, however, noted that city Human Rights Law deems it “unlawful discrimination for a provider of public accommodation like the MTA to ‘because of any person’s … disability …. refuse, withhold from or deny to such person the full and equal enjoyment, on equal terms and conditions, of any of the accommodations, advantages, services, facilities or privileges of the place or provider of public accommodation.’”
‘Just Not Feasible’
Paulino-Santos said she had joined the lawsuit because of frustration over the unpredictable reliability of a service she began using in 2017 after multiple surgeries on her lower back and upper neck.
Diagnosed with a severe spinal condition, she uses a cane to assist her in walking and no longer rides the subway.
“I wanted to continue working,” said Paulino-Santos, a dental office manager. “I didn’t want to stay home just because I can’t walk or I can’t go up and down the steps.”
As she waited last Thursday for a ride home from Midtown, a scheduled 2 p.m. pickup she had booked the previous day did not materialize. Instead, she received a message that her ride would show up at 2:30.
“The ultimate hope is that we can book trips the same day, that they are reliable,” Paulino-Santos said, adding that service can be unpredictable on both ends of her commute.
“If I want a pickup time of, say, 6:15 in the morning, which is my usual, they want to give me a 5 a.m. pickup,” she said. “Usually they will give it to me like an hour-and-a-half or two [hours] in advance. And I’m like, ‘Guys are you serious?’”
She added that she has, on several occasions, been taken through The Bronx while en route to her Midtown job — in the opposite direction of her destination.
“It’s very stressful,” Paulino-Santos said.
Wilson, of New York Law School Legal Services Inc., cited the MTA’s On-Demand E-Hail program — which allows 3,600 paratransit participants to book same-day trips — is a sign that the transit agency is capable of providing Access-A-Ride service that is more comparable to what commuters without disabilities use.
“Having to schedule your rides at 5 p.m. the day before you travel is just not feasible,” she said.
The case will now continue in the discovery phase, with both sides exchanging information that will be used to prove or defend against the claims.
