Disabled Riders Sue BART Over Lack Of 'Full, Equal' Access

EAST BAY, CA – BART officials responded to a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by disabled transit riders Wednesday by saying they share the passengers' concerns and are trying to work on the problems.

"The quality-of-life and maintenance matters outlined in the plaintiffs' complaint are areas of concern subject to ongoing action at BART," the transit agency said in a statement from its Oakland headquarters Wednesday evening.

"We share the frustration of the Disability Rights Advocates legal group, but are disappointed our program of capital improvement is being met with litigation," the statement said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco by lawyers from Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates and San Francisco-based Legal Aid at Work on behalf of two passengers and two advocacy groups.
It charges that BART fails to provide accessible service to mobility-impaired passengers because it has broken elevators, elevators soiled with human waste, non-functioning escalators and broken accessible fare gates.

"For decades, people with disabilities have been denied full and equal access to BART's stations and services that federal and state disability rights laws seek to guarantee," the lawsuit claims.

Disability Rights Advocates attorney Rebecca Williford said in a statement, "BART is perpetuating a discriminatory transportation system, right here in the birthplace of the disability rights movement."

The lawsuit alleges that BART's failure to provide equal access to disabled people violates the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act and California civil rights law.

The plaintiffs are the San Francisco-based Senior and Disability Action; the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco; Ian Smith of Oakland, who uses a motorized wheelchair; and Pi Ra of Oakland, who has complications of diabetes and needs to use a variety of mobility aids, including crutches and a knee scooter.

The lawsuit seeks to be certified as a class action on behalf of all mobility-impaired passengers who are denied equal access to the transit system. It seeks an injunction requiring BART to make its system fully
functioning and accessible to disabled people.

BART said in the statement that it is in the midst of "an aggressive $16.3 million escalator and elevator improvement agenda" and has also earmarked $190 million of a recently approved BART bond for access
improvements in downtown San Francisco stations.

It said it has hired more crews to work on cleaning up after homeless people and "is working with local agencies to help address the complexities of homeless people in our stations.

BART said the primary reason for recent elevator outages is floor replacement, which is due to be completed in May. The agency said it provides announcements of elevator outages and that passengers can call for a shuttle ride to a station with working elevators.

The lawsuit alleges, however, that "the vast majority of these outages are unplanned" and that the agency does not consistently provide accurate notice of outages.

Mobility-impaired riders must sometimes use four elevators to complete a single one-way BART trip. Just one broken elevator within that set can block a disabled passenger from getting to work, a meeting or an
appointment, the lawsuit says.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Vince Chhabria of San Francisco.

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