MTA Denies Discounted Fares To Disabled New Yorkers: Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA violated the human rights of more than 160,000 New Yorkers with disabilities by denying them access to discounted fares, a new civil complaint contends.

Five New Yorkers with disabilities filed a class action lawsuit this week to force MTA officials to extend half-price and discounted fares to people who use the Access-A-Ride paratransit system.

"[Transit officials] categorically exclude eligible people with disabilities from Defendants' Fare Discount Program," the lawsuit states.

"Defendants’ fare system violates the anti-discrimination requirements of the New York City Human Rights Law."

The MTA press office did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Discounted fares are extended to seniors and people with disabilities who ride New York City's subways and buses, but denied to New Yorkers who rely on Access-A-Ride to go to work, school, doctor appointments, care for family members or "otherwise participate in the life of New York City," the lawsuit states.

About 160,000 Access-A-Ride riders would qualify for discounts afforded to bus and subway passengers if the same rules applied to all MTA forms of transit, the lawsuit argues.

MTA offers a variety of discounted fares to riders — from its new unlimited rides promotion for OMNY customers to half-price tickets for people 65 and up — but those discounts apply only to fixed-route public transit riders, the lawsuit states.

Access-A-Ride system by design doesn't follow the same fixed routes, meaning its riders must pay the full $2.75 in exact change for each trip, the lawsuit states.

The complaint details stories from five New Yorkers who depend on Access-A-Ride trips and have difficulties traveling on buses and subways, among them 70-year-old Valerie Britt.

Britt takes about 20 Access-A-Ride trips a month to attend doctors' and physical therapy appointments, visit her father and run errands, according to the lawsuit.

The Queens woman must pay the full fare in cash which proves difficult as she lives on a fixed income, the lawsuit states.

Yet Britt's various ailments, which include arthritis, prevent her from taking buses and subways, for which she'd qualify for a half-fare discount, the lawsuit states.

"Defendants’ denial of the Fare Discount Program to Ms. Britt has caused her financial harm, created ongoing obstacles to her use of public transit," the complaint states. "[It's] left her feeling frustrated and discriminated against on the basis of her disability."

151336 2022 Valerie Britt Et Al v Valerie Britt Et Al COMPLAINT 2 by Matt Troutman on Scribd