Transportation is expensive and limited for disabled people.
The Addison firm Wheeltech Industries Inc. quoted prices of between $400 and $12,000 for equipping a car or van for use by a disabled person. Installing hand controls for driving costs about $425 to $450. Lifts cost about $2,500 to $3,500. A mechanism that hoists a wheelchair into a pod on top of the car costs about $2,800. Particular needs can boost the costs even higher by thousands of dollars.
Access requirements for public transportation are imposed by the federal government as a condition for receiving funding.
However, access does not necessarily mean riding the same buses and trains that nondisabled people use.
The federal Rehabilitation Act of 1986 requires that ”recipients of grants from UMTA (the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration) will not discriminate in the provision of the benefits of service or employment on the basis of a disabling condition,” said Richard Centner, deputy director of the UMTA office of public affairs.
Transit authorities can meet the federal requirement either by making their main fleet accessible or through a special paratransit service-for example, a dial-a-ride minivan system-or by a combination of the two.
Paratransit services must operate the same days and hours and reach the same geographic area served by the general service. Fares must be ”comparable to those charged on a similar trip on service to the general public,” Centner said.
In Du Page County, Pace, the suburban bus service, operates a network of paratransit buses that provide door-to-door service. Metra, the commuter rail system, contracts with Pace to provide bus service that parallels the rail lines, from train station to train station.
Disabled people complain of limitations in paratransit:
– They must make reservations up to 24 hours in advance.
– It can cost more than the general public`s fares.
– They have to contort their schedule to the availability of paratransit. – Demand for Metra parallel-rail service exceeds availability.
A disabled person might call for a ride to a 1 p.m. appointment and be offered a ride at 10 a.m., said Lori Clark, executive director of the Fox River Valley Center for Independent Living.
Pace spokeswoman Mindy Laflame said that general service on Pace buses is subject to the same limitations in hours. Some routes, for example, run only during rush hours, she said.
”We are moving as fast as funding is being provided. We would like to increase the level as fast as we can,” said Enid M. Spector, division manager of paratransit programs at Pace.
A ride on a Pace bus costs $1. Fares on Pace`s new Northern Du Page County Special Service cost $2. Higher fares are due to the higher cost of operating paratransit, Laflame said. ”We`re charging them the least we can,” she said. Other Pace paratransit is less expensive (50 cents in Milton Township, 55 cents in Bensenville), but the service is limited to those towns. The Northern Du Page service, instituted last year, represents a transition from individual paratransit services that run only within a town or township to a network of service. For example, Downers Grove Township paratransit will drive only within the township and, for medical trips, one mile beyond the border.
The Northern Du Page service offers rides anywhere in the northern half of the county. A southern service is planned for July 1. However, moving between south and north will require a transfer. And currently, there is no Pace paratransit service outside of Du Page County, nor are there any plans to create such service, Laflame said. ”Eventually, it would be ideal; the restrictions are in funding,” she said.
The Rail Corridor Accessibility Program run by Metra, in which Pace buses run parallel to the train lines, cannot meet the demand, said Chris Knapton, director of public information for Metra. The service now is offered only to people who use wheelchairs and excludes disabled people who have medical orders not to climb stairs.
”We don`t like the program. We know it`s no good,” Knapton said. But funding limitations prevent Metra from expanding the service, he said.
Metra train service will move gradually toward accessiblity. Metra plans to purchase accessible cab cars as it replaces the current ones, and when train stations are rebuilt, they are made accessible, Knapton said.
Clark believes strongly that the main fleets of public transport must be made accessible. ”If not, when federal money for paratransit dries up, disabled people will be out of luck.”
