While the disability community in Chicago continues down the path toward full independence, the Chicago Transit Authority has obstructed that path with a barrier larger than an inaccessible train. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Chicago Transit Authority is required to provide accessible mainline transportation. Until mainline transportation is fully accessible to people with all types of disabilities, which it currently is not, the CTA must also offer paratransit services–door-to-door transportation.
For many people with disabilities, in the absence of accessible mainline transit, paratransit provides a critical link to independence. Paratransit empowers people with disabilities to pursue employment, education and cultural opportunities in Chicago. Last month, the CTA cut off that link when it approved a budget that will raise the price of a paratransit ride to $3.50 starting on Jan. 1.
Doubling the cost of a ride will force all paratransit riders to shuffle their budgets. But the hardest hit will be people with disabilities who survive on a Social Security income check of $579 per month. With less than $600 to pay for rent, food and clothing, it was already a struggle for these people to find money for transportation.
But now the higher cost of transportation will shutter hundreds of people with disabilities within their homes.
It’s tragic that the CTA has approved a measure that virtually eliminates the means for thousands of people to ride public transportation.
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