Is Access a Civil Right or What?

Our story begins with the federal requirement that all regional transit systems eventually become accessible to all citizens. It all started with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which went into effect in 1992. For Boston, with the oldest mass transit system in the country, it has meant that the MBTA had to come up with a plan to make our subway stations accessible, mostly meaning installing elevators or ramps for wheelchair access.

Last summer, the MBTA started demolition of the Savin Hill Red Line stop in Dorchester, in order to fully reconstruct it and to bring it into compliance with access regulations.

But the MBTA didn't manage the project well at all, and what was supposed to be a January or February opening kept getting delayed. Then the MBTA came up with the incredibly insulting idea of petitioning the Architectural Access Board (AAB) for a variance to allow Savin Hill to be reopened without access! It seems that the elevator was saved for last. Full access, said the MBTA, would be provided by July.

BCIL and access advocates got wind of the MBTA plan and testified before the AAB that the MBTA should not be allowed to get away with this. City councilor at large Felix Arroyo showed courage and leadership by writing a letter to the access board asking it to deny the MBTA request.

He wrote that , while

I strongly support expanding public transportation in Boston and improving service for the underserved residents of Dorchester...I am deeply concerned that the MBTA is reportedly seeking to open the station without providing full access to all residents.

Limited access to public transportation is a citywide dilemma for our elderly and handicapped residents. My constituents with physical disabilities inform me that broken escalators and elevators have frequently combined with other issues, preventing their full use of the City’s public transportation system. As you know, it is not just inconvenient but potentially a serious public safety hazardous to ask those with difficulty walking to physically maneuver through a system lacking ADA-mandated accessibility systems. It is essential that any new stations, including the Savin Hill station, alleviate rather than exacerbate these access concerns.

In a great victory for disability rights, the AAB turned down the MBTA's request.

After the ruling, some of the good people of Savin Hill where understandably upset that their subway station would still not be available, and a few blamed Councilor Arroyo.

The argument is a serious one, namely that elderly and disabled people couldn't use the station before anyway, and preventing other people from using the station now would do nothing to solve the access problem. Why punish everyone?

First, as Councilor Arroyo stressed, is the issue of public safety. Second, is the issue of civil rights, and the MBTA's dreadful record on following federal civil rights law.

To many people in the access community, the MBTA maneuver seemed calculated and vengeful. This is the same MBTA, after all, that Greater Boston Legal Services is now suing over its shoddy record on access on all fronts (broken elevators and bus lifts, failure to announce stops, etc.). BCIL is a party to that suit, for which I also submitted a deposition, describing how my wheelchair was broken by a huge drop between the train and platform at Downtown Crossing, and how I almost got stuck in an elevator so small that many wheelchairs could not use it. (I now avoid taking the T at all costs)

As BCIL director Bill Henning wrote to the Globe (unpublished):

Should we as a society suspend civil rights laws when it’s not convenient to enforce them?

Would those advocating for the station to open without elevators also advocate opening a public facility that only had restrooms for men but said that the women’s room would probably be open in three months and that in the interim women could come to the building, but couldn’t go to the bathroom, but could be bussed a mile away to do so?

In recent months as many as 20% of MBTA elevators have been broken. Access for people with disabilities promised by the MBTA more than ten years ago—elevators at various key stations, for instance—still doesn't exist.

In its presentation to the AAB on April 25, a T spokesperson said opening the Savin Hill station without elevators would be in the interest of "the general public," as if people with disabilities, comprising approximately 20% of Boston's population according to the 2000 U.S. Census, aren't part of the public. The problem is that the MBTA too often treats people with disabilities as second-class citizens. The option of opening Savin Hill station without an elevator never should have been put forth by the MBTA.