For your perusal...

Beth T.

Subject: [SMAfriends] ACTION ALERT: Paratransit Policy Crisis--Pass the
Word



ACTION ALERT!! ACTION ALERT!!

ADA PARATRANSIT POLICY CRISIS AT Department of
Transportation (DOT)

"Next Day Service is a Civil Right!"

YOUR PHONE CALLS AND E-MAILS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO SAVE
ADA PARATRANSIT

Your phone calls and e-mails are urgently needed ASAP,
insisting that DOT not compromise the ADA requirement that
transit agencies must provide eligible paratransit riders
with next-day service.

DOT has been formally requested by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit to interpret its ADA
regulation in the case Anderson v. Rochester-Genesee
Regional Transit Authority. At issue is whether the ADA
requires transit agencies to plan to provide all next day
service requests. DOT's response will have nationwide
implications and will either make or break the requirement
for next day service. It's crucial that DOT stand behind
its own full next-day service and not give transit agencies
legal interpretations or loopholes that undercut this
mandate.

Some of you may ask, why aren't we insisting on same-day
service? Good question. The ADA law requires paratransit to
be "comparable" to fixed route (bus and rail) service, and
DOT's 1991 ADA regulation interpreted "comparable" to mean
"next day." This regulation, which the court has asked DOT
to interpret (but not change), is already a real compromise
in the equal rights of people with disabilities. We will
accept no further compromises!

DOT's RESPONSE IS DUE TO THE COURT SHORTLY, SO TIME IS OF
THE ESSENCE - RESPOND ASAP or within the next week at the
latest.

*********

In brief, THE MESSAGE:

* A. Next day paratransit service is our civil right!
No one should be required to wait longer than "the next
day"!

* B. No details, loopholes, or qualifications may undermine
that mandate!

*********

HERE'S WHAT DO TO: Call (or e-mail, if you can't call) the
two people below. Please DO NOT send them this alert and DO
NOT "cc" DREDF in your e-mails. Please DO feel free to add
your own paratransit denial horror stories or those of your
friends or clients. But give the above message first!

1. Secretary Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation

Phone: (202) 366-1103
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>

2. Jenna Dorn, Administrator, Federal Transit
Administration

Phone: (202) 366-4040
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>

___________________________

Marilyn Golden
[log in to unmask]
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund