Resolution calling upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make all subway stations fully accessible to people with disabilities by 2023

Res. No. 975

Resolution calling upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make all subway stations fully accessible to people with disabilities by 2023

By Council Members Cabrera, Gentile and Chin

                     Whereas, The subway system is the backbone of New York City’s transportation network, serving as an essential mode of transportation that millions of New Yorkers rely on every day; and

                     Whereas, For most people, the subway system is an extensive network serving neighborhoods throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, but the ability of people with disabilities, particularly those with mobility impairments, to access the system is extremely limited; and                     

                     Whereas, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“MTA”) is on schedule to meet a commitment made to the federal government after the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act to make 100 “key stations” accessible by 2020, with enhancements included in the 2015-2019 Capital Program expected to cost approximately $51 million per station; and

                     Whereas, Despite these investments to both “key” and “non-key” stations over the past two decades, to date, only 110 out of a total of 469 subway stations are fully accessible, cutting off people with disabilities from long stretches of subway lines throughout the city; and

                     Whereas, As all New Yorkers fundamentally deserve equal access to a public good as important as the subway system, regardless of their physical abilities, the current pace of accessibility improvements is inadequate; and

                     Whereas, Therefore, by June 2016, the MTA should develop a plan for full accessibility of all 469 stations by 2023; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make all subway stations fully accessible to people with disabilities by 2023.

LS# 6731

1/7/2016

JM