Access denied: wheelchair metro maps versus everyone else's
September 21, 2017 7:24 AM   Subscribe

 
All Washington DC metro stations are fully accessible....discounting the all-too-frequent elevator outages, but hey, we'll take what we can get.

Cool post!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:33 AM on September 21, 2017 [4 favorites]


Toronto is slowly retrofitting more stations to be accessible, and the time and effort needed to do something like installing a new elevator shaft directly underneath an active intersection is huge. And even then, some of the implementations are lacking - there are stations where getting on the escalator still involves walking up stationary steps above the rest of the floor because that was the only way to make it fit. So they aren't truly accessible.

It really sucks that issues like accessibility weren't taken into consideration unless required by law.
posted by thecjm at 7:35 AM on September 21, 2017


For all the things DC Metro gets wrong, the 91/91 score is something to be proud of.

That is - assuming the damn escalators and elevators work. In my unsubstantiated anecdotal experience, it seems like our escalators are more often broken but elevators are less often broken than in the NYC subway (but that's a pretty crappy benchmark. Also they have way fewer escalators.)
posted by mosst at 7:36 AM on September 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


As far as other accessibility things, a friend recounted an unexpected train turn around where the conductor neglected to flash the lights (the typical signal) and literally none of the Deaf people on the train got off at the last stop since all announcements were loudspeaker-only so they were all stuck on the train while it went through the weird labyrinth to turn around. For a city with such a robust Deaf community thanks to Gallaudet University, it seems like visible metro signage (unlabeled trains, station labels visible from all parts of the car, the aforementioned announcements, etc) could be much better.
posted by mosst at 7:39 AM on September 21, 2017 [6 favorites]


Interesting piece, thanks. There must be a series on accessible cities in the Gruan at the mo, because the well worth reading Roman holiday: how Chester became the most accessible city in Europe linked to on the page is only from a couple of days ago.
posted by hawthorne at 7:45 AM on September 21, 2017


There is! Only these two up so far. Will keep an eye out and post the others as they come.
posted by ellieBOA at 7:52 AM on September 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


discounting the all-too-frequent elevator outages

It seemed like 75-80% of the track alerts I would see when I lived there was noting elevator outages and shuttle service from stations with functional elevators to allow people to still access those areas. But I recognize that's only an awareness of when they DO run those shuttles, it could have daily been the case that an elevator shut down and they didn't address it quickly/at all, and I wouldn't have known about it.
posted by solotoro at 8:06 AM on September 21, 2017


The problem with this article is that it repeatedly conflates "fully accessible" with level access. That's only one component of "full" accessibility. A lot of people are under the misapprehension that "accessibility" begins and ends with ramps and elevators.

One question I had about the DC Metro is if it has audible (and/or visual) station stop announcements. Their accessibility page doesn't say so.

It really sucks that issues like accessibility weren't taken into consideration unless required by law.

The Toronto Transit Commission had to be sued (more accurately, the subject of a complaint under the Ontario Human Rights Code that resulted in it being taken before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal) to force it to start announcing stops on both surface vehicles and subway trains.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:23 AM on September 21, 2017 [6 favorites]


I wish they hadn't washed out the lines It would be easier to see what you can ride with the lines still present, but also removing the transfers that you couldn't make as well.
posted by koolkat at 8:24 AM on September 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


There's a major issue in NYC and other cities with the train not being level with the platform, and it can be enough of a difference that you can't get a wheelchair or mobility scooter in and out over it. This also doesn't take into account chronically broken elevators or how easy it is to get information about elevators. So this is a good start, but it's definitely not complete.
posted by bile and syntax at 8:53 AM on September 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


On the subject of the TTC: it's 2 years old, but this is what the Toronto subway system looks like if you can't use stairs. It's pretty sparse.
posted by mhoye at 8:54 AM on September 21, 2017


The Toronto Transit Commission had to be sued (more accurately, the subject of a complaint under the Ontario Human Rights Code that resulted in it being taken before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal) to force it to start announcing stops on both surface vehicles and subway trains.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:23 AM on September 21


Hell yes, David Lepofsky! The man is a brilliant lawyer who happens to be blind, and in addition to his own - hugely successful - career with the Ministry of the Attorney General he's been personally behind some very significant legal challenges in areas of disability rights and accommodation. Truly the best of the profession, and a really nice guy.
posted by ZaphodB at 9:05 AM on September 21, 2017


The lack of accessibility of the Paris metro is a problem for people in wheelchairs, and for anyone who has some trouble walking or has a kid in a stroller for instance. The only line fully accessible to is Line 14, built in 1998.

It really sucks that issues like accessibility weren't taken into consideration unless required by law.

In France, such laws did not exist until 1975 (or 1991 for buildings), and the question is: why so late? About 6.5-8 million men came back from WW1 with disabilities, ie 36% of the male population in 1918. Disabled veterans were a large and powerful lobby group, strong of millions of members: they got laws meant to help them find work, to get better pensions etc. Some did complain about the poor accessibility of the Métro: there are articles about this in the Journal des Mutilés (the disabled veterans weekly, which ran from 1916 to 1937) from November 1925 for instance. And still, until the 1970-90s nobody seemed to care that they could enter public buildings (including churches) or use the public transports. For decades, the Paris metro had priority seats for disabled war veterans, except that only the disabled vets able to walk could actually use them. I'm under the impression that the mere concept of making daily life easier to disabled persons did not enter public consciousness before the 1970s.
posted by elgilito at 9:33 AM on September 21, 2017 [3 favorites]


One question I had about the DC Metro is if it has audible (and/or visual) station stop announcements. Their accessibility page doesn't say so.

The answer is yes! The newer trains have automated announcements, the older trains have often-garbled conductor announcements. Both types of trains and newer buses visually display the upcoming station, and the new trains also highlight it on the rail map. All trains and newer buses* also have external audible announcements stating line and destination. All buses have a visible "stop requested" light and all buses play a tone when a stop is requested.

*This is not true of the non-WMATA-run DC Circulator buses, which only have (inconsistent) conductor stop announcements but do have a stop request light and tone. There's no external route announcement if I recall correctly, a recollection based on OFTEN GETTING ON THE WRONG DAMN BUS >:(
posted by capricorn at 9:42 AM on September 21, 2017 [3 favorites]


Anyway I agree with the previous commenters who've noted that this is the clear benefit of having strongly-enforced national accessibility legislation, which is why (and sorry to get into politics here, but it's very relevant) anyone here who lives in or plans to visit the US should be terrified that Congress is chipping away at the Americans With Disabilities Act.
posted by capricorn at 9:49 AM on September 21, 2017 [3 favorites]


elgilito, the Paris metro still has priority seats for disabled war veterans, not that it is at all accessible.
posted by ellieBOA at 9:52 AM on September 21, 2017


Relevant (and funny): Zach Anner & the Quest for the Rainbow Bagel. Zach confirms the NYC Metro (and NYC as a whole) is very inaccessible for wheelchair users.
posted by castlebravo at 10:12 AM on September 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


I know three different people who temporarily injured a leg in NYC while on the subway stairs, and who were then obliged to take surface transport until they healed. It did not sound like a fun time.

We need real Bus Rapid Transit here imo. Not this Select Bus Service half-measure malarky.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


A significant percentage of the time I walk past an elevator on the TTC it'll be out of order with ridiculous instructions for alternate access like "Get a transfer, take the 97 or 53 bus for 1 stop, cross the street and use the elevators in the North American Centre to access the subway subway station gates, show the ticket collector your transfer and take the elevator to the platform". I am lucky because I only need the use the elevator when I'm taking my kids in their stroller and I can just have them walk up the stairs while I carry the stroller up but if I had mobility issues it would be a huge problem for accessing the system at even the "accessible" stations.

If I were into Twitter or microblogs one site consisting solely of the TTC alternate elevator instructions would be pretty fun, and frustrating, to do.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:41 AM on September 21, 2017


The last summer I lived in New York, I had ankle surgery that necessitated me wearing one of those horrible boots for about 2 months. It was difficult, unpleasant, and slow for me to get up and down stairs, so I found my world shrinking precipitously as I limited myself to traveling to places where I would have to deal with the least amount of stairs possible, to the point where I would go well out of my way to avoid a transfer without an elevator.

I can't imagine how people that are disabled handle it.

(This was also the summer that broke me--a week after surgery I fell down the stairs and broke my right hand, so once I was out and about again with the boot I would have to clamber up and down stairs in the subway on the wrong side so I could use my left, good, hand to hold onto the railing, and multiple people huffed and puffed at me, with one memorable encounter leading to me looking the person straight in the eye, waving my broken right hand in their face and then down to my booted left foot, and saying "What would you like to me do?" Ah, New York. Do I miss you? Bizarrely, yes, sometimes I still do.)
posted by Automocar at 11:20 AM on September 21, 2017


I have some experience with the elevators in the DC Metro system now because I've had to navigate them with the kraken in her stroller. It was interesting because I started looking at how I used the trains in a completely different way. There are a few issues in my experience:

1) Lots of stations require multiple elevators which is a larger number of failure points. For example, if you have one surface to mezzanine elevator and then another from the mezzanine to the platform for northbound trains and a different one for southbound trains, those are three different ways someone can get screwed and you don't always know what is and isn't working ahead of time.

2) Many of the elevators smell really bad. This may seem little but it makes for a much less pleasant Metro experience for anyone who requires the elevator and if you have asthma or something and are in an enclosed space it seems like it would be a problem, but maybe I'm wrong and just overly bourgeois about my olfactory elevator experience, a possibility to which I am entirely open.

3) It's not always easy to tell where in a station the elevator is, so you might get on the very front of the train thinking it will save you a walk later and then no, the station has the elevator somewhere unexpected, and sometimes it's hard to find because it's behind escalators and stuff and even just with a stroller, much less limited mobility, wandering around the station trying to find the elevator is a huge effing pain. I think it would be great to do a better job pointing out where elevators are, both by having more signs in the station directing you to the elevator and by having at the very least a way to look up where in the station they are. I think my best case scenario would be: a little icon on the station name signs pointing to where the elevators are, an addition to the "doors open on the _____ at _____" sign so like "doors open on right at Dupont Circle. The elevator is by the north exit" and especially I think the WMATA website should let you look up information on the elevator at each station so if someone with limited mobility is planning a trip they are able to figure out the best way for them to board and exit.

I also know that all of this is just what makes sense to me as an occasional WMATA stroller user and probably disability rights advocates have much better suggestions, but it was eye-opening to use the Metro even with that minor constraint.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:54 AM on September 21, 2017


Relavent article discussing some of the NY-specific issues just posted on curbed earlier today.

One interesting thing that popped out from the curbed piece, in juxtaposition with the linked article is that NYC has actually done something to mitigate the horribleness of the system of everyday commuters/NY residents - the access-a-ride system. This obviously doesn't help visitors one bit, and, according to that curbed piece, it hasn't helped NYers either because the point-to-point transit assist still faces tons of challenges (traffic, late or delinquent drivers etc) all while costing tons more (on a per ride basis) than the investments in upgrading the entire system.

Ortiz, the MTA spokesperson, told Curbed that “currently 117 stations in the transit system are accessible, serving more than 44 percent of subway ridership, and we will continue to make more stations accessible.”

what the hell does this statement even mean? 44% of subway riding New Yorkers live near the 117 stations that have been made accessible? I sure hope they only want to travel to one of those other accessible stations, because otherwise im guessing they don't agree with spokesperson Ortiz.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:53 PM on September 21, 2017


Neither the link nor any comments are mentioning Taipei. We traveled quite a bit when our son was in prime stroller years, and no city on Earth does this better than Taipei. Elevator locations are almost always near the center of the platforms, easy to find, signing is good, etc.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 12:57 PM on September 21, 2017


Oh, and regarding the state of underground elevators, see this interview with Sunday Parker, a daily BART commuter who got fed up and took to twitter to document the failures of the system.

Part of me wonders if the deplorable conditions many of these elevtors re in isn't a result of the fact that they are not centrally located, heavily used, or generally even thought of by a majority of regular riders. The "if everyone biked more, biking would be safer" argument might apply here and certainly how to keep new elevators usable should be weighed in planning decisions.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:58 PM on September 21, 2017


As the article about Parker mentions - underground bathrooms at BART stations have been closed since 9/11, first claiming security concerns, and then... they just stayed closed.

A friend of my husband's is a retired BART janitor; he says they leapt at the chance to close them because you would not believe what went on in BART bathrooms. Cleaning them in the underground stations was hell; you couldn't just hose them out and wait for them to dry. Dealing with the occasional bit of piss or worse in the elevators is a nuisance for the staff but nowhere near as bad as finding, oh, someone trying to do their six-months-unwashed laundry in the sink, or trying to flush several dirty diapers down the toilet.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:47 PM on September 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


Montreal stations with elevators: 12 out of 68. Kind of awful for a network that was built in the late 1960s, especially for the blue line that was added in the 1980s, and yet only has two elevator-accessible stations.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 6:32 PM on September 21, 2017


I know it's not a metro the way these are, but Seattle/King County has the vast majority of the bus fleet equipped for wheelchairs, and the transit tunnel (which serves both buses -- for the moment -- and light rail) is accessible at all stops. Sometimes the escalators don't work, but I'm not aware of chronic elevator problems. I think accessibility is high on the major surrounding regional transit systems as well -- Piece County, Community Transit in Snohomish Country (which operates buses from Seattle north) and Sound Transit (buses, light rail and heavy rail).

Accessibility costs money. We need laws to make stuff accessible because no one will do it without a mandate, and most people with the power to make financial decisions aren't disabled.
posted by lhauser at 6:59 PM on September 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


Several years back, BART got sued for ADA failure because so many of their elevators were out of service so often. (They collected names & addresses and you could fill out a form saying you were impacted and had the option of claiming something like $20 or the specific amount of trips you had problems with, if you could put dates to them.) I went looking for the details and can't find them, because apparently it's happening again - having elevators and escalators isn't enough; they have to be functional, and they have to be clean enough that it's reasonable for them to be used.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 8:04 AM on September 22, 2017




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