MBTA has nearly met accessibility upgrades required in historic settlement: Here’s what’s different than when the T was sued
When Laura Brelsford began riding the MBTA between Cambridge and Boston in the early 2000s, she found the system's accessibility "deplorable" for people like her who use a wheelchair or other mobility device.
Broken elevators hampered easy travel between the subways and the ground level. Buses were not always equipped to board riders in wheelchairs. Some drivers blew off boarding disabled riders altogether. All told, a regular commute could routinely take 45 minutes or an hour more than it should, Brelsford, now the MBTA's assistant general manager for system-wide accessibility, said.
"If I were visiting friends or on my way to an appointment using the bus, it wasn't unusual that I would have to wait for the third bus on a route because either the lift would be broken or the operator just would not want to make the effort to board me," she said.
But the system is in a very different state today, Brelsford said.
The MBTA has spent roughly two decades fulfilling some 200 requirements for accessibility upgrades and reforms established in a settlement agreement to a class-action lawsuit brought by disabled riders.
With the T now meeting a substantial portion of the required improvements, top transit officials and the judge overseeing the case met Wednesday with disabled riders and advocates to turn the page to a new phase of the settlement's implementation.
"I really think that [the MBTA] is to be commended," said Burt Pusch, a Boston resident and former university professor who uses a powerchair.
The lawsuit, Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA — often shortened to Daniels-Finegold — was brought in 2002 by riders who could not safely use the transit network because of their disabilities.
In a 2006 settlement agreement, the plaintiffs and T declared a "mutual commitment" to bringing the transit system into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Surviving plaintiffs of the Daniels-Finegold lawsuit, including Joanne Daniels-Finegold (front, center), pose for a photo as the MBTA transitioned to a new phase of compliance monitoring with the disability upgrades settlement that emerged from the 2002 lawsuit(Will Katcher/MassLive)
What the T accomplished
The settlement created a Department of System-Wide Accessibility within the T, which oversees accessibility standards on the bus, subway, ferry and commuter rail and reviews all construction projects for compliance.
When the lawsuit was filed, disabled riders could not rely on the elevators at T stations. In 2005, elevators were running 94% of the time, a rate that Brelsford said hid how often broken elevators disrupted disabled riders' travel.
"That's like an A-minus," she said. But while many elevators were operational, those at some of the most-trafficked stations were out more often than they were running. A disabled rider relying on perhaps a half-dozen elevators over the course of their commute was likely to encounter one that was broken.
"The elevator service was reliably unreliable," Brelsford said. "It was essentially unusable."
Since 2006, the T has added 105 new elevators across its system, with dozens more on the way. By 2008, elevators were running 99.5% of the time, a level that remained until COVID-19-related disruptions to the supply chain for replacement parts.
In 2005, bus operators denied service to disabled riders 11% of the time. By 2023, the number was under 0.5%. Riders with disabilities were prevented from boarding buses due to broken lifts or ramps 19% of the time, a rate that has since been cut to roughly zero, according to the T.
Wheeled mobility devices were not being secured on buses using four straps 91% of the time in 2005. By 2023, that was happening on 6% of rides. In 2005, 15% of destination signs were missing or incorrect. Just over 1% were as of 2023.
"We are truly a fundamentally different agency than we were," Brelsford said.
The majority of the T system is now accessible, including the entire Red, Orange and Silver Lines and the ferry network. Almost all of the Blue Line is accessible, and accessibility upgrades are ongoing across the Green Line and Commuter Rail.
The T is also cracking down on cars parked in bus stops, which can prevent disabled riders from safely and easily boarding the buses, by installing automated ticketing cameras on public buses. Officials said they would provide an upgrade on the new ticketing program in January.
Retired Superior Court Judge Patrick King has served as the court-appointed monitor of the T's compliance since the settlement agreement was enacted.
Under a "next generation" agreement between the plaintiffs and the MBTA, the citizen-led Riders' Transportation Access Group, or RTAG, will take over oversight of the agreement from King.
The remaining work to meet full compliance includes constructing a fully accessible connection between the Red and Orange Lines at Downtown Crossing, implementing disability training for police officers and formally codifying a range of internal accessibility design guidelines.
MBTA General Manager and interim Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Phillip Eng pledged that the T would continue its accessibility upgrades.
"We will never exhale," he said at Wednesday's public meeting, held in the State Transportation Building in Boston.
Ahead of the meeting, the room was filled with T officials and the plaintiffs' supporters. Some attendees entered in wheelchairs or powerchairs, carrying canes or holding the arm of aides.
The conclusion of King's responsibilities was "bittersweet," he said with an emotion-laden voice. He was pleased with the progress that had been made, but saddened to be ending his work with the group of people who had pushed the T's accessibility standards forward.
Many in the room, plaintiffs in the case and transit officials alike, stood in applause as the judge concluded his remarks.
"This is a Massachusetts thing, where you have a group of activists in union with the leadership," said Bill Henning, the executive director at the Boston Center for Independent Living, whose organization was a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
He urged those in the room to continue their commitment to fulfilling the lawsuit's goals.
So did Pusch, the Boston resident who uses a powerchair.
"Even the best-intentioned programs can lose the scrutiny that a lawsuit demands," he said.
But Pusch was adamant: The T has "done a very good job."
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