Comment from Anonymous

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Area 3: Universal Accessibility. I am especially interested in this issue because at the age of age 34, I woke up with a disabling chronic illness and now must use a power wheelchair. Before disability, it is easy to assume that if a station has an elevator, the system is accessible. But for riders who actually require elevators, accessibility depends on whether that elevator is working, whether it is repaired quickly, and whether we can know its status before starting a trip. For people who use power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, canes, braces, prosthetics, or other mobility devices; people with chronic illness, fatigue, pain, balance disorders, cardiac or respiratory conditions; blind or low-vision riders who rely on predictable accessible routes; older adults; people with temporary injuries; and families with strollers, an out-of-service elevator can make an entire transit system unusable. Many of us know what it is like to arrive at a station and discover that the only elevator is broken, or to find that an elevator remains unrepaired for days or weeks. When that happens, public transit is not merely inconvenient—it is inaccessible. I urge FTA to require or strongly encourage transit agencies to monitor and publicly report accurate elevator uptime, reduce repair times, and real-time outage information. I also urge FTA to recognize that universal accessibility depends on frequent service. Transit that comes only once an hour or less can turn one missed connection into a delay of several hours, especially for disabled riders who may have fewer route options and cannot easily improvise. For individuals with chronic illnesses, waiting at a transit stop in even moderate heat, cold, or rain can trigger severe medical flare-ups. A single missed connection due to low frequency easily sets a rider back by hours, causing them to miss critical medical appointments, lose employment opportunities, or be cut off from their families. Universal accessibility cannot exist without reliable, frequent services every 30 minutes or fewer.