Accessible Public Transportation in the United States: Twenty Years After Passage of the ADA

July 26, 2010 will mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) in the United States. The ADA and its implementing regulations required broad improvements in transportation systems to ensure access by persons with disabilities—including the accessibility of all new vehicles and facilities, and an ongoing requirement to ensure that they are operated in a non-discriminatory way. This paper first provides an overview of the major requirements of the ADA. The results of the first 20 years of implementation are then presented. Notable achievements include: 1. 98 percent accessibility in the national fixed route bus fleet; 2. Changes to provide “functional access” to 648 of the 681 stations identified as “key stations” in the nation’s oldest rail systems; 3. Access to 76 percent of the nation’s intercity rail (Amtrak) stations that serve 97 percent of all boardings; 4. Access at 84 percent of the nation’s light rail stations and 100 percent station access in several new light rail systems built since 1990; and 5. 66.9 million trips provided via ADA complementary paratransit in 2008. Important factors that contributed to the successful implementation of the ADA include extensive involvement and participation of persons with disabilities, empowerment of individuals with disabilities to take action when services did not meet the requirements of the law, partnerships with disability organizations and transit industry associations to provide technical assistance, active enforcement by federal agencies, and the inter-relationship in the law between accessible fixed route services and required complementary paratransit services. While there have been significant improvements in the accessibility and usability of public transit services by persons with disabilities in the U.S., several remaining challenges and issues are noted. These include a lack of community accessibility that can prevent persons from getting to and from stops and stations, design issues with low-floor bus ramps, the reliability and availability of elevators in transit stations, and issues concerning wheelchair securement systems.