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Why Portions of the ADA Should be Repealed

 
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Dieseljim
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Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 548
Location: Perry, NY

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:48 am    Post subject: Why Portions of the ADA Should be Repealed Reply with quote

Portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act ought to be repealed because of the wasteful need to have an entire fleet of buses equipped with wheelchair lifts whether or not actual usage warrants it. That transit systems have a hard time supporting themselves off the farebox is an example of what a few sniveling crybabies and chronic whiners can do to get their way with transit systems around the country. If Jerry Campbell's Buffalo Transit Company were confronted with the extra costs of having an entire lift equipped fleet rammed down their throats and merger partner, Niagara Frontier Transit System,Inc. for that matter, either or both of these companies would have been in bankruptcy and at least one forced to shut down because of bankruptcy precipitated by the actions of a bunch of sniveling whinies demanding that the entire company fleet be lift equipped. That so many fleets are 100% lift equipped, whether warranted or not, is an example of what a little blackmail, extortion, and out and out whining will do.On one hand, I sympathize with those who are confined to a wheelchair because of an accident or some other misfortune and on the other, I have a disdain bordering on contempt for portions of a law that places unreasonable demands on a transit system to provide equal accommodations, thus my referral to the ADA as THE CRYBABIES LAW. By getting rid of the requirement for a 100% lift equipped fleet, transit systems could save many millions of dollars that then could be used for improving service for all.
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ripta42
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Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 1035
Location: Pawtucket, RI / Woburn, MA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you're a bit off the mark. First off, farebox recovery has little do with the cost of purchasing lift-equipped buses, since farebox revenues are typically spent on operating expenses, not capital expenses like fleet procurements. New buses are usually purchased with mostly federal funds. Also, the FTA also offered grants under the ADA that covered 90% of the cost of retrofitting existing non-accessible buses.

I doubt ADA had any hand in bankrupting any private transit agencies, since most of them went bankrupt long before. If anything, handicapped accessibility might have increased ridership in some places. And the savings of not having lifts would be thousands, not millions. Look at it this way: if NFT had to put lifts in all of the 385 GM New Looks it bought between 1960 and 1969, at $15,000 a lift and a 90% FTA grant, it would have cost the company on average an extra $57,750 a year.

Of course, the discussion of lifts is moot, since the transit industry is rapidly shifting to low floor buses. While lifts benefit the handicapped, low floor buses really benefit all. Anyone who has taken the bus with a stroller, grocery cart, or luggage would probably agree. Even for rush-hour commuting without packages, the larger boarding area means faster loading and a faster trip for everyone - all thanks to the ADA.
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Dieseljim
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Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 548
Location: Perry, NY

PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:41 am    Post subject: ADA and Bus Design Reply with quote

Some low floor models don't seem to be bad riding at all. I rode on several of Cleveland's New Flyer low floors and they did not seem bad riding. The oversized windows give them something of a homely look. These have a pull out ramp which works just as well as a lift. Your count on the total number of GMC new Looks that NFT in Buffalo wound up with is about right. They bought more than 300 of them new, inherited 10 from Buffalo Transit (5302s), assumed a cancelled BTC order for 20 5301s, which when configured to seat 55 passengers would have made them single door "muzzle loaders" making them the oddballs of the fleet. Rather than do that, NFT added these to the 60 5301s in the 7400 series they already bought and wound up with 80-90 of the 5301 models. What I was trying to get at, if the government mandated it, then the government should have paid for it and lifts on the buses are an example of mandates that ought to be funded instead of left unfunded as so many are.
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The American Disabilities Act takes a front row seat everywhere you look these days merely because there are a growing number of older people and with old age come disabilities (I ought to know!).

For instance; I own a couple of multiple dwellings (actually, my wife owns them) here in Los Angeles and if we decide to redo the bathrooms Federal Law dictates that they must be wheelchair accessable regardless of whether we ever have a disabled tenant!

Now, as far as buses go; are we supposed to tell a handi-capped person that they will have to wait on a street corner for an hour and a half until a bus happens along that can accommodate them? that's ridiculous and unfair!

No! assisting the disabled has now become an integral part of our lives that we must learn to live with and yes - help to pay for - we may need those amenities ourselves someday!

I will make this one comment though; I see drivers pulling into spaces marked for the Hand-Capped that have no more right to use them than my nine year old grandson does! - and that should be better enforced.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY
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