BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
If approved by the New York
City Council on Friday, six more
Bronx subway stations and transit
hubs could be ADA friendly
by 2024 as part of an MTA zoning
proposal to make NYC transit
more accessible.
“We’re playing catchup when
it comes to modernizing our stations
to accessibility standards,
especially in places like the
Bronx,” said Quemel Arroyo,
MTA chief accessibility officer
told the Bronx Times. “So we’re
pushing city officials to make
(MTA Elevate Transit: Zoning
for Accessibility) into law so that
Bronx riders can find the ease of
accessibility that other stations
in Manhattan have been seeing
with the rezoning.”
The MTA Elevate Transit:
Zoning for Accessibility proposal,
a partnership with the Department
of City Planning and
the Mayor’s Office for People with
Disabilities, seeks to allow residential
developers near subways,
Staten Island Railway and commuter
rail stops within the city
to build up to 20% bigger — with
the caveat that they include accessibility
upgrades like a new set of
stairs or elevators.
“We want these same benefits
that are in Midtown to come
to the Bronx as well so that our
riders can benefits from elevators
and new access points into
their local station,” Arroyo said.
“So when a developer comes into
neighborhoods and is within 50
feet of an MTA facility, we want
them to offer an easement or accessibility
to those stations so
that their tenants and residents
can benefit from those enhancements.”
Currently, 131 out of 472 stations
are ADA-accessible citywide,
or less than 28%, according
to MTA’s most recent figures. The
Bronx has 70 MTA stations, but
only 15, roughly 21%, have full-
ADA accessibility, which is the
lowest in New York City.
Under the plan, Van Cortlandt
Park-242 Street, Tremont Avenue,
Parkchester, East 149 Street,
Brook Avenue and Mosholu Parkway
stations are set to become
fully ADA-accessible stations, according
to the MTA’s $54.8 billion
2020-2024 Capital Plan.
The city’s ultimate plan is
to get all subway stations under
some level of ADA accessibility
by 2030. Even if the MTA modernizes
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,2 SEPT. 24-30, 2021 BTR
70 stations by 2024, another
287 stations will still be in need of
wheelchair accessibility.
Residents like Brenda Najareen,
who requires the assistance
of a walker for debilitating diabetes,
said she is one of many residents
still looking for upgrades to
nearby stations like Castle Hill,
which is currently impossible for
her to utilize due to the station’s
two large level staircases and lack
of elevators into its above-ground
platform.
“How am I supposed to ride
the train when I can’t get to the
platform? This wheelchair can’t
levitate,” Najareen said.
Calls for increasing accessibility
in MTA subways has been
a longtime battle for advocates
and handicapped commuters.
In 2019, a lawsuit filed by national
nonprofit Disability Rights
Advocates (DRA) on behalf of a
coalition of local groups, sought
a court order requiring the MTA
to install elevators or other accessibility
alternatives in all station
renovations, along with a declaration
The Van Cortlandt Park-242 Street station that runs on the 2 line, is one
of six Bronx subway stations that could be ADA-accessible with the city’s
passing of the MTA Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility proposal.
Photo Flickr
that the MTA’s practice of
“ignoring accessibility during
renovations” is unlawful, according
to the suit.
“The MTA has consistently
engaged in major renovation
projects to improve station
usability for non-disabled
riders — spending millions of
dollars and closing stations
for months to conduct the
work — while systematically
failing to install elevators or
other stair-free routes,” according
to the lawsuit, which
was fi led in state court and
does not seek monetary damages.
Six Bronx subway stations
could be ADA-accessible
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