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Disabled passengers fear for their safety on the MTA’s paratransit program
By
Christina Baker
Published Feb 2, 2025
Modified Feb 3, 2025
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Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images
By
Christina Baker
Published Feb 2, 2025
Modified Feb 3, 2025
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The MTA’s Access-A-Ride service, a crucial lifeline for thousands of New Yorkers whose disabilities keep them from using the city’s subway system, is now run largely by third-party vendors and staffed by drivers who some riders say aren’t properly trained.
Over the last six years, the agency has gradually shifted the oversight of the service to private brokers that dispatch for-hire vehicles or taxi cabs to pick up people enrolled in the program. It’s a shift away from the blue-and-white paratransit buses operated by MTA staffers, and transit officials say the move has allowed the agency to manage a boom in ridership. But the change has also led to a steady stream of complaints from riders at MTA public meetings, who say their drivers aren’t properly trained to help people with disabilities.
Terence Page, who is president of the Greater New York Council of the Blind and visually impaired, said he often struggles to communicate with his drivers when he’s picked up. On Nov. 4, he said he ordered an Access-A-Ride broker car from his home to a doctor’s appointment in Midtown. But when he was dropped off and walked into the building, he said he found himself at the UBS Building two blocks away.
Page also said language barriers prove to be a big problem with the third-party drivers. He recalled a trip where his potassium levels dropped, which prompted him to ask his driver to take him home.
“My heart was beating out of control and they would not take me home because they didn’t understand English,” he said.
MTA officials acknowledge the third-party system isn’t perfect, but say it’s helping the agency serve more disabled New Yorkers. Access-A-Ride’s monthly ridership exceeded 900,000 for the first time ever in October, a 30% increase from five years ago.
Roughly two-thirds of those trips are dispatched through third-party brokers like the ones used by Page, MTA data shows. The MTA’s data also shows the rate at which Access-A-Ride users complained about their broker drivers has quadrupled over the last three years.
Passengers say there’s little oversight for the outside vendors. They report regular problems, like being picked up by vehicles without proper seatbelts for wheelchairs and operated by drivers who fail to accommodate their needs.
Kathleen Collins, who uses a wheelchair, estimated roughly half of the taxis and for-hire vehicles sent to pick her up through Access-A-Ride are missing the legally required seatbelts or the four-point tie-down system needed to hold her wheelchair in place. She said she’s developed a pain in her shoulder from “holding on for dear life” when she’s unsecured during a ride.
Access-A-Ride has long been the target of criticism, thanks to unreliable service, onerous scheduling process, and long wait times. It’s also the only way to navigate the city for New Yorkers with disabilities because fewer than 40% of the city’s subway stations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2019, the MTA decided to shift the bulk of its rides from its blue-and-white vehicles to the much cheaper broker services.
The pivot saved the MTA over $100 million in 2022, according to an audit from the state comptroller. Broker drivers initially struggled with no-shows and late pickups, but eventually provided service as reliable as the blue-and-whites for well under half the cost, the audit found.
“We have a broker program now that's providing over 25,000 trips a day on our busy weekdays, and the vast, vast majority of those trips are getting done on time, safely, reliably, seamlessly,” said Rachel Cohen, the MTA’s head of paratransit.
Using broker companies also allows the MTA to outsource most of the program's driver training and vehicle inspection to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. The TLC trains and tests drivers on assisting disabled passengers, and drivers must pass the tests again when they renew their license every three years. The TLC inspects paratransit vehicles every two years.
The MTA also conducts Access-A-Ride training for broker drivers, which can be completed virtually. When a rider files a complaint about their Access-A-Ride trip, the MTA can mandate more training for the driver or another inspection for the vehicle.
Jean Ryan, who uses a motorized wheelchair, counts herself lucky. Most of the Access-A-Ride vehicles she takes have the legally required wheelchair seatbelts. But she usually has to teach — or even persuade — the driver to use them.
A few times, Ryan has had to ask drivers to let her out of the vehicle because they refused to buckle her in. When she does get a driver willing to learn, she said it usually takes 20 minutes to teach them, a process that’s made more challenging because broker drivers don’t speak English.
Cohen said broker drivers ought to be able to communicate in English because MTA's training program is administered in English. But regular users say that’s an insufficient standard to ensure they’re capable of communicating with riders about their disabilities and specific needs.
Correction: This story was updated to specify how driver's enrolled the the Access-A-Ride broker program are trained.
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Christina Baker
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