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Wheelchair Users Sue Denver Bus System

By Laura Hershey

Julie Reiskin, Bradley Taylor and Carrie Lucas are suing Denver's Regional Transportation District. Photo by Amy Robertson. In the city that birthed the nationwide movement for wheelchair-accessible public transportation over 20 years ago, barriers to bus use in Denver have become so prevalent and frustrating that some wheelchair users are resorting to litigation.

Four individuals filed suit in U.S. District Court on Thursday against the Regional Transportation District (RTD), which operates the Denver metropolitan area's transit system. Plaintiffs allege discrimination under Title II of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The plaintiffs are seeking an order requiring RTD to comply with the law, as well as damages for past violations.

The ADA and Section 504 require local governments to make their programs and services, including transportation systems, fully accessible to people with disabilities. Bradley Taylor, Julie Reiskin, Debbie Lane and Carrie Lucas, all wheelchair users who live in metro Denver and frequently ride RTD buses, have documented numerous violations of their civil rights by RTD.

Among the violations cited in the lawsuit are: frequent lift breakdowns, inadequate training of RTD bus drivers in how to operate lifts and securement systems, drivers' refusal to pick up passengers with disabilities, drivers' refusal to allow people with disabilities to board with service animals and retaliation against people with disabilities who complain to RTD about these problems.

Over 30 acts of discrimination are documented in the complaint. Most concern two major problem areas: boarding the bus and securing wheelchairs on the bus.

Lifts Not Working for Months:
The suit charges RTD with failing to do "regular and frequent maintenance checks of lifts." As a result, lifts frequently do not work when wheelchair users try to ride. Worse, according to plaintiffs, is RTD's failure to provide alternative wheelchair-accessible transportation when lifts malfunction. Even when lifts do work, some RTD drivers refuse to pick up people in wheelchairs waiting at bus stops.

Debbie Lane described a January 11 incident in which a driver tried unsuccessfully to operate a lift, then told her that the lift "had not worked for two or three months." The driver called a supervisor, who arrived 30 minutes later, only to refuse to arrange alternative transportation for Lane.

On May 3, Lane left home at 3:45 a.m. in order to catch the bus. Once she reached the bus stop, she encountered five buses in a row with inoperative lifts.

Faced with such barriers, one plaintiff engaged in civil disobedience and found herself charged with a criminal offense. On December 7, 1999, Lucas attempted to board a bus after work. The driver informed her that the lift was broken and that he had informed RTD headquarters. Lucas asked where the other bus was, reminding the driver that RTD was supposed to provide another bus. The driver told Lucas that she would just have to wait for the next bus.

Because the next bus was not scheduled to arrive until more than one hour later, she asked him to call a supervisor to arrange other transportation for her. The driver replied that she would have to wait for the next bus.

"I was afraid that I could spend hours out there before a bus with a working lift got there, if at all," Lucas recalls. In an interview with CanDo.com this week, Lucas said, "I knew that there are a lot of broken lifts on that route." So Lucas wheeled to the edge of the curb and "plopped out of my chair in front of the bus." Sitting in the street, she once again asked the driver to call a supervisor and arrange alternative transportation.

"Many passengers came out of the bus," Lucas remembers, "and started yelling at me for holding up the bus."

An RTD supervisor and the police soon arrived and helped Lucas back into her chair. The supervisor called for an accessible van. Lucas got a ride home, but not before police ticketed her for "interference with the bus system."

Two of the plaintiffs experienced problems when they chose to board buses facing forward on the lift platforms. On January 12, Lane attempted to board a bus. The driver insisted that she board facing backwards. Lane explained that her wheelchair would fishtail when driving backwards, risking her running into people and objects. The driver told her to do what he said. When she refused, the driver announced to all the passengers that because of the "crippled girl," they would all be late.

The driver called security and a bus supervisor. The supervisor supported the driver, insisting that Lane had to enter the bus backwards; he later apologized, saying he had examined RTD policy and Lane was correct.

Hostile Drivers and Passengers:
The lawsuit also accuses some RTD drivers of securing wheelchairs in "an inefficient, dangerous and destructive manner" and of refusing to follow disabled passengers' directions about how to secure their wheelchairs. This situation has caused many conflicts, sometimes resulting in drivers refusing to transport people with disabilities.

Plaintiffs report numerous instances in which drivers insisted on wrapping securement straps or hooks around wheelchair motors, armrests, front wheels, foot plates and even wires. The plaintiffs charge that this practice risks damage to wheelchairs and endangers passengers by causing wheelchairs to slide and pivot when the bus is in motion.

Reiskin, for example, has placed "Secure Here" stickers -- supplied by RTD itself -- on a crossbar on the back of her wheelchair. Yet RTD drivers have often ignored these stickers, and Reiskin's requests, and instead have placed the tie-down straps on other parts of the chair.

In many of the instances described in the complaint, drivers' actions resulted in contentious, even frightening situations for disabled passengers. On February 16, a bus driver attempted to secure Lucas' wheelchair by looping a strap around the armrest. Lucas removed the strap, and a disagreement ensued. The driver threw the strap on the ground and announced to all the passengers that Lucas was causing their delay.

Passengers began berating Lucas; several discussed picking up her wheelchair and throwing her off the bus. When another bus arrived, most of the passengers boarded it, but several stayed and continued to berate Lucas. When the supervisor arrived, he stated that Lucas' wheelchair would have to be secured for the bus to travel, despite his inability to find an appropriate place on her wheelchair to secure it.

Tired of Being Abandoned:
The plaintiffs say their efforts to get RTD to change its policies and procedures have been unsuccessful. The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC), a statewide advocacy organization that employs three of the four plaintiffs, has participated in numerous meetings with RTD officials.

"We have told them both through meetings and written complaints about these problems for the last three years," says CCDC's Kevin Williams, one of the attorneys representing the four plaintiffs. "Nothing has changed," Williams says. "In fact, things seem to be worse."

Last year, CCDC received more than 100 complaints from people with disabilities who have been denied equal access to RTD.

"We just want to get on the bus and ride to our destinations like everyone else," says plaintiff Debbie Lane, a community organizer for CCDC. "We are tired of leaving our houses in the morning only to be abandoned at bus stops by buses with broken lifts, drivers who refuse to use the lifts or buses that refuse to stop."

Williams is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit along with lead attorney Michael Breeskin, Tim Fox and Amy Robertson of the law firm of Fox & Robertson, P.C.

ENDNOTES

History of Activism and Access:
The nationwide movement for accessible public transportation got its start in Denver. In 1978, members of the Atlantis Community, an early pioneer in the independent living and disability rights movement, began advocating for wheelchair lifts on RTD buses. When their advocacy efforts failed, 19 wheelchair users staged a rush-hour protest at the busy downtown intersection of Colfax and Broadway, blocking the inaccessible buses and stopping traffic. Their action lasted through the next morning. Their ongoing activism resulted, several years later, in RTD committing to a policy of full access to all its buses. Eventually the entire fleet was equipped with lifts.

Following this local victory, Denver activists went on to organize in other communities, forming the national group, American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Throughout the 1980s, ADAPT members held protest actions to demand the right to use public transportation throughout the United States. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act achieved their policy demands.

(This story was posted on 15 May 2000)

Thank you,
Chicago ADAPT


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