How Public Transportation is Failing the Disabled

While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has certainly improved accessibilty to America's built environment for the nation's disabled, its uneven implementation ("only 20 percent of Amtrak stations have complied with ADA standards") and minimal requirements ("Major subway systems are only required to make "key" stations accessible") have not gone far enough to make transit equitable. 

"Part of the reason it's so difficult for public transit system to serve people with disabilities is that they're woefully underfunded. It's important that cities make it possible for people to get around without cars in order to create dense neighborhoods and keep pollution down. But it's also important that those systems don't leave people with disabilities stranded in their homes or on a street corner, unable to get where they need to go," argues Laskow.