Lee Landor
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will have to hold off on implementing cuts to its Long Island Bus branch’s Able-Ride program, which serves disabled Long Island residents, thanks to a court-ordered temporary restraining order granted just days before the cuts were to go into affect.
Attorneys representing Adults and Children with Learning and Developmental Disabilities (ACLD) and United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County (UCPN) were granted the order on April 9, two days after they filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the MTA for eliminating some Able-Ride services scheduled for implementation on April 12. The judge scheduled the next court appearance for April 27 and urged both parties to resolve the matter before then.
The MTA issued a statement last Friday, saying it agreed to the judge’s request to delay implementing the changes for two weeks “in order to more fully ensure that social service groups within the affected areas of Nassau County are fully apprised of the pending changes and have an opportunity to explore alternative modes of transportation.”
As for the lawsuit, filed on behalf of eight disabled county residents, the MTA said, “We are satisfied that our actions are fully in conformance with legal obligations.”
While relieved that the cuts will be postponed, Aaron Liebowitz, executive director of ACLD, said he is hoping for more. Removing transportation services will be devastating, Liebowitz said, adding, “Most of these individuals have no other means of transportation.” He said that ACLD wants the MTA to reconsider the cuts, and plans to bring the matter before the Nassau County Legislature in the hope that $1.2 million in funding can be restored for Able-Ride service.
Liebowitz said he hopes that both the MTA and the Legislature will recognize that the cuts will negatively affect the local economy, the opposite of what they were intended to do. “Rather than saving money, it’s going to cost money,” he said, “because people will lose jobs, people will go on unemployment benefits, people will have to go on welfare, people will go to emergency rooms instead of to doctors.”
UCPN’s executive director, Robert McGuire, said he wants a resolution that will permanently thwart the cuts, which he said would be disastrous not only for Long Island’s disabled and elderly populations, but also for the regional economy. “We don’t see any other alternative other than to make sure paratransit is available for people with disabilities,” McGuire said. “Able-Ride works, and anything short of that is ... clearly going to put individuals with disabilities at a disadvantage from getting to work, school, medical and clinical appointments, and they’re simply not going to be able to manage it on the regular transportation routes.”
Hofstra University junior Kerri Regan would be one of the people for whom the cuts would impose great hardship. The 22-year-old public relations major, who is blind, has relied on Able-Ride service since she got her first job at 16. “If these cuts go through,” Regan said, “it would be very detrimental.”
A member of the
Long Island Council of the Blind, Regan said she plans to start seeking internships for the summer, and will have difficulty getting around without Able-Ride service. She fears it could cut her chances of finding an internship in half. “It’s really upsetting that they’re not taking our population into consideration,” she said.
Westbury resident Meryl Jackelow, who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, said the changes would not only inconvenience her, but cost her four times the amount she currently pays for transportation. Confined to a wheelchair most of the time, Jackelow uses Able-Ride to get to work, to go grocery shopping and for all of her medical appointments. In order to run errands and get to work without the service, she would have to take taxis to get to regular bus stops — an expense she cannot afford, living on a fixed income.
Members of the disabled population and their representatives said they hope the MTA will revisit the issue in the coming weeks and work with them to find a better solution. “We understand that the MTA is making cuts and nondisabled people may lose some access to service,” Liebowitz said. “However, they will not lose all of their services, as will be the case with many people with disabilities.”
The cuts could be entirely avoided, McGuire said, if the MTA focused on managing its infrastructure differently and operating more efficiently — a message he said he plans to convey to the agency as the two parties work together.
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