New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority is piloting a device to automatically secure wheelchairs in place on buses

Wheelchair users make up about 3.3 million people in the United States. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides a legal framework of protections for people with disabilities, including those who are wheelchair-bound. About 10% of the population is disabled in some way.

However, as anyone who's had to use (or push) a wheelchair can attest, basic mobility in our cities can be very challenging. The built environment is almost exclusively designed for able-bodied people. Despite the passing of the ADA, many older, inaccessible pieces of infrastructure were "grandfathered" in and did not have to be immediately rebuilt. Ignorance of ADA requirements and a lack of attention toward ADA-related issues persists, leading to overlooked violations. Most transportation agencies have made only half-hearted attempts to make their services wheelchair-accessible.

Issues range from a lack of elevators; bumpy or narrow sidewalks that are impassable for wheelchairs; and stepped boarding of trains, trams, and buses that make it difficult or impossible for wheelchair users to get around. This article describes the New York City MTA's attempt to solve one such issue, which is that taking the bus in a wheelchair has some difficult and time-consuming prerequisites:

The MTA is piloting a device allowing wheelchair users to automatically secure themselves in place on buses, without the assistance the driver.

The tech is designed to allow riders using wheelchairs to secure themselves in place just by pushing a button. Once a rider is in place against the “backrest,” they can push the button on the bottom of a seat and let the device’s “securement arm” lock against their wheels. To disembark, a rider can request a stop and then simply push the button again to release the device’s grip, get off the bus, and be on their merry way.

That’s in contrast to the status quo, where a bus driver has to assist a mobility-impaired person to secure them in place in a bus’s wheelchair-accessible area.

Bus drivers can still assist riders in using the device, but it is designed to be usable without any assistance. The MTA hopes that the device can streamline the boarding process for passengers with disabilities.

If successful, this pilot would offer two major advantages to the transportation system:

• Better experience for disabled persons: People in wheelchairs will be able to take public transit that much more independently. Psychologically, and socially, this makes a big difference. Wheelchair users may currently feel that transit is inaccessible to them because of the hassle it requires just to get on board, so making the process seamless is incredibly important to increasing ridership.
• Faster boarding times for everyone: This change doesn't just help disabled people, it helps everyone on the bus! If wheelchair users can quickly and easily board and secure themselves without the help of the bus driver, the driver can focus on... driving the bus. That means shorter dwell times at bus stops and faster travel for everyone.

The article compares this change to the MTA's expected expansion of its stroller pilot, which gives parents room on buses to take their children around in strollers. Improvements like these really make the public transportation system accessible to everyone.

If your city doesn't have wheelchair-accessible or stroller-accessible trains, trams, or buses, reach out to your local government! It takes planning and budget reviews to implement policies like this, but it starts with outreach from concerned citizens. Whether you're disabled or not, and whether or not you're a parent, you can be part of the initiative to make our communities more livable. :)