Public Transit Survey for People with Disabilities
By Jill Bezyak
I would like to invite you to participate in a national survey titled, Transportation Access and Experiences. The survey is designed to improve understanding of accessibility of public transportation for people with disabilities. This survey is being conducted by the ADA Participation Action Research Consortium (ADA-PARC), a collaborative research project of seven ADA Regional Centers (Lex Frieden and Joy Hammel) This project focuses on community living, community participation & work/economic participation disparities of people with disabilities (For more information, visit the website: www.adaparc.org). These organizations would like to improve our understanding on transportation access of people with disabilities and use this information to make improvements at regional and national levels.
The survey is interested in receiving as many responses as possible from people with disabilities based on their personal experiences with public transportation. Please feel free to share the survey with potentially interested entities. The results will serve as crucial evidence to support improvements to accessible transportation. If you have any questions or comments regarding this survey, please contact Jill Bezyak from the Rocky Mountain ADA Center at jill.bezyak@unco.edu
Please use the link below to access and complete the survey:
https://unco.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_00wcGeTOzGL2lQ9
Community and Work Participation Disparities for People with Disabilities A Program of the Americans with Disabilities Act Participatory Action Research Consortium (ADA-PARC)
Jill Bezyak, Ph.D., CRC is an Associate Professor at the Human Rehabilitative Services School of Human Sciences, University of Northern Colorado
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that the federal government will meet the goal of hiring 100,000 workers with disabilities within five years. The report finds that the federal government employed more people with disabilities and that people with disabilities represented a larger share of the workforce than at any other time since such record keeping began 34 years ago.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2010 pledging to increase hiring of people with disabilities by the federal government by 100,000 within five years. The report found that federal offices hired 20,615 people with disabilities last year, the total number of workers with disabilities is 247,608.
The tracking is an annual report to the President on disability hiring. It shows that the largest employer in the US, the federal government is on track to reach the President’s goal by next year.
Schedule and Route changes presented for customer comments.
On Monday, October 19, MATA held a public meeting for bus riders to make comments on route and schedule changes. MATA was pleased with their new format of informing customers of changes to routes and times. Allison Burton welcomed everyone to the forum and explained where information was about the service changes.
Ms. Burton said that there would be minor changes to 28 weekday routes and some additional changes to Saturday and Sunday service. Riders could make comments on the web, in writing on cards MATA had at the meeting and to a court reporter so customers could have their comments transcribed. Bennett Foster of the Memphis Bus Riders Union asked that the comments be posted on the MATA website.
John Lanchaster of MATA said that none of the changes met the MATA definition of significant changes and did not discriminate against poor and minority populations. The public may make comments anytime on the web:
http://mciljournal.blogspot.com/2015/10/mata-taking-public-comments.html#gpluscomments
Notice of Public Comments concerning routes and schedule
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) gives notice that comments will be accepted from the public on proposed changes on fixed-route bus service until October 22, 2015. No changes to MATAplus service or any fares are being proposed. The proposed changes are as follows:
PROPOSED FIXED-ROUTE BUS SERVICE CHANGES PROPOSED START DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2015
The following routes will have minor schedule adjustments to help the buses operate more on time, to adjust for better connections between routes and to adjust the frequency of the service. Weekday Routes 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 69, 82
Saturday Routes 2, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 69
Sunday Routes 2, 4, 8, 11, 17, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57 Applicable Saturday and Sunday routes will be adjusted to have an approximate 5-minute transfer time at the Hudson Transit Center. The following routes will have minor routing changes: Route 17- From Swift and South Parkway, right Ingle, left on Farrington, left Outer Parkway/1st Ave, left Kansas Street, to the existing routing.
Route 32- Southbound evening trips will serve the FedEx hub. Northbound morning trips will also serve the FedEx hub. Route 35- From Belz Blvd, continue across Third Street, right Florida, meeting the Routes 12 and 17 at Florida and South Parkway to provide East/West service from that location. Right on South Parkway to the existing routing.
Route 69- Saturday only, Loop east of American Way Transit Center operating on Cottonwood Road will be discontinued. PROPOSED Schedules will be available on October 16 at www.matatransit.com or by email upon request.
Requests for additional information or for special language or accessibility accommodations can be made by contacting MATA at 901-274-6282 or publiccomments@matatransit.com. Written comments can be submitted until 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, 2015 and can be mailed to 1370 Levee Road, Memphis, TN 38108; e-mailed to publiccomments@matatransit.com; or faxed to 901-722-7123.
While not required, in an effort to improve communications between MATA and our valued customers, a public meeting will be held at Central Station, 545 South Main Street, on Monday, October 19, 2015 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. It will be an open house format with MATA representatives on hand to discuss individual concerns.
MATA’s Board of Commissioners will review and consider the comments and address the service changes and effective date at the October 26, 2015 Board meeting. The meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Memphis Public Library at 3030 Poplar Ave.
