NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials on Friday announced the agency was looking to hire private developers to help speed up efforts to make stations more accessible.
Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA’s Chief Accessibility Officer, says getting around the city’s vast transit system in a wheelchair can be incredibly challenging, as most stations are not accessible.
“There are 472 Subway stations in New York City and only 131 of them accessible to all riders,” he told reporters Friday.
Arroyo and the MTA have been working to make the trains more available to all New Yorkers, leading to the “Elevate Transit” proposal unveiled in the afternoon.
MTA Construction and Development President Janno Lieber says the plan would change city zoning laws to incentivize real estate developers to build and maintain elevators that connect their properties to neighboring stations outside of Manhattan.
“We're going to work with developers to set aside space in their buildings that are being built to allow accessible entrances and improvements to be included, or for developers to actually include elevators and other improvements at no cost to the MTA,” he said.
The proposal will get its first public hearing before the City Planning Commission on Monday.
Victor Calise, an MTA board members and commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, is asking that New Yorkers come out to support the proposal to help make the city’s transit network accessible for everyone.
“We need your support so, please come to the community board meetings and call on your city council members to approve this measure, because it's going to really make a difference in people's lives,” Calise said.
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