N.Y. Transportation Law § 15-c: Accessible public transportation

§ 15-c. Accessible public transportation. 1. Definitions. When used in

this section:

a. "Transportation provider" shall mean the Niagara frontier

transportation authority, the Rochester-Genesee transportation

authority, the capital district transportation authority, the central

New York regional transportation authority, the Utica transit authority,

the metropolitan suburban bus authority, Suffolk county, Westchester

county and Broome county.

b. "Committee" shall mean the committee for accessible transportation

established pursuant to subdivision two of this section.

c. "Transit-disabled person" shall mean any individual who, by reason

of illness, age, injury, or congenital malfunction or other permanent or

temporary incapacity or disability, is unable, without special

facilities, special planning or design, to utilize mass transportation

facilities as effectively as members of the general public.

d. "Para-transit" shall mean a transportation service specifically

designed to serve the needs of transit disabled persons using special

vehicles operating on demand.

e. "Accessible fixed-route service" shall mean a regularly scheduled

fixed-route bus service operated by a transportation provider with

lift-equipped transit buses.

2. Establishment of committee. a. To assist in the development of an

accessible transportation system, a committee for accessible

transportation shall be established for each transportation provider.

Each committee shall consist of seven persons, including the

commissioner of transportation and the state advocate for the disabled,

or their designee, and five persons appointed by the governor including

one member from the transportation provider and three transit-disabled

persons. If the member appointed from the transportation provider ceases

to be a member of the provider, such member shall at the same time cease

to be a member of the committee. The commissioner of transportation, or

the commissioner's designee, shall serve as chairperson.

b. Members of the committee, other than the commissioner of

transportation and the state advocate for the disabled, shall serve at

the pleasure of the governor. If at any time there is a vacancy in the

membership of the committee by reason of death, resignation,

disqualification, or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled in the same

manner as the original appointment.

c. A majority of the whole number of members of the committee shall

constitute a quorum for the transaction of the committee's business. The

committee shall have the power to act by a majority vote of the members.

d. Meetings of the committee shall take place no less than once every

two months for a period of fifteen months following the effective date

of this section unless waived, in writing, by a majority vote of the

members of the committee. Within such fifteen month period, the

committee shall, in addition to its regular meetings, hold no less than

two public meetings at which the committee shall receive testimony

concerning service needs. Thereafter, regular meetings of the committee

shall take place no less than every three months unless waived, in

writing, by a majority vote of the members of the committee.

3. Committee responsibilities. a. Each committee shall, by July first,

nineteen hundred ninety-one, develop an accessible transportation

services plan to provide for accessible transportation services at a

level sufficient to meet demand in an economic and efficient manner,

which coordinates, to the maximum extent possible, accessible

fixed-route services, para-transit, accessible rapid transit, and other

transportation services available to transit-disabled persons, as

appropriate.

b. The accessible transportation services plan shall include service

criteria for the provision of para-transit services.

c. The plan shall also include:

(i) service areas and routes which shall reflect residential

distributions of transit-disabled persons and existing transportation

services operating in the transportation provider's service area that

are accessible to transit-disabled persons;

(ii) eligibility for use of para-transit;

(iii) hours and days of operation;

(iv) available financing, including farebox revenue;

(v) passenger and mileage data;

(vi) vehicle hours of operation;

(vii) a financial analysis and comparison of projected capital and

operating costs, a revenue plan to cover any additional costs within

resources otherwise available to the transportation provider and a

determination of the effectiveness of any proposed accessible

fixed-route service and alternative para-transit; and

(viii) any other information deemed appropriate. The committee shall

consult on such plan with the metropolitan planning organization, and

following such consultation, shall recommend the plan to the

transportation provider for implementation.

4. Required level of fixed-route accessibility. a. Each transportation

provider shall provide access to one hundred percent of its

regularly-operated buses that provide local, fixed-route service. To

implement this requirement on and after the effective date of this

section, all buses purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service

on the bus lines of each transportation provider shall be lift-equipped

except any bus which a provider has under contract of purchase on July

first, nineteen hundred ninety for delivery after that date. Such

lift-equipped buses shall be properly operated and maintained to

facilitate their use by transit-disabled persons.

b. The provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision shall not apply

to buses that are purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service

that have a useful life of six years or less.

5. Required level of para-transit service. a. Within thirty days after

the submission of the accessible transportation services plan, the

transportation provider shall, with respect to that portion of the plan

setting forth service criteria for para-transit service, approve such

criteria, request amendments to the criteria or reject such criteria. If

the transportation provider approves the criteria, it shall proceed to

implement such criteria. If the transportation provider requests

amendments to the criteria, the committee shall consider such request

and, no later than thirty days following such request, submit either

amended criteria or the initial criteria. Within fifteen days of such

submission, the transportation provider shall either approve or reject

the criteria, as resubmitted. If the transportation provider rejects the

criteria, it shall be subject to the provisions of paragraph b of this

subdivision. This schedule may be modified by mutual consent of the

committee and the transportation provider.

b. If a transportation provider rejects the service criteria submitted

by the committee, the transportation provider shall, subject to the

provisions of paragraphs c and d of this subdivision, provide the

following minimum level of para-transit service:

(i) For transportation providers operating up to fifty buses,

para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less

than ten percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event

less than one vehicle;

(ii) For transportation providers operating fifty-one to one hundred

buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of

no less than eight percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in

no event less than five vehicles;

(iii) For transportation providers operating one hundred one to one

hundred fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a

para-transit fleet of no less than six percent of the provider's fixed

route fleet, but in no event less than eight vehicles; and

(iv) For transportation providers operating in excess of one hundred

fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit

fleet of no less than five percent of the provider's fixed route fleet,

but in no event less than nine vehicles.

c. Each provider shall begin implementing the requirements of

paragraph a of this subdivision upon the committee's submission of an

accessible transportation service plan and shall fully implement such

requirements no later than three years thereafter; provided, however,

that each provider must fully implement such requirements by December

first, nineteen hundred ninety-four.

d. In no event shall the amount of a provider's expenditures on

para-transit services be less than the amount allocated for para-transit

services in a provider's budget for the year nineteen hundred ninety,

unless agreed to by the committee.

6. Committee reports. On or before February first, nineteen hundred

ninety-three, each committee shall submit a report to the governor, the

president pro tem of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly, which

details the progress of the committee in addressing the transportation

needs of persons with disabilities and which presents the accessible

transportation services plan developed by the committee and recommended

to the metropolitan planning organization and the transportation

provider.

7. Technical assistance. The committee shall receive technical

assistance from the metropolitan planning organization, the department

of transportation, the transportation provider, the office of the

advocate for the disabled, and any other state agency that it determines

appropriate.

8. The committee may, by vote of two-thirds of its members cease to

exist at any time after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred

ninety-five.

9. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to promulgate

regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.