July 26, 2001

Inadequate lift-equipped buses, costly van service and broken seat belts were some of the complaints raised at a public hearing Wednesday night by MARTA's handicapped riders.

"Public transportation gives you lots of freedom so you don't have to depend on family and friends to get around," said Vivian Huggins, 60, a frequent passenger of the paratransit vans that provide door-to-door service for the elderly and disabled. "But the service needs to be better. It has to be better."

MARTA did not respond to the complaints raised at the meeting, but a representative was at the meeting to take notes.

"There are federal standards and we are in compliance with federal standards," said Steen Miles, MARTA spokeswoman. "This was not our meeting, but representatives were there to listen in and take into advisement any suggestions made."

The Environmental Justice Resource Center of Clark Atlanta University and Fulton County Commissioner William Edwards (District 7) co-sponsored the meeting to urge MARTA to upgrade services. About 40 people attended.

"The metro transit system is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and can do more," Robert D. Bullard of the Environmental Justice Resource Center said before the meeting.

The meeting grew out of a complaint filed in November against MARTA by the Santa Fe Villas Tenant Association in south Fulton County.

The association, which represents an apartment complex where 70 percent of the residents are disabled, charges that MARTA's service to the disabled doesn't meet ADA guidelines.

The greatest inadequacies are in the minority communities, the association claims. That complaint is under investigation by the Federal Transit Administration.

According to Miles, MARTA has 710 buses that serve metro Atlanta, and 640 are accessible to the handicapped --- 367 have wheelchair lifts and 273 have ramps. MARTA also has 77 paratransit vans.