The MBTA had agreed to take steps to insure that folks who use wheel chairs, walkers and service animals wouldn't be trapped underground when they arrive at a station with the elevator out of order. This happened to me once, and I assure you it is no fun. I arrived at Park St on the Red Line, and took the elevator up to the Green Line level, only to find the elevator to the street inoperable. I had no choice but to return home, as finding a way around this barrier would make me hopelessly late for my meeting.

For some reason the MBTA has been slow to understand that folks with physical mobility disabilities, who work, have doctors appointments, attend meetings, and so on expect to be able to use public transportation to get around.

From my observations, the MBTA has been content to simply change a service, or shut down a service, sometimes without notice, as a solution to operational and maintenance problems. They don’t worry about the barrier that is created by this. “Sorry, the elevator is not working,” is the total message I received. Gee. Now how do I get to where I am going?

The BCIL filed its complaint after repeatedly trying to work through access issues with the MBTA, without getting them to resolve this continued denial of service. The MBTA has agreed to stop denying service based on disability. However, my experience last week shows that the MBTA still doesn't get it!

Last week I was denied service by four MBTA bus drivers on the Dudley-Harvard #1 line, the “Mass Ave bus.” Each of these drivers stated that it was only at their discretion that a person with a disability brings their service dog onto the bus with them. They stated that this was MBTA policy.

One driver refused to allow entry, slamming the doors shut and pulling away, leaving me standing in the pouring rain. Another driver took my fare, and then, as I went to enter the rear door because the bus was crowded, he slammed the doors on my dog's nose, and drove away. A witness has come forward in this incident.

On May 9th, a third driver refused to drive with me on the bus, and all the passengers were removed, while the “inspector” tried to find out the “procedures.” I was informed that “a disabled person cannot have a service dog on the bus unless it has either a red or a yellow collar.”

I politely explained to him the federal service dog law under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He then made another phone call, and lucky for me, he came back and apologized, and said I was right. He then helped me to take the next bus that came along. Time for me to catch a bus to Harvard Square, approximately one hour!

I was not so lucky in the fourth incident, when the driver of bus #2259 decided to lock me up inside the bus and call the police. She was angry that I had provided another passenger, who uses a wheelchair, with the name and address of the Mass Commission Against Discrimination. A third passenger, who lent me a pen, was not harassed, and he was not disabled, either. When the police arrived I asked if I was free to go, and they said yes.

The purpose of this report is to inform folks of the responsibility of the MBTA to provide service to all their customers. The MBTA must provide training so individual bus drivers do not discriminate against persons based on their disability.

This is a civil rights issue, which the MBTA seems not to understand. They mistakenly believe that treating persons with disabilities the same as other folks is the way to stop discriminating. That is a gross misunderstanding. What the MBTA must do is “identify barriers” that prevent folks with disabilities from access to the MBTA, and take appropriate steps to “remove those barriers.”

What are barriers? Well, some are architectural, like steps, or seats; some, according to the Department of Justice, are “barriers in the general environment” like a “no pets allowed” sign; but the most serious barriers are referred to as “attitudinal barriers.”

The MBTA needs to look at its attitude toward persons with disabilities, and begin a comprehensive program to address the latent bias directed at those whose abilities make access to the MBTA impossible without the removal of barriers.

I might add, as an observation of common sense, that the new million dollar buses, with low floors, are useless unless the drivers slow down, and “curb the bus” so the purpose of the low floor can be realized.

[The Cambridge police log indicates only that the bus driver reported being photographed by a female passenger and that after police arrived, the passenger left the bus.]