Despite more than 7 million Americans having some form of vision loss, many places in our communities are still not accessible for people who cannot drive and rely on public transportation. Recently, WBFO's Emyle Watkins spoke with Chris Minkler, the president of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind about some of the barriers Western New Yorkers who are blind or low vision face in accessing public transportation.
PLAIN LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION: There are over 7 million people in the United States who are blind or who have vision loss. Some people with vision loss rely on services to drive them or allow them to get around their community. These services can include public transportation, Uber, Lyft and cabs. Some people with disabilities use a public transit service, called paratransit, which takes them from location to location, rather than from bus stop to bus stop. But these forms of transportation don't always work the way they are supposed to. WBFO's Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins recently spoke with Chris Minkler, the president of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. Emyle and Chris discuss barriers people who are blind or have vision loss face in trying to get around their community. This includes limits to where paratransit goes, what times paratransit is open, and Uber drivers who deny service animals.
TRANSCRIPT:
This is a rush transcript provided by a contractor and may be updated over time to be more accurate.
Emyle Watkins: Hi, I am Emyle Watkins, and this is the WBFO Disabilities Beat. More than 7 million Americans have some form of vision loss or are blind, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But despite so many people living with a vision disability, many barriers exist to just getting around your community. Recently I spoke with Chris Minkler, the president of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, about some of the barriers Western New Yorkers who are blind or low vision face in accessing public transportation. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Chris Minkler: Paratransit is transportation for people with disabilities. It's run by the NFTA, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. You have to apply, contact the paratransit office at (716) 855-7239, and you have to be approved for service. It's $4 a trip, or if you get the card, which covers 20 trips, it comes out to $3.50 a trip. They go to many locations throughout Erie and Niagara County. I use paratransit frequently. I know many people who use paratransit.
Emyle Watkins: What are some of the barriers with paratransit? I know you have to schedule in advance. I know it does not go everywhere.
Chris Minkler: You do have to schedule in advance. You can't call the same day as your trip. You can call the day before or a couple of days before or a week before. Currently, it will only go up to three quarters of a mile from a bus line. So where you're being picked up from and your destination must be within three quarters of a mile from any bus line. So there's a bill in the State Senate and assembly that if it passed, would extend that service to up to three miles from a bus line. So this, if passed, would allow us to go to more job sites or doctor's appointments, shopping, a variety of places, because under the current restriction, there are some places that we can't go through paratransit. So we have to go to where it would drop us off and then get a ride from Uber or a cab or somewhere else to get to the rest of the distance.
Emyle Watkins: Are Uber and Lyft always reliable for you?
Chris Minkler: No. There have been issues with Uber, particularly from guide dog users being denied trips, and we're having a big protest in San Francisco for this issue.
Emyle Watkins: Why are people being denied trips because they have a guide dog? Are people thinking that it's just a pet or they don't want a dog in their car?
Chris Minkler: I think a lot of drivers just don't want to have a dog in their car and they'll just deny the rider. We have complained about this and Uber has a policy that if that happens, they'll investigate and the driver will be taken off their service. But unfortunately this does continue to happen with Uber.
Emyle Watkins: Have there been any places you personally haven't been able to go because of paratransit's restrictions?
Chris Minkler: Yes, mainly because of the time restriction, depending on where you live. I live in Williamsville, so I can only receive service up to a certain time, up to 6:00 p.m. So in the evening, there are places I can't go. Also on the weekends I can't receive service. So it really depends on where you live in Erie or Niagara County on where you can go and what times you can go.
Emyle Watkins: I know that Stephanie Speaker has been working for years on expanding paratransit, so it would go instead of three fourths of a mile, three miles beyond a mainline route. And I know that a lot of advocates have been pushing for extended service hours, same day scheduling for you, what do you think the biggest priority is right now?
Chris Minkler: Extending the service, so they may have to hire more drivers and get more vehicles. But extending that service would allow us to get to more locations, to more job sites, doctor's appointments, shopping, variety of places. That would help a great deal if we could extend the service.
Emyle Watkins: So the distance is really the biggest issue at this moment.
Chris Minkler: Yes.
Emyle Watkins: In general, what kind of advocacy has NFB been doing in relation to paratransit?
Chris Minkler: We go to Albany every year, and this has been one of our recent priorities in the state Senate and Assembly this year. There was a bill in the state Senate sponsored by Senator [Tim] Kennedy when he was a senator, and now is sponsored by Senator Jeremy Cooney from Rochester. He's the chairman of the Transportation Committee in the New York State Senate and in the assembly sponsored by assembly member [Phil] Steck. And so we've been doing advocacy work. We had both in-person and Zoom meetings in March of this year, and we were able to see over a hundred senators and assembly members and their staff.
Emyle Watkins: You can listen to the Disabilities Beat segment on demand, view a transcript, and plain language description for every episode on our website at wbfo.org. I'm Emyle Watkins. Thanks for listening.
