{"id":309971,"date":"2026-07-30T17:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/309971\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:33:08","slug":"mta-and-disability-advocates-settle-long-running-elevator-accessibility-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/309971\/","title":{"rendered":"MTA and disability advocates settle long-running elevator accessibility suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lawsuit involving the MTA<\/a> and disability rights advocates regarding out-of-service elevators<\/a> has finally been settled after nearly a decade of litigation, the transit agency and a coalition of advocacy groups announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The announcement was made at a special ceremony during a board meeting at the MTA headquarters in Lower Manhattan on July 29.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA longstanding dispute<\/a> between the disability advocate community and the MTA got resolved in the last couple of weeks,\u201d MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. \u201cI\u2019m just thrilled that we put another piece of litigation behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleged that the MTA, which is state-run, did not appropriately accommodate riders when elevators became out-of-service. The settlement follows lengthy litigation in both the federal district court and the Court of Appeals regarding what steps the MTA needs to take when elevators are out of service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lieber thanked everyone for participating in the ongoing goal of making the subway system accessible to all.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud at the MTA that many of the issues that were raised, we\u2019ve made significant improvements in those areas,\u201d the transit boss added. \u201cElevator availability is in a very different place than it was when the litigation began. Many of the things we\u2019re joining forces on and we\u2019re able to commit to are things that we\u2019re going to continue doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The settlement resolves concerns around Judge George Daniels\u2019 dismissal of the MTA\u2019s request to dismiss the case, finding that the agency had not provided enough evidence to show that its elevator outage notifications and employee training adequately accommodate riders with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the settlement: New signage, employee training<\/p>\n

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and co-counsel Sheppard filed the class-action suit in 2017 on behalf of disability rights groups and wheelchair users. It targeted subway stations with elevators and was filed alongside a separate lawsuit over stations without elevators, which led the MTA to agree to install elevators in 95% of subway stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis settlement hones in on the issues that can provide immediate relief to people with disabilities trying to navigate the complex system that is the MTA while we continue to work towards 95% of stations being accessible under the first agreement,\u201d said Victoria Pilger, staff attorney with DRA.<\/p>\n

In response to the settlement, the MTA will have to expand how it alerts riders about elevator outages. New signs will provide information on alternate accessible routes, while digital screens, the MTA website and app will offer real-time outage updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency will also have to make more announcements about the outages. Platform announcements will be made every 15 minutes for long-term outages, while subway trains will announce outages expected to last more than 14 days. Signs at street level will also alert riders to long-term outages and elevator replacement projects.<\/p>\n

The settlement also requires mandatory accessibility training for MTA employees.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case has had its ups and downs, but we\u2019re so pleased that all riders, disabled and everyone else, now will have a better chance of finding working elevators in the subways,\u201d said Joe Rappaport, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled. \u201cWe applaud the MTA, the other plaintiffs and allies and the attorneys representing us for their dedication in settling this crucial civil rights case.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this point in time, the settlement must now be approved by Judge Daniels in the Southern District of New York, who has overseen the case.<\/p>\n

The advocates said they anticipate taking the first step toward approval \u201cin the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lawsuit involving the MTA and disability rights advocates regarding out-of-service elevators has finally been settled after nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[117236,117237,2423,117238,9,56,63,65,64,1210],"class_list":["post-309971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-disability-rights-advocates","tag-elevators-in-nyc-subways","tag-janno-lieber","tag-mta-lawsuits-about-accessibility","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nyc-transit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}