{"id":360628,"date":"2026-09-30T09:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360628\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T09:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:40:17","slug":"life-does-not-stop-at-5-p-m-disability-advocates-demand-mta-push-back-access-a-ride-reservation-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360628\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Life does not stop at 5 p.m.\u2019: Disability advocates demand MTA push back Access-a-Ride reservation deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of disabled transit riders and accessibility advocates want the MTA to push the reservation deadline for its Access-a-Ride paratransit service<\/a> several hours back, from 5 p.m. until 11:59 p.m., the night before the day of their scheduled trip.<\/p>\n

One after another, during the MTA Board\u2019s New York City Transit Committee meeting on Sept. 28, the riders and advocates said the current 5 p.m. deadline for booking an Access-a-Ride for the next day is far too early. They said they need greater flexibility in scheduling trips to account for last-minute errands, doctor\u2019s appointments, family obligations, or other events.<\/p>\n

Unlike the subways and busways, which run frequent service on schedules, Access-a-Ride only provides door-to-door service with its accessible vans upon request. For most paratransit users, this requires booking a trip the day before, although a small number of riders have access to an on-demand version of the service.<\/p>\n

One Access-a-Ride user, Elizabeth Valdez, who is also the systems advocate at the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled (BCID), testified that the reservation window should be widened because \u201clife does not stop at 5 p.m.\u201d for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us have unpredictable schedules,\u201d she said. \u201cAppointments become available at 5 p.m. Obligations change. Family emergencies happen. Sometimes, we don\u2019t know until the evening that we need transportation the following day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez said that closing reservations at 5 p.m. could lead disabled riders to cancel appointments, miss obligations, or pay out of pocket for other forms of transportation \u201cthat are not financially feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monica Bartley, another Access-a-Ride user and a member of the group Disabled in Action<\/a>, said the 5 p.m. deadline makes it difficult for her to \u201cbe spontaneous\u201d in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I simply forget to reserve my ride by 5 p.m.,\u201d Bartley said. \u201cIf I receive an invitation later that evening to meet a friend, attend an event, or do something unexpected, I may have to turn it down because I can\u2019t arrange transportation\u2026Everyone should have the ability to make plans when opportunities come up. Access-a-Ride riders deserve that same freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartley also called for the MTA to expand its on-demand Access-a-Ride service, dubbed E-Hail<\/a>, which allows some paratransit users to book trips in real time via taxis or for-hire vehicle services, such as Uber and Lyft. The MTA has been piloting E-Hail for several years, but has yet to make it available to most paratransit users.<\/p>\n

MTA pushes back on later reservations<\/p>\n

When reached for comment, the MTA referred amNewYork to remarks its senior vice president of paratransit, Rachel Cohen, made during the board meeting.<\/p>\n

Cohen said that the MTA needs to gather requests by 5 p.m. in order to schedule routes that will ensure the most reliable service the next day. She said those considerations include whether each rider needs a van with a wheelchair lift, the size of their party, and where they are going.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for that next day booking is that every night my team is putting together a bespoke schedule for the next day of 50,000 trips,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cAnd we need that information, so that we can get everybody on time to get where they need to go on the day of service.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Joe Rappaport, executive director of BCID, pushed back on Cohen\u2019s points. He argued that the MTA must embrace the GPS technology utilized by ride-hail apps, which allow them to plan and adjust trips in real time, for planning Access-a-Ride routes, rather than continuing to use the system she described.<\/p>\n

\u201cGPS came into common use more than a quarter century ago, in 2000,\u201d Rappaport said. \u201cUber and Lyft came into New York almost 15 years ago, using GPS to allow riders to connect with drivers and get a ride within minutes. And yet other than a select handful, Access-a-Ride riders must reserve a ride the day before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plea from disabled riders and advocates appeared to resonate with at least one MTA board member.\n<\/p>\n

The member, former Department of City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick, asked Cohen: \u201cIs there any way to add some more flexibility\u201d in having a later deadline than 5 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels early, at least from a rider\u2019s perspective,\u201d Garodnick said.\n<\/p>\n

Cohen said she and her team are always looking at how technology can improve service.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can take the feedback certainly and look at that process,\u201d she said. \u201cBut sitting here today, I don\u2019t think we can commit to a particular moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of disabled transit riders and accessibility advocates want the MTA to push the reservation deadline for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[134017,134018,23103,134019,134020,134021,134022,134023,141,9,24,63,122,124,123,134024],"class_list":["post-360628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-access-a-ride","tag-brooklyn-center-for-the-independence-of-the-disabled","tag-dan-garodnick","tag-disabled-in-action","tag-e-hail","tag-elizabeth-valdez","tag-joe-rappaport","tag-monica-bartley","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-rachel-cohen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360628","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=360628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}