 | | Alex Elegudin, the M.T.A.'s Senior Advisor for Systemwide Accessibility. Lily Landes for The New York Times | |
| Good morning. |
| Subway and bus riders, say hello to the M.T.A.’s new accessibility chief: Alex Elegudin. |
| He’s in charge of improving accessibility for subway and bus riders and Access-A-Ride service as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $19 billion Fast Forward Plan. |
| We met Mr. Elegudin last week to talk about access at stations. We also asked him a few questions from New York Today readers. His responses have been condensed and lightly edited. |
| The Times: How would you rate the M.T.A. as a wheelchair user? |
| Mr. Elegudin: The M.T.A. has come a long way, but there are very large gaps in certain places. [Mr. Elegudin confessed that he once missed a final in college because of a long Access-A-Ride trip.] With Andrew Byford, the president of New York City Transit, coming in, the conversation has changed from incremental improvements to “we need to do this in a big way now.” Sheer, high-volume, full accessibility across the system. And Mr. Byford said it loud and proud. |
| The Times: What’s the first issue you’re taking on? |
| Mr. Elegudin: How we treat our customers with disabilities. Specifically, how we engage them on decisions. As a wheelchair user, the M.T.A. would often do things or make decisions that we would see and we would be like, “Nobody spoke to us about that. No one included us in that.” And that’s one of the first things we’re going to change. |
| Niki Singh, 47, of Washington Heights asks: What is the M.T.A.’s goal in terms of accessibility? |
| Mr. Elegudin: Full accessibility. That means ultimately, at some point in time, we would love for everything to be accessible. In a more granular sense, the Fast Forward plan calls for 50 new accessible stations in five years. The plan prioritizes elevators so that in five years no one is more than two stops away from an accessible station. [Currently, 118 subway stations out of 472 are wheelchair accessible.] |
| Jessica Murray, 38, of the East Village asks: How will you make sure that people with sensory and cognitive disabilities can access and understand transit information? |
| Mr. Elegudin: That’s something that technology can help with. We’re looking into beacon technology, creating beacons that can be linked to an app and help guide people through the stations. For the hearing-impaired, it’s making sure that signage is right and that we have screens that can allow people to know what’s going on. For the visually impaired, it’s very important to have audible announcements. These are things that are in discussion and plans are in motion. |
| The Times: When an escalator or elevator is out, whom can I report it to? |
| Mr. Elegudin: We are doing our best to put a huge focus on that, because if those escalators or elevators are not running, it’s like they’re not there at all. The M.T.A. has a new initiative called the Group Station Manager Initiative. About 20 or so station managers will be assigned to stations in given districts and they will be responsible from everything from cleanliness to making sure that elevator and escalators are fixed quickly. And as a reminder, every elevator has a help button that contacts the control center or the appropriate person. |
| The Times: How do you plan on engaging disabled New Yorkers? |
| Mr. Elegudin: Candidly, people with disabilities have been left out of the conversation for a long time. Both out of the conversation and out of the system. We’re going to be doing a lot more meetings, and not just here but out in the community where people with disabilities live. And were going to be listening. I plan to do ride-alongs with advocates, and get out there in the system and learn in the field. |
| Here’s what else is happening: |