The MTA must pay whatever it costs to install an elev💧ator in any subway station that undergoes maj♐or renovations, because of a court ruling involving a station in The Bronx, the feds said Wednesday.
Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said the transit agency “is now on notice” that it can’t ignore the needs of disabled riders while fixing up decrepit facilities that aren’t yet accessible to people who can’t walk on their own.
“Individuals with disabilities have the same rights to use the New York City subway system as every other person,” Berman said in a written statement.
“The Court’s decision marks the end of the MTA treating people with disabilities as second-class citizens.”
Manhattan federal Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled Tuesday that a ꦯproject that replaced the stairs at the Middletown Road station on the 6 line had triggered♋ a provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act known as the “Accessible Alterations Rule.”
The rule mandates that any construction work which affects the “usability” of a mass-transit facility must also address the needs of “individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs.”
The MTA argued that it shouldn’t have to abide by the rule if making the station fully accessible was “disproportionately expensive,” but Ramos ruled that it must do so “no matter the cost.”
Ramos’ decision came in response to a discrimination suit filed in 2016 by two non-profit advocacy groups, Bronx Independent Living Services and Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York, and two disabled men, Robert Hardy and Rodolfo Diaz.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s Office joined the case to oppose the MTA last year.
The federal Department of Transportation refused to fund the renovation of the Middletown Road station because it didn’t include plans for an elevator, and the MTA instead paid on its own for the work, which was completed in May 2014.
The MTA didn’t immediately return a request for comment.