A U.S. District Court has ruled that people with disabilities using special "paratransit" services have the same right as nondisabled people using public transit to "next-day" service. The Court upheld Dept. of Transportation rules requiring transit companies to schedule next-day service for people using its paratransit service who had requested it. Philadelphia's public transit system "may not rely on its own inadequacies to justify its noncompliance with the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act," said the court Jan. 8 in a strongly-worded decision.

"This means persons with disabilities are entitled to paratransit rides the next day, just as nondisabled persons get bus service when they want it. It means that a Court has recognized that violation of the federal regulation is discrimination of a civil right," says attorney Steve Gold, who handled the lawsuit for Liberty Resources, a Philadelphia independent living center.

The decision was another victory, says Gold. The court allowed an organization, Liberty Resources, to serve as plaintiff in the case -- there were no individual plaintiffs. Liberty Resources provided "an undisputed record that shows a concrete and particularized injury, specifically, expending their own time and resources in a range of ways," said the court.

The U.S. Department of Justice "filed an extremely helpful and persuasive amicus brief" in the case, said Gold. Read that brief at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/septabr.htm

Story from Philadelphia Inquirer Jan. 18, 2001. Read story.