TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Transportation

Some Airlines Are Still Damaging Wheelchairs at Ridiculously High Rate

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Senator Duckworth in a wheelchair at a. Democratic eventFirst, the good news: Since U.S. airlines began tracking and reporting the number of wheelchairs/mobility scooters damaged in December of 2018, there’s a clear improvement! But there’s still a lot of room for improvement. At TravelAbility Insider, we’ve been tracking the numbers and, in honor of the law’s most outspoken and effective advocate, Senator Tammy Duckworth, we’ve named it The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report. Here’s the short story:

American   7.2% to 4.68%
Frontier      5.31% to 2.31%
Jet Blue     4.01% to  1.39%
Southwest 6.46% to 1.28%

 

The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report

 

 

 

Who Will Fare Better—Disabled Passengers Using Uber or Lyft?

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Successful rideshare businesses seem to require one-part basic etiquette, two parts business strategy and of course, a customer in need of the product.  Here’s TravelAbility’s take on how both companies are meeting both short and long-term demand from people with disabilities:

OUR TAKE ON UBER The company has started to make drivers aware of the proper etiquette, offering a video and tips from Open Doors that seems easy to review and remember. That hasn’t protected them from lawsuits, however. Wheelchair users, in particular, are suing the company for discrimination, saying there are not enough rides available to serve them. These suits are non-monetary and meant to raise awareness. READ MORE

At the 2019 M-Enabling conference in Washington, D.C., panelist Malcom Glenn, head of Global Policy, Accessibility and Underserved Communities at Uber said the company is focused on boosting the number of accessible vehicles they have on the road. As for their future plans, they are particularly excited about the huge potential of self-driving cars to help give people with disabilities newfound independence.

OUR TAKE ON LYFT The company has added Access Mode to their app. In certain markets, disabled passengers can book a ride that suits their needs. (If Lyft can’t accommodate a passenger, they offer referrals to comparable services nearby. LYFT is (very strategically) also meeting passengers where they are, including the growing healthcare market. Lyft partners with hospitals, senior centers and other care facilities to offer rides to appointments and errands and sees the healthcare market as an ecosystem that is good for patients and good for business. Lyft says it curtails no shows a doctors’ offices and reduces cost by 32% on average. READ MORE

Here is an additional piece on how Uber and Lyft are overhauling their Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle Programs.

 

Which Bus Company Paid $2.6 Million To People with Disabilities? Find Out Why

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the words bus and a green light
Since 2016, Greyhound has paid nearly $3 million to disabled bus passengers who sued for experiencing disability discrimination while traveling—or attempting to travel—on their buses. The payments were part of a broader settlement from 2016 resolving the Department’s complaint that Greyhound Lines Inc., the nation’s largest provider of intercity bus transportation, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide full and equal transportation services to passengers with disabilities. The alleged violations included failing to maintain accessibility features on its bus fleets such as lifts and securement devices; failing to provide passengers with disabilities assistance boarding and exiting buses at rest stops and failing to allow customers traveling in wheelchairs to complete their reservations online. “The Department of Justice is committed to eliminating disability-based discrimination in transportation services,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “This settlement ensures equal travel opportunities for those with disabilities through holistic reform,” reports the U.S. Department of Justice website. Learn more about ADA regulations for businesses, here.

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Google Goes Accessible with Routes for Wheelchair Users. Plus: More Options

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birds eye view of planes and houses

The tool: Google maps that integrate wheelchair accessible public transit routes into its directions feature.

The reviews: Cautiously optimistic, according to a New Mobility review.

The buzz: Few travel industry folks we spoke with even knew about the Google tool, which could become a helpful solution, particularly for city wheelers.

Who its best for right now: According the New Mobility review, “Users in six cities – New York, Boston, Tokyo, London, Mexico City, and Sydney – can search for directions between locations, choose public transit as the method of travel and then select “wheelchair accessible” from the route-options menu. As with all public transit searches in Maps, a selection of routes will appear, but now only routes with accessible stations and modes of transit will be included.” 
READ MORE

Another option: Project Sidewalk, a crowdsourced navigation tool that gamifies collecting data has been developed at the University of Washington Makeability Lab, was successfully tested in Washington, D.C. and according to their Twitter feed, has launched in Seattle with massive success. A recent tweet via @projesidwalk: “Project Sidewalk is now officially live in Seattle! In our first week, we collected over 10,000 sidewalk accessibility labels. Help us get to 20,000! You can participate from all seven continents–all you need is an Internet connection & a laptop!

 READ MORE

Our vote: Project Sidewalk, which looks like it’s off to a promising start.

Editor’s note: Don’t confuse Project Sidewalk with another (controversial) initiative from Alphabet called Sidewalk Labs, which will collect data on commuter routes in Portland. (This piece in Geekwire makes no mention of tracking wheelchair users or routes.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senator Duckworth’s Wheelchair Advocacy Will Not Be Crushed

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Senator Duckworth in a wheelchair at a. Democratic event

Change can and does happen, even in Washington, D.C.—at least if you are the invincible Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois). As a direct result of legislation introduced by Senator Duckworth in 2018, the Department of Transportation (DOT) revised the Air Travel Consumer Report, requiring airlines to disclose the number of damaged wheelchairs and scooters monthly. That number hadn’t been previously available (wheelchairs had been reported as ‘luggage’ in the past). Senator Duckworth is a longtime advocate for people with disabilities (see earlier posts)

We applaud you, Senator Duckworth, for helping to measure what matters with our all-new “Duckworth Damage Report,’ below.


chart of totals airline chair damage for 3 mostThe fine print: U.S. airlines with at least 0.5 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues must report the damage to any chair or mobility scoot transported in its aircraft cargo departments. This report covers December 2018, January & February 2019. Year to Date numbers reflects the change in reporting required by 14 CFR 234 and consolidated data from branded codeshares. Source: Department of Transportation Statistics Bureau