Disabled Austinites Take Capital Metro To Court

CBS 42
June 25,2008

Disabled Capital Metro Lawsuit

A federal judge in Austin heard arguments Wednesday on whether Capital Metro may reduce its services to people with disabilities.

Advocates for the disabled sued the Austin's public transportation agency. They are unhappy the bus company wants to scale back its taxi voucher program.

The judge is deciding whether to prohibit Capital Metro from reducing its services to people with disabilities.

Capital Metro would like to see more disabled riders use regular buses and cut down on the use of cabs and implement a $10 penalty for cancellations and no-shows.

The transit provider says it needs to make changes to rein in spending. The bus line says it's spending about $27 million a year on special transit services. That represents nearly 20 percent of the annual budget which is being spent on about two percent of its ridership.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires Capital Metro to provide disabled riders with similar services to what the rest of its riders are getting.