At the May 22 SacRT board meeting, Dan Allison spoke for STAR during public comment on the issues in our status post: STAR Update, one of which was continuing concerns about the deployable ramps that are offered for access from the new platforms to the new cars. The difference is about six inches. Jeffery Tardaguila also raised concerns about the ramps, that the were probably too steep to be used by some mobility device users. In addition, there a concern about whether blind and vision limited riders could find the buttons to deploy the ramps. We have been told that the train operator will look to see if people are having issues finding the ramps or deploying them, and will remotely deploy them from the cab, but it seems strange that riders must rely on the operator to board. Isn’t one of the main points of the modernization project to make it so that people with disabilities are treated equally with all other riders?
Siemens, the manufacturer of the new light rail cars, seems like a reputable vendor. Would they be selling a design that doesn’t work for disabled riders, that is not compliant with ADA requirements? We think not, and hope not, but the response of SacRT to these concerns leaves us wondering. We searched the Internet to see if there were any photos of these Siemens S700 cars with ramps deployed. We could not find any, from SacRT, Siemens, or others.
Board member Phil Serna asked General Manager Henry Li if the deployable ramps had been tested for ADA compliance, and if that testing had included local disability advocates. Li did not know if testing had been done, or would be done, but said he would look into it. This is a rather discouraging answer. Light rail modernization is currently SacRT’s flagship project. Several cars have already been received, and are being tested a closed section the Blue Line. Yet no one seems to know if the cars had been tested for usability.
SacRT staff made the decision to purchase low floor rail cars with deployable ramps, and construct platforms eight inches above rail, rather than the industry standard level boarding rail cars, with platforms fourteen inches above rail, without board, Mobility Access Council, or public input. Was this a mistake? It appears so. SacRT staff appear to have made a concerted effort to hide that these are not level boarding rail cars. They used the phrase ‘level boarding’ at board meetings. The Network Integration Plan clearly identifies level boarding as the system goal. It was not until STAR raised concerns that staff finally admitted that these were not level boarding designs.
Our posts about low floor cars and level boarding are available at Category: SacRT light rail modernization and Tag: level-boarding. SacRT’s Light Rail Modernization page is at https://www.sacrt.com/apps/modernization/.
Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) 