Paratransit

Last January, U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. laid down the law to SEPTA and its hit-or-miss paratransit division, ordering the agency to provide reliable transportation to disabled riders - or else. Last week, the judge gave his ruling a sharp set of teeth. He set out specific ways SEPTA must comply with his groundbreaking interpretation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Promises are not enough, he said. Starting in November, SEPTA must fulfill virtually all paratransit ride requests - or else pay a $30 penalty for every trip denial exceeding five per month.

Two paratransit commuters yesterday criticized SEPTA's paratransit program and said Philadelphia's disabled community at large shared their scorn. John Pereira, a blind massage therapist from Northeast Philadelphia, said he has problems with about half the paratransit rides he makes. "I've driven with drivers who are drunk. I could tell by smelling, or by the car weaving, especially the vans. I'd say one driver out of every five is bad," claimed Pereira. He has never been in an accident, "but I had a couple of close calls judging by the way they stopped," he added.

SEPTA has agreed to pay for cab rides for its regular paratransit service users, stranded at home for the past week because of a 70 percent cutback in the system. The agreement, reached yesterday and approved by U.S. District Judge Edmund V. Ludwig, resulted from a lawsuit filed Monday against SEPTA by Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania and three handicapped riders. The suit asked Ludwig to order SEPTA to restore paratransit operations to 100 percent capacity immediately. SEPTA cut the paratransit system from 900 trips daily to 300 July 1 when two out of four independent contractors failed to secure liability insurance.

They had horror stories to tell. Dick Schum and his wife, Gerri, told of the treatment their brain-damaged son, Ralph, 36, has suffered while in the care of paratransit drivers. "The drivers have low IQs, on the same level with clients. They can't follow directions, read maps, keep to a time schedule, and they lie constantly (to parents)," said Dick Schum. "The workshop my son attends on Linden Avenue is 15 minutes from our home. Yet drivers take four hours to get him back to our house.

The 27-year-old woman disabled by cerebral palsy said she tried to say goodbye to the Paratransit driver after he dropped her off at her Somerton apartment, but he refused to leave. The woman said Joseph Thompson, 35, of 17th Street near Westmoreland, disconnected the battery on her wheelchair, pushed her into the apartment and molested her on Jan. 20. "He took advantage of the most vulnerable in our society," Assistant District Attorney Robyn Schwartz said yesterday. After the victim told her story to Common Pleas Judge Pamela Pryor Cohen, Thompson was convicted of indecent assault, burglary and trespass.

A labor dispute involving workers of a firm that operates some SEPTA Paratransit vans was expected to continue to disrupt Paratransit service today. Paratransit is used mainly by physically disabled people, some of whom require vehicles equipped with wheelchair lifts. The door-to-door service has stopped taking reservations for rides, which are required to be made a week in advance, said Robert Corressel, SEPTA special services manager. All Paratransit trips other than those for work, medical appointments and school, were canceled yesterday, he said.

Donna Kovalevich had a simple message for New Jersey Transit officials last week: "We need more money. " As director of the Senior Citizen United Community Services, Kovalevich helps coordinate Sen-Han Transit, Camden County's transportation program for older and handicapped residents. Sen-Han received almost $640,000 in state transit funds last year and provided 152,000 free rides to individuals handicapped or 60 and older. But, Kovalevich said, "We have 83,000 senior citizens in the county that are eligible for services, and we're having problems meeting the need.

Montgomery County officials are considering operating a transportation service for elderly and handicapped residents rather than accepting SEPTA's offer to provide door-to-door van service only in the eastern portions of the county. At a meeting yesterday, the county commissioners said they had authorized transportation consultants Carter Goble Associates of Columbia, S.C., to begin a five-week study of the transit needs of Montgomery County's elderly and handicapped. Federally supported transit agencies, such as SEPTA, are required to provide service for handicapped riders throughout their areas, according to government regulations enacted in 1986.

Drowned out by shouts of protest from disabled transit riders, SEPTA's board voted unanimously yesterday for a four-step series of boosts in its ParaTransit fares - 25 cents more each year through 1995. For the first time, the fare increase will require registered handicapped users to pay a premium over regular SEPTA fares for the door-to-door service available through the ParaTransit program. Instead of the one-token ($1.05) or $1.50 cash fares now in effect, ParaTransit will charge one token plus 25 cents, or $1.75 cash, beginning Sept.

In an article Aug. 4, a paratransit passenger mentioned he had "driven with drivers who are drunk" and that one driver had actually asked him to smoke crack cocaine with him. Did he report these drivers to anyone? Drunken driving is a very real and serious problem in our society today. We cannot keep waiting around for tragedies before people are willing to speak up and take a stand against these abusers. Riders on commercial vehicles should report suspected abuse to the companies.

THE PROBLEM: Tom is late. Behind the wheel, he shakes his head and sighs as he yanks another Marlboro Red out of its pack. "Wanna know why I smoke so much?" he asks me. It's 5:25 p.m., and we're running almost 40 minutes behind SEPTA's afternoon paratransit schedule. After this drop-off in Media, we'll get to the last pickup 36 minutes late. Tom knows the customer will be upset, but there's nothing he can do. He's just following his manifest - a full day's schedule of pickups and drop-offs at specific times - over which he has no control.

City Howl is a Web site that lets citizens post raves or rants about city services (thecityhowl.com ). THE PROBLEM: Richard Greene is fed up with CCT Connect, SEPTA's paratransit service, which provides transportation to senior citizens and people with disabilities. Greene, who uses a wheelchair due to a condition called cervical stenosis, wrote a review on City Howl ( www.thecityhowl.com ) saying that his rides are often late - from 30 minutes to an hour after the scheduled pickup time.

Highlights of SEPTA plan to be discussed at a public hearing today: Raising the base cash fare from $2 to $2.50 and increasing the average price of all other SEPTA fares by 25 percent. Reducing weekday service on all city and suburban routes, including regional rail, by 20 percent. Suspending weekend service on all city and suburban, regional rail and paratransit routes Eliminating approximately 1,400 SEPTA employee positions in response to reduced levels of service.

A Montgomery County man has been sentenced to probation for his part in a scheme to defraud SEPTA of more than $700,000 by billing the agency for paratransit rides that never occurred. Senwan Wiah, 39, of West Norriton, was sentenced to five years probation and was ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution. Montgomery County Judge Maurino Rossanese sentenced Wiah late last week. Wiah was the former project manager for King Paratransit Service of Upper Merion. In November 2001, Wiah was one of four employees charged with theft, conspiracy and deceptive business practices for billing SEPTA for "ghost rides," according to court records.

Sitting in a room named after the woman who began their legal crusade nearly a decade ago, advocates for disabled riders yesterday celebrated a recent court ruling that forces SEPTA to improve access to paratransit service or face steep fines. "We are ecstatic that the judge has said, 'No more trip denials,' " said Linda Richman, the vice president of Liberty Resources and chief plaintiff in the landmark federal lawsuit that forced SEPTA to abide by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Last week, U.S. Eastern District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. dictated exactly how - by March 2002 - SEPTA must provide for virtually all disabled people's trip requests within 24 hours.

Last January, U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. laid down the law to SEPTA and its hit-or-miss paratransit division, ordering the agency to provide reliable transportation to disabled riders - or else. Last week, the judge gave his ruling a sharp set of teeth. He set out specific ways SEPTA must comply with his groundbreaking interpretation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Promises are not enough, he said. Starting in November, SEPTA must fulfill virtually all paratransit ride requests - or else pay a $30 penalty for every trip denial exceeding five per month.

A federal judge has ordered SEPTA's paratransit service to get serious about scheduling passenger pickups - or start shelling out large fines. In a victory for disabled riders, U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. has dictated how the transit agency must schedule all such rides virtually without fail, as he had ordered in a nationally groundbreaking interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in January. Beginning Nov. 1, SEPTA must pay a $30 penalty for every trip denial exceeding a total of five per month.

A former Philadelphia paratransit driver convicted of raping a woman with cerebral palsy was sentenced in Bucks County Court Friday to serve 20 to 40 years in state prison. David Desouza, 49, sat motionless as Judge Alan M. Rubenstein sentenced him to two consecutive 10- to 20-year terms for rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. Rubenstein cited the crime's "heinousness, its sheer, unbridled depravity, and the absolute horror visited upon the victim. " Rubenstein told Desouza: "You probably believed she would never tell anyone about this, and if she did, no one would believe her. . . . But she was not the perfect victim.

It should not have taken a federal court order, a Montgomery County criminal probe and public protests for SEPTA to take greater responsibility for providing reliable transit service to people with disabilities. Unfortunately, it has. Fortunately, SEPTA truly could, at long last, be getting its paratransit house in order. SEPTA has a raggedy record for how it has managed its transit services for disabled riders, called paratransit. The service requires flexible routes and vehicles outfitted with equipment such as wheelchair lifts.