Amtrak may have a standing reimbursable agreement with Boston or Washington/Baltimore area commuter authorities to borrow commuter rail cars on short notice in these situations. To clarify this point, the NPRM proposed adding to @ 37.167 a new paragraph spelling out this obligation, which would apply to private as well as public transportation entities. We believe the changes to the process suggested in the NPRM-concerning the ability of the various DOT operating administrations to make these determinations and having different procedural steps for manufacturers and transportation providers-are reasonable. Section 37.51(c)(1) is revised to read as follows:@ 37.51 -- Key stations in commuter rail systems. For example, if a transit authority provides an on-board wheelchair for use by standees on lifts, the transit authority could not insist that a standee sit in the wheelchair in order to use the lift. Before the issuance of the NPRM, the Department of Transportation received a number of inquiries from transportation providers concerning whether the regulatory provision on standees applies to all existing bus lifts, or only to lifts meeting the requirements of 49 CFR part 38 (the Department's adoption as its standards of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board accessibility guidelines for vehicles). Commenters also asked for more clarification or guidance on certain subjects. It would not be appropriate for the Department to indefinitely suspend a requirement that addresses a known safety problem on the basis of speculation about a safety problem that has not been shown to exist. If, as in many systems, the only transit employee aboard the train is in the driver's compartment in the front car, the employee will not be in a position to see who is sitting in a priority seat in the third car in the train, let alone ask someone to move from it. Among other comments on this subject, one of the rail operators mentioned above thought that the postponement should apply to new and altered platforms as well as those being retrofitted. United States, Phone: 888-446-4511 It would be appropriate for transit operators to establish a mechanism based on local circumstances, consultation with drivers, and input from the local community. In other words, we believe it is more important to do the job right than to do it immediately. The concern expressed by these providers was essentially that some older models of lifts have no handrails or other means of preventing a standee user from losing his or her balance and falling while the lift is in operation. See 57 FR 41006, September 8, 1992. The rule makes these corrections, which have no substantive effects. The second modification would except a particular model of lifts from the requirement that transportation providers permit standees to use lifts. The main point of all commenters supporting a restriction on the use of lifts by standees was the safety risk that they believe to exist. It is a significant rule under the Department's Regulatory Policies and Procedures, since it amends the Department's Americans with Disabilities Act rule, which is a significant rule. While managers and employees are experts in their respective fields, they may not know how to go about providing specific reasonable accommodation solutions for different situations. In @ 37.7, paragraph(b) is revised to read as follows. Under the present rule, except where the Department has extended time for completion of modifications to a key station, rail operators had to make key stations accessible by July 26, 1993. (4) In all signage designating priority seating areas for elderly persons and persons with disabilities, or designating wheelchair securement areas, the entity shall include language informing persons sitting in these locations that they should comply with requests by transit provider personnel to vacate their seats to make room for an individual with a disability. The comments to this docket were considered in context of that rulemaking and were reflected in its preamble. Once your or your employee's needs have been identified, we will prepare a written Action Plan for achieving the proposed accommodations. [Q]%hMT!K*ULV}2[xxLs?QE|d7:.tY?_OOj|VZ>qVQpr~Ve_'9cW|}p3.2nOgO?>tizQx;9/8}-ceyXOfuZUZ7Glaq+_TRJb:$96 Accommodations are a very individual thing, and DRC can help you or your employee find the right solution for the given situation. For example, Amtrak may need a certain number of cars to carry overflow traffic at Thanksgiving or Christmas on the Northeast Corridor. Provided, that an entity is not required to permit such individuals to use a lift Model 141 manufactured by EEC, Inc. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the "ADA") (1) limits an employer's ability to make disability-related inquiries or require medical examinations at three stages: pre-offer, post-offer, and during This means, of course, that detectable warnings were to be in place by that date. These commenters generally viewed the proposal as a necessary step to make sure that passengers with disabilities actually received transportation service they could use. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS As such, training is required, and adequate training time should be allowed. Washington, DC 20590855-368-4200. Different transit properties that have installed the tiles reported different experiences with cleaning and maintenance, some reporting substantial difficulty and others having few problems. If a van is being used for specialized paratransit service for individuals with disabilities, then this provision-which addresses only to those vehicles. We decline to adopt suggestions that the completion date for installation of detectable warnings be established only after certain research is completed. A regulatory deadline would not be that useful, in our view. (4) In the case of a request by a manufacturer or a private entity other than an air carrier, the manufacturer or private entity shall consult, in person, in writing, or by other appropriate means, with representatives of national and local organizations representing people with those disabilities who would be affected by the request. Some comments from transit providers suggested there be limits on the use of lifts by standees (e.g., only where there are handrails, only in a wheelchair provided by the transit authority). WebINABILITY TO OBTAIN. We received this comment from 101 commenters, 80 of whom were disability organizations or individuals with disabilities. The latter group of commenters said that, in a vehicle that did not meet part 38 standards, there were safety concerns relating to door height, smoothness of operation etc. Web_____ Statement regarding inability to obtain reasonable transportation (applies to 2 designation above) _____ Proof of SR-22 insurance (if applicable) Documentation of However, nothing in the study suggests that these problems appear insuperable; nor does the study suggest that a prolonged period of time (e.g., five years) is needed for rail operators to solve these problems. An official website of the United States government Here's how you know. In the NPRM, the Department emphasized that its concerns were neither about the basic design of the [*63093] detectable warnings or their usefulness to people with vision impairments. (2) This requirement applies to light rail, rapid rail, and commuter rail systems only to the extent practicable. We provide training in the use of the accommodation, and follow up with the employee to be sure that the accommodation is effective. 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE An entity wishing to employ equivalent facilitation * * * shall submit a request to UMTA or FRA, as applicable, and include the following information: (list of five items of information). Since the situation of air carriers making equivalent facilitation requests concerning facilities at public airports is very similar to that of the airport sponsors themselves, we decided to apply the same procedural requirements to both. To accommodate this situation, the Department proposed to add a new paragraph to this section, which would allow good faith efforts to be documented in a different way. The uniformity considerations mentioned by commenters will be taken into account in this process. Not surprisingly, there were few comments on this matter; a handful of commenters noted it approvingly. Moreover, unlike the falls of visually-impaired persons from platforms, allegations mentioned by some commenters that properly installed detectable warnings cause safety problems (e.g., for persons using crutches or walkers, or pedestrians wearing high heels) are not supported by any evidence of these problems actually having occurred. statement regarding inability to obtain Phone: 202-493-0625. * * * * *, 8. For example, if the corners of a tile segment curl up, people can trip on them. Web1. It is not fair to burden research with the expectation that it will solve all practical problems, which probably are best worked out in actual planning and installation. We do not believe that such accommodations should be required, however. This will inform passengers that such a request may be made and that they should comply. (56 FR 45755). Washington, DC 20590 (It is our understanding that a number of rail properties have begun this task.) The manufacturers said that the problems the NPRM had cited with adhesion, lift-up, etc. The entity shall permit individuals with disabilities who do not use wheelchairs, including standees, to use a vehicle's lift or ramp to enter the vehicle. Consultation with these individuals and groups shall take place at all stages of the development of the request for equivalent facilitation. Consultation with these individuals and groups shall take place at all stages of the development of the request for equivalent facilitation. The proposal would also require that if the borrower had a choice of obtaining cars from more than one source, it would obtain the cars from a source that had accessible cars before it obtained inaccessible cars from the other source. FTA previously made this change for all the regulations in Subchapter VI of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. * * * * *7. In New York, a blind passenger using a guide dog fell off a platform and was killed by an oncoming train. The warning strip must include a pattern of "truncated domes" (i.e., small raised rounded surfaces) as required by section 4.29 of appendix A. hXko+1Ap`;McIsc j&BesfI#H%53EKdJ[qZyfQE)*f:C Iy2-:WA`\I The Department encourages rail operators to install detectable warnings before the required date. At the time the Access Board guidelines were published, the specifications for detectable warning surfaces were ambiguous, particularly concerning the pattern and design of the surfaces. The Department's proposal was based on a belief that rail operators may need additional time to resolve concerns over adhesion, durability, and maintainability of detectable warning materials in the context of key station modifications. The facility owner simply makes its own determination, which may be challenged in court or administrative proceedings as failing to comply with ADA requirements. These commenters, while making clear their concern about safety, did not present any data or anecdotal information that would demonstrate that an actual safety problem existed. Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, managers and supervisors are required to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified Federal employees and applicants. From a transportation policy point of view, requiring materials to be installed without providing a reasonable amount of time for rail operators to resolve these very practical issues could be counterproductive. The information cited in the comment-which is consistent with the Department's information about this lift model-provides a reasonable basis for believing that its operation may be particularly hazardous to standees. The authority citation for 49 CFR part 38 is revised to read as follows: Authority: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. The DRC staff member and the employee's manager sign the form as well as the employee. The Department believes that, given the safety-related reasons for a detectable warning requirement documented in the rulemaking record, deleting the requirement postponing it indefinitely, or postponing it for a lengthy period (e.g., five years) would be inadvisable. Last fall, the Access Board proposed amending its guidelines for ATMs. At the same time, the Department was aware that rail operators had expressed a number of concerns about the detectable warnings requirement. PAGE 658 FR 63092, *63093handrails, as well as detectable warnings, at intervals along platforms. Reasonably possible . The first step is to complete the DRC Accommodation Request Form so we can begin to identify your needs. Our staff will work with you to understand how your limitations impact your ability to perform your critical job tasks. 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