[PRCo] Re: Bilingual bus drivers

[Herb Brannon]

It is called the Americans With Disabilities Act. "ADA" for short. Transit Authorities do not want to get on the bad side of the "Enforcement Division for ADA" at the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC.
   
  One very short and sweet part of the law states that the following stops shall be called:
   
  At the intersection of a street with another transit line operating on it
   
  All major streets
   
  All major landmarks, public buildings, transit centers, etc.
   
  Any stop a customer requests be called
   
  Take my word for it they come down quick when a complaint is received. Five or six years ago the dumb@$$ in charge of RTA got on his high horse and said the windshield signs (printed and look really nice) which were used when an electronic destination sign went out did not look good to him. He did not want anything in the front window. A complaint was filed with the US Dept of Transportation and the windshield signs were back in two days much to the delight of the half-sighted and a lot of the elderly customers. Now, wonder who filed that complaint??????????????
   
  They also did a surprise "audit" about a year ago and had people riding ramdom buses, cars, and trains to check on complainance. RTA policy is to call all stops. The automatic system does that for me now.
   
  If you have a problem with your local transit provider not abiding by the ADA then contact the US DOT. Do a computer search of the US DOT and you should be able to find the ADA enforcement division.
  
Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
  You're kidding, a U. S. law? In what city?

That's about as evenly enforced as the U. S. Supreme Court decision 
that says there is nothing inherently wrong with taking pictures 
(until a cop takes the law into his own hands and arrest you for 
violating a fictitious law).

The list was so quiet I figured it was time to stir something. It 
worked. Merry Christmas and all that.


On Dec 8, 2007, at 5:06 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> That, of course, is and has been since 1991, the US law also. I 
> used the PA system to call stops. My voice sounds pretty good (pat 
> on the back) coming through the speakers. However, it has to do 
> with setting the PA system controls when setting the bus up before 
> leaving the garage. I set the volume as high as it will go without 
> causing feedback. I can then speak in what would be a barely 
> audible whisper if I were in a face to face conversation. That 
> comes over the PA as a very clear, distinct voice with a pleasant 
> tone. Now, however, I have been put out of business. I mentioned to 
> someone at the 'get together' that Cleveland RTA was very 
> technologically advanced as far as public transit systems go. We 
> now have a completely automated system using the global positioning 
> satellite system to announce every single stop on any route in the 
> transit system. It's really great and it works like a charm. Every 
> stop is called just before the bus arrives at any given stop. Only in
> English though.
> Bill Robb wrote: It is now mandatory that 
> all transit stops in Ontario be called out 100% of the time. A 
> blind lawyer fought the TTC for over 10 years (and $450,000 of TTC 
> money) and won.
>
>
> Herb Brannon
>
>





Herb Brannon