Ensuring Access to Fixed-Route Transportation

In 2011, DRP and private co-counsel successfully resolved Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania v. SEPTA, which alleged that SEPTA violated the ADA and Rehabilitation Act by making alterations at two light rail stations in Center City Philadelphia without installing elevators to make them accessible to people with disabilities.  A consent decree was entered after the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s holding that SEPTA violated the ADA and RA by altering the entrances to the 15th Street Station of the Market-Frankford Line and the City Hall Station of the Broad Street Line in a manner that was not accessible to and usable by individuals with mobility disabilities.  SEPTA agreed to and completed installation of five elevators at Dilworth Plaza in Center City Philadelphia (across the street from the locations where SEPTA had made the inaccessible alterations that were challenged in this case), including elevators that now provide access to the platforms of the 15th Street Subway-Surface Station and 15th Street Station of the Market-Frankford Line to individuals with mobility disabilities.