Civil Rights, Transportation, and the ADA

by Sönke Dornblut

New Hampshire’s approach to transportation infrastructure puts non-drivers at a great disadvantage. The figures describing expenditures on surface transportation illustrate the point:

NH per capita public transit spending (state funds): $0.17 (2005)
NH per capita spending on highways (state funds): $270 (2006)

Clearly, there is a great discrepancy. While public expenditures primarily focus on an inaccessible infrastructure with a high economic entrance barrier (the cost of a car, annual maintenance, and operating costs) those who cannot drive because of a disability face virtually insurmountable physical barriers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (passed in 1990 and updated in 2008), addresses the inaccessibility of public transportation. It requires public transit providers to offer a complementary door-to-door service for people who otherwise couldn’t use the system. So, the question remains, why do people with disabilities still have so little access to transportation services?

Accessible public transportation is great—if you have it in your town.But the case for most New Hampshire communities is that there is no public transit provider with a fixed route. People who do not drive must rely on human service transportation, primarily funded through various Medicaid programs, which drives up the cost of Medicaid. In essence, the inaccessibility of our surface transportation system is being fixed by a medical program.

However, isn’t access to jobs, access to voting, access to movies—access to life—a right? Why does the ADA only provide for the accessibility of public transit but does not meaningfully address how over 90 percent of public expenditures affect accessibility?

This constitutes a major imbalance, and, if not addressed one way or another, we will continue to struggle to find the funds to fix the inequities created by a system that is inequitable by design.

For more information on public transportation in New Hampshire, contact Sönke Dornblut at sonke.dornblut@unh.edu or 603.862.4064, or visit the State Coordinating Council for Community Transportation at www.nh.gov/dot/scc.