BART New Train Car Accessibility

Overview BART’s new train car (Fleet of the Future) design includes many new features to serve people with disabilities. 35,000 BART customers have provided feedback on the train car design so far, including over 500 seniors and over 900 people with disabilities in the most recent stage alone. BART has heard diverse perspectives on accessibility issues, and will be asking for additional input from the disability community in 2016 when the first ten pilot test cars go into service. BART is aware of the process to update ADA regs for transit vehicles, and supports flexibility pending completion of our 2016 tests, allowing time for more input from our customers. These slides are provided to the RVAAC members as information pertinent to the discussions that are underway. 2

Four Year Outreach Process 35,000 customers provided input 2011 Seat Labs and Conceptual Design 2012 Initial work with BART Accessibility Task Force 2013 Initial Train Car Model, Prototype Seats and Bike Racks 2014 Final Train Car Model Outreach recently recognized by APTA with 2014 AdWheel First Place Prize

Accessibility Improvements For People Who Use Wheelchairs The outreach resulted in a range of accessibility improvements for people who use wheelchairs: 1.Third door reduces congestion at each doorway by 1/3 and provides separation from bicycles 2.Wider aisles permit people in wheelchairs to go down the aisles 3.LCD screen placed directly across from wheelchair area to maximize visibility for people who use wheelchairs 4.Intercoms relocated to a more accessible location near each side door rather than on the ends of the cars 5.Floor marking for wheelchair areas using international disability symbol 6.Bulge removed from wheelchair area wall – provides more room for people who use wheelchairs 4

Other Accessible Features For customers with vision impairments: inter-car barriers, automated announcements For customers with hearing impairments: interior and exterior digital displays, test of induction loop system For customers with mobility impairments: more priority seating and different-colored priority to encourage others to yield them, seats that are higher off the floor making it easier to sit down and stand up 5

Survey Ratings From Over 900 People With Disabilities After experiencing the Spring 2014 train car model, over 70% rated key features excellent or good: –seat comfort 76% –digital screens and signs 81% –overall interior layout 72% –floor to ceiling pole 72% 6

Continuing Efforts To Meet The Needs Of Riders With Disabilities BART has been working to refine train car designs to address the diverse needs of people with disabilities. BART plans additional testing and discussion with the disability community in Any clarification of the existing regulations should provide some flexibility given that testing is still underway. Some key design issues are still open. 7

For example, BART is considering whether or not to include a floor to ceiling pole in the design. Supported by 82% of seniors and 72% of people with disabilities. Valued by people with balance or mobility issues to provide a reachable, ergonomic and stable hand-hold when the train lurches during acceleration and deceleration. However, a portion of people with disabilities have expressed concerns about this feature. 8 Floor To Ceiling Pole Question

Diverse Needs Ratings of the floor-to-ceiling pole by type of disability: 9 CategoryExcellent/GoodOnly Fair/PoorSample size Mental or cognitive77%19%149 Low Vision76%23%165 Deaf/hearing impaired76%22%119 Other mobility issue71%25%332 Other disability71%24%119 Wheelchair41%58%103 Blindness34%61%41 Note: figures based on survey of over 500 senior citizens and over 900 people with disabilities who boarded the train car model and tried it out.

BART is Working to Address Concerns Based on discussions with the accessibility community, BART is taking the following steps: 1.First 10 pilot cars will include cars with and without a pole - to be tested in In the test cars that have a pole, it will be offset away from designated wheelchair areas, creating an accessible path of approximately 50 inches. This exceeds the current ADA standard and is almost as wide as the 54 inch door opening. The pole will be marked with a high contrast decal to make it more visible to people with sight impairments. 3.Wheelchair symbol embedded in floor to remind customers to yield these areas 4.BART commitment to a “Clear The Path” communications campaign 5.BART has set goal of increasing its fleet size to at least 1,000 train cars to relieve crowding on BART, which is particularly important for people with disabilities 10

BART Widened the Accessible Path Based on Input 11 In the current proposal, the pole is offset away from the designated wheelchair area to widen the main accessible path to approximately 50 inches. (note: as a point of comparison, the doorway is 54 inches). In the current proposal, the pole is offset away from the designated wheelchair area to widen the main accessible path to approximately 50 inches. (note: as a point of comparison, the doorway is 54 inches). 54 “

Summary BART has been working to refine train car designs to address the diverse needs of people with disabilities. BART plans additional testing and discussion with the disability community in 2016 before making a final decision on the pole question. Any clarification of the existing regs should provide some flexibility given that testing is still underway. 12