Why We Need Accessible Public Transit for All People with Disabilities

See this article, which begins:

Regional Transportation Authority Chairman John Gates Jr. apologized Wednesday for referring to paratransit for the disabled as "federally mandated limousine service." 

Gates said he made the remark "without thinking" while trying to describe the difficulty of providing funding for paratransit service as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

"My comments were inappropriate and unfortunately could be misconstrued to suggest bias against the disabled community," Gates said at a meeting of the RTA board. "Nothing can be farther from the truth."

Separate paratransit systems for people with disabilities may be a necessary accommodation to sunk investments in inaccessible public transit systems, but, as Gates's comments show, they are stigmatizing.  Universally accessible public transit is far preferable.