MTA Secures Accessibility Grant After Yearlong Federal Delay

NEW YORK, NY— The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will receive $156.5 million in federal funding for accessibility upgrades after a delay of more than a year, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer announced.

The funding comes through the federal All Stations Accessibility Program, known as ASAP, which helps finance projects that repair, improve, retrofit or relocate transit infrastructure to make stations accessible for people with disabilities.

Gillibrand, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, said the money will help modernize parts of New York City’s transit system built before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that public transportation be accessible to people with disabilities,” Gillibrand said. “However, infrastructure built before the passage of the ADA in 1990, like much of the New York City subway system, must be retrofitted to be fully accessible to people with disabilities.”

The announcement came hours before U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was scheduled to testify before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Earlier this month, Gillibrand and Schumer joined U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Adriano Espaillat and Ritchie Torres in urging the Department of Transportation to complete its review of the grant. Lawmakers said the funding would support accessibility improvements at two Bronx subway stations.

Schumer said the upgrades will improve access for riders with disabilities and older New Yorkers.

“For too long, New Yorkers with disabilities, including many seniors, have faced barriers accessing our region’s mass transit," Schumer said.

The MTA was selected for the grant nearly two years ago and remained the only award recipient that had not yet received funding, according to the senators’ offices.