T Plans New Ramps For Disabled

After years of complaints, disabled students will be able to board the Green Line trolley at the BU East and Central stops using elevated platforms to be installed by next fall, officials said yesterday.

The renovations are part of a $13 million program designed to make seven Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority stops throughout the city handicapped accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

“There’s parts of the Green Line that are 107 years old. When the subway was built 107 years ago, no one thought about making sure there was handicapped access,” he said.

The repairs will elevate the platforms by 6 inches, which will enable wheelchair users to roll directly onto the new Green Line trolley cars, Pesaturo said. The change should make boarding much easier for handicapped riders.

“The low floors [of the new trolleys] and new raised platforms will create level boarding, making it much easier for someone in a wheelchair to board a streetcar,” he said.

However, more than 100 of the new cars designed to work with the ramps were removed from service this summer after they derailed several times.

“Right now the trains are undergoing an exam of the interface between the rail and the wheel of the new car,” Pesaturo said. “We certainly hope to have the trains back in service by Labor Day.”

Work on the platforms will not begin until most students leave in late May, he said. The project is expected to be complete by the time students return in early September.

“We want to get it done by Labor Day of next year,” he said.

The MBTA plans to close the BU East and Central stops for the duration of the work, Pesaturo said. Riders will be able to board the trolley at a temporary platform to be erected between the two stops.

BU’s Director of Disability Services, Allan Macurdy, said he was glad the MBTA had finally taken steps to allow disabled students to ride the T. Currently, there are no such elevated platforms for Green Line streetcars.

There is one wooden platform at the BU Central stop allowing handicapped riders to board one a time, but Macurdy said it was just a precursor to the larger effort.

“It’s about time,” he said. “[Accessibility] has been a problem for [disabled] students for as long as I have been at this institution.”

The ramps, however, are more than just a convenience, Macurdy said. “[The changes] will make it a lot safer and convenient for students with disabilities [to ride the T], and it will make it safer in general. I’m very pleased.