macsound
Well-Known Member
I'm sure the dollar amount was made up. There's no guide for how much something like that would cost. It was created as a deterrent, just like when a mechanic doesn't want to work on your old car. If you pay them enough, they'll find another shop to outsource it to.
If a group of wheelchair users called a theatre or theater and said they needed accessible seating, the response would be the same as it is for an able bodied individual.
If the number of seats requested exceeds that in your party, your party will be split up among the days.
Good example - I worked for 6 summers in a 2000 seat amphitheater built in the 1920s. The top row and the front row each had about 10 wheelchair seats with a friend seat.
There is no amount of money that could be thrown at that theatre to allow more than 20 people, and the party will be split, 10 and 10.
The seats were bolted to wood benches with wood stairs with steel handrails sunk into the sloped cement underneath. I believe there were 30 rows which makes about 90 steps.
In other words, not possible.
Although I know nothing about rolling stock, I assume they're designed approximately like the local commuter trains I ride here in SF.
Those seats are bolted to the wall, underneath the wall facia so they can easily sweep and mop the entire train without chair legs getting in the way.
They have 669 cars and I presume about 10% are out of commission every day for maintenance.
If BART is anything like Amtrack, there is some dollar amount they could receive to make that one trip possible by removing/ retrofitting one car, but it would have to atleast pay the union wage for the guys for a week or two.
Although it's bad press for Amtrak and they could have made the statement more candy coated, it's not unreasonable.
If a group of wheelchair users called a theatre or theater and said they needed accessible seating, the response would be the same as it is for an able bodied individual.
If the number of seats requested exceeds that in your party, your party will be split up among the days.
Good example - I worked for 6 summers in a 2000 seat amphitheater built in the 1920s. The top row and the front row each had about 10 wheelchair seats with a friend seat.
There is no amount of money that could be thrown at that theatre to allow more than 20 people, and the party will be split, 10 and 10.
The seats were bolted to wood benches with wood stairs with steel handrails sunk into the sloped cement underneath. I believe there were 30 rows which makes about 90 steps.
In other words, not possible.
Although I know nothing about rolling stock, I assume they're designed approximately like the local commuter trains I ride here in SF.
Those seats are bolted to the wall, underneath the wall facia so they can easily sweep and mop the entire train without chair legs getting in the way.
They have 669 cars and I presume about 10% are out of commission every day for maintenance.
If BART is anything like Amtrack, there is some dollar amount they could receive to make that one trip possible by removing/ retrofitting one car, but it would have to atleast pay the union wage for the guys for a week or two.
Although it's bad press for Amtrak and they could have made the statement more candy coated, it's not unreasonable.