37.53 Exception for New York and Philadelphia.
(a) The following agreements entered into in New York, New, York, and Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, contain lists of key stations for the public entities that
are a party to those agreements for those service lines identified in the
agreements. The identification of key stations under these agreements
is deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this Subpart.
- Settlement Agreement by and among Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association,
Inc., James J. Peters, Terrance Moakley, and Denise Figueroa, individually
and as representatives of the class of all persons similarly situated (collectively,
"the EPVA class representatives"); and Metropolitan Transportation Authority,
New York City Transit Authority, and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit
Operating Authority (October 4, 2020).
- Settlement Agreement by and between Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association
of Pennsylvania, Inc., and James J. Peters, individually; and Dudley R. Sykes,
as Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Public Property, and his
successors in office and the City of Philadelphia (collectively "the City")
and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (June 28, 2020).
(b) To comply with 37.47 (b) and (d) or 37.51 (b) and (d) of this part,
the entities named in the agreements are required to use their public participation
and planning processes only to develop and submit to the UMTA Administrator
plans for timely completion of key station accessibility, as provided in
this Subpart.
(c) In making accessible the key stations identified under the agreements
cited in this section, the entities named in the agreements are subject to
the requirements of 37.9 of this Part.
Consistent with the legislative history of the ADA, this section
formally recognizes the selection of key stations in two identified litigation
settlement agreements in New York and Philadelphia as in compliance with
the ADA. Consequently, the entities involved can limit their key station
planning process to issues concerning the timing of key station accessibility.
The section references also §37.9, which provides that key station accessibility
alterations which have already been made, or which are begun before January
26, 1992, and which conform to specified prior standards, do not have to
be re-modified. On the other hand, alterations begun after January
25, 1992 (including forthcoming key station modifications under the New York
and Philadelphia agreements), must meet the requirements of Appendix A to
this Part.
This is an exception only for the two specified agreements. There are
no situations in which other cities can take advantage of this provision.
Nor are the provisions of the two agreements normative for other cities.
Other cities must do their own planning, with involvement from local citizens,
and cannot rely on agreements unique to New York and Philadelphia to determine
the appropriate number or percentage of key stations or other matters.