AS PUBLISHED IN LONG ISLAND BUSINESS NEWS, Thursday, July 31, 2025
- Jul 31, 2025
- 3 min read
Accessible transit drives New York economic opportunity
Madeline Martinez // July 31, 2025
There are countless laws or government policy initiatives that people point to as an example of delivering economic prosperity. Whether its FDR’s New Deal, or Eisenhower authorizing construction of a national interstate highway system, another highly consequential law of the past century deserves to be on that list: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
More commonly known as the ADA, the federal civil rights law “prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities,” and “guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to enjoy employment opportunities, purchase goods and services, and participate in state and local government programs.”
To the casual observer, the presence of wheelchair ramps or elevators in transit stations might seem mundane, or as a convenience, but they are so much more and create a big social and economic impact.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2022 there were 18.6 million people, or 6.1% of the American population above age of five, who have “a temporary or permanent condition or handicap that makes it difficult to travel outside of the home.” NYU researchers put the number of New York City residents with a disability at 13% of the population.
For those millions of Americans who have a disability but want to work, transportation can serve as a serious obstacle. Prior to the implementation of the ADA, the lack of uniform rules meant that there were few to no options for people with disabilities.
Proudly, New York is a city without peer in the United States when it comes to public transportation accessibility enhancement. From the Metro North and Long Island Railroad (LIRR) that connect the city to the suburbs, to the web of subway lines that weave throughout the boroughs, New York’s public transit system is very often the key to prosperity and advancement. It connects communities with millions of city residents and commuters for education, employment and empowerment.
However, inaccessible transportation can be isolating, preventing people from having jobs and hindering economic behavior, as well as isolating them from friends and family. Without the use of accessible transit, holding down a job could be impossible for the 13% of New Yorkers with a disability. It further impedes everyone from families with strollers to elderly travelers with mobility aids.
ADA compliance is the key to unlocking access to opportunities of all kinds, be it housing, jobs, education, shopping and travel, throughout the five boroughs and across the metropolitan area.
Nationally the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ reports that 22.7 percent of Americans with a disability were employed in 2024, a 1.2% increase from 2022, and 4.9% from 2012. While this continues a positive trend in the number of disabled Americans who are employed, there is still progress to be made.
Economic policy think tank the Urban Institute identifies transportation accessibility as a vital predictor of upward mobility, noting there is a “negative relationship between distance from transit access points and employment.” In other words, where there was less available transit, there was higher unemployment among the general population.
Just as this is true in general, so too is it true for New Yorkers with limited mobility.
Since it has begun instituting systemwide ADA upgrades, The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) deserves credit for having made 30% of subway stations accessible and are on target toward their goal of making 95 percent of subway stations accessible by 2055.
Modernizing highly trafficked, century-old subway stations, without taking them out of service is no easy logistical task, but the results achieved prove why these upgrades are worthwhile. Employment can be key to self-sufficiency and independence, and ADA-accessible public transport is vital to those achievements.
Thirty-five years have gone by since the passage and implementation of the ADA. Incredible progress has been made in tearing down barriers to mobility, but there remains so much more to be done. Addressing these issues will advance this as a city and metropolitan area where every New Yorker, regardless of their mobility, can have unimpeded access to financial, educational and social opportunities at each and every station.
Madeline Martinez is assistant project manager at Forte Construction Corp., a general contracting firm specializing in transit accessibility and ADA compliance projects throughout New York City and Long Island.
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