§ 15-c. Accessible public transportation. 1. Definitions. When used in
this section:

a. "Transportation provider" shall mean the Niagara frontier
transportation authority, the Rochester-Genesee transportation
authority, the capital district transportation authority, the central
New York regional transportation authority, the Utica transit authority,
the metropolitan suburban bus authority, Suffolk county, Westchester
county and Broome county.

b. "Committee" shall mean the committee for accessible transportation
established pursuant to subdivision two of this section.

c. "Transit-disabled person" shall mean any individual who, by reason
of illness, age, injury, or congenital malfunction or other permanent or
temporary incapacity or disability, is unable, without special
facilities, special planning or design, to utilize mass transportation
facilities as effectively as members of the general public.

d. "Para-transit" shall mean a transportation service specifically
designed to serve the needs of transit disabled persons using special
vehicles operating on demand.

e. "Accessible fixed-route service" shall mean a regularly scheduled
fixed-route bus service operated by a transportation provider with
lift-equipped transit buses.

2. Establishment of committee. a. To assist in the development of an
accessible transportation system, a committee for accessible
transportation shall be established for each transportation provider.
Each committee shall consist of seven persons, including the
commissioner of transportation and the state advocate for the disabled,
or their designee, and five persons appointed by the governor including
one member from the transportation provider and three transit-disabled
persons. If the member appointed from the transportation provider ceases
to be a member of the provider, such member shall at the same time cease
to be a member of the committee. The commissioner of transportation, or
the commissioner's designee, shall serve as chairperson.

b. Members of the committee, other than the commissioner of
transportation and the state advocate for the disabled, shall serve at
the pleasure of the governor. If at any time there is a vacancy in the
membership of the committee by reason of death, resignation,
disqualification, or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled in the same
manner as the original appointment.

c. A majority of the whole number of members of the committee shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of the committee's business. The
committee shall have the power to act by a majority vote of the members.

d. Meetings of the committee shall take place no less than once every
two months for a period of fifteen months following the effective date
of this section unless waived, in writing, by a majority vote of the
members of the committee. Within such fifteen month period, the
committee shall, in addition to its regular meetings, hold no less than
two public meetings at which the committee shall receive testimony
concerning service needs. Thereafter, regular meetings of the committee
shall take place no less than every three months unless waived, in
writing, by a majority vote of the members of the committee.

3. Committee responsibilities. a. Each committee shall, by July first,
nineteen hundred ninety-one, develop an accessible transportation
services plan to provide for accessible transportation services at a
level sufficient to meet demand in an economic and efficient manner,
which coordinates, to the maximum extent possible, accessible
fixed-route services, para-transit, accessible rapid transit, and other
transportation services available to transit-disabled persons, as
appropriate.

b. The accessible transportation services plan shall include service
criteria for the provision of para-transit services.

c. The plan shall also include:

(i) service areas and routes which shall reflect residential
distributions of transit-disabled persons and existing transportation
services operating in the transportation provider's service area that
are accessible to transit-disabled persons;

(ii) eligibility for use of para-transit;

(iii) hours and days of operation;

(iv) available financing, including farebox revenue;

(v) passenger and mileage data;

(vi) vehicle hours of operation;

(vii) a financial analysis and comparison of projected capital and
operating costs, a revenue plan to cover any additional costs within
resources otherwise available to the transportation provider and a
determination of the effectiveness of any proposed accessible
fixed-route service and alternative para-transit; and

(viii) any other information deemed appropriate. The committee shall
consult on such plan with the metropolitan planning organization, and
following such consultation, shall recommend the plan to the
transportation provider for implementation.

4. Required level of fixed-route accessibility. a. Each transportation
provider shall provide access to one hundred percent of its
regularly-operated buses that provide local, fixed-route service. To
implement this requirement on and after the effective date of this
section, all buses purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service
on the bus lines of each transportation provider shall be lift-equipped
except any bus which a provider has under contract of purchase on July
first, nineteen hundred ninety for delivery after that date. Such
lift-equipped buses shall be properly operated and maintained to
facilitate their use by transit-disabled persons.

b. The provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision shall not apply
to buses that are purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service
that have a useful life of six years or less.

5. Required level of para-transit service. a. Within thirty days after
the submission of the accessible transportation services plan, the
transportation provider shall, with respect to that portion of the plan
setting forth service criteria for para-transit service, approve such
criteria, request amendments to the criteria or reject such criteria. If
the transportation provider approves the criteria, it shall proceed to
implement such criteria. If the transportation provider requests
amendments to the criteria, the committee shall consider such request
and, no later than thirty days following such request, submit either
amended criteria or the initial criteria. Within fifteen days of such
submission, the transportation provider shall either approve or reject
the criteria, as resubmitted. If the transportation provider rejects the
criteria, it shall be subject to the provisions of paragraph b of this
subdivision. This schedule may be modified by mutual consent of the
committee and the transportation provider.

b. If a transportation provider rejects the service criteria submitted
by the committee, the transportation provider shall, subject to the
provisions of paragraphs c and d of this subdivision, provide the
following minimum level of para-transit service:

(i) For transportation providers operating up to fifty buses,
para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less
than ten percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event
less than one vehicle;

(ii) For transportation providers operating fifty-one to one hundred
buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of
no less than eight percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in
no event less than five vehicles;

(iii) For transportation providers operating one hundred one to one
hundred fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a
para-transit fleet of no less than six percent of the provider's fixed
route fleet, but in no event less than eight vehicles; and

(iv) For transportation providers operating in excess of one hundred
fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit
fleet of no less than five percent of the provider's fixed route fleet,
but in no event less than nine vehicles.

c. Each provider shall begin implementing the requirements of
paragraph a of this subdivision upon the committee's submission of an
accessible transportation service plan and shall fully implement such
requirements no later than three years thereafter; provided, however,
that each provider must fully implement such requirements by December
first, nineteen hundred ninety-four.

d. In no event shall the amount of a provider's expenditures on
para-transit services be less than the amount allocated for para-transit
services in a provider's budget for the year nineteen hundred ninety,
unless agreed to by the committee.

6. Committee reports. On or before February first, nineteen hundred
ninety-three, each committee shall submit a report to the governor, the
president pro tem of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly, which
details the progress of the committee in addressing the transportation
needs of persons with disabilities and which presents the accessible
transportation services plan developed by the committee and recommended
to the metropolitan planning organization and the transportation
provider.

7. Technical assistance. The committee shall receive technical
assistance from the metropolitan planning organization, the department
of transportation, the transportation provider, the office of the
advocate for the disabled, and any other state agency that it determines
appropriate.

8. The committee may, by vote of two-thirds of its members cease to
exist at any time after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred
ninety-five.

9. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to promulgate
regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.