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Dear Riders, We hope this email finds you well and staying cool here in the dog days of summer! Thanks for spending some time with the MBTA’s August accessibility updates. Read on to learn more about:

• “Inside the T” video featuring SWA
• Temporary relocation of the CharlieCard Store
• Elevators replaced and returned to service
• Boston Brakes campaign
• SWA’s newest member: Lisa Weber
• Perkins School for the Blind annual fundraiser
• Org Spotlight: Disability Policy Consortium
• Next RTAG General Meeting

Come "Inside the T" and Meet SWA!

The latest entry in the MBTA’s video series “Inside the T” features a profile of the Department of System-Wide Accessibility! Check it out to learn more about the history of SWA and its role within the MBTA.
 
Watch the “Inside the T” video featuring SWA

The CharlieCard Store Has a New, Temporary Location

As of Thursday, July 27, 2023, the CharlieCard Store is temporarily relocating to the State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza, 2nd floor, Room 6. It will remain at this location until further notice due to an air conditioning maintenance issue within the Downtown Crossing store.
 
You can access 10 Park Plaza via the Green and Orange Lines. Building features include escalators and elevators, as well as accessible entrances on Charles Street, Stuart Street, and Boylston Place.
 
 Most CharlieCard Store services are available at this temporary location. However, please note: 

• There are no cash transactions at this time.
• Exchanges are limited to five CharlieCards or CharlieTickets per day. We encourage customers to use our consolidation request form for exchanges of more than five cards or tickets.
• Please anticipate processing delays.

 We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
Learn more about the temporary CharlieCard Store relocation 

Elevator Replacements/Re-openings

We’re pleased to announce the replacement and re-opening of two station elevators.
 
 At State Street, elevator 802 (a redundant elevator which connects the Oak Grove Orange Line platform to the corridor between the Orange and Blue Lines) has been replaced and is now back in service.
 
At Quincy Adams, elevator 805 has been replaced and is now back in service. All four elevators have now been replaced at Quincy Adams, and with redundant elevators serving the platform, it is the eleventh Red Line station to have redundant elevator service in place.
 
 Later in 2023, elevator projects at Central Square, Downtown Crossing, and Jackson will be put out to bid. Designs for redundant elevators at Broadway, Chinatown, Davis, Mass Ave, North Station, and State are progressing, with construction funding still to be identified. 

Boston Brakes Campaign 

Boston Brakes is an outreach and education campaign created by the Mayor's Commission for Persons with Disabilities to raise awareness of and increase safety for pedestrians with disabilities on Boston's public rights of way.
 
 Pedestrians with disabilities have unique needs when navigating sidewalks, intersections, and mixed-use paths. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness among pedestrians that disabled residents and visitors need access to a clear path of travel on sidewalks and curb ramps; in crosswalks; and to HP-DV accessible parking spaces on city streets.
 
You can learn more, watch videos, and get safety tips at the Boston Brakes website. Let's share the space and make Boston’s streets safer for all!

Meet SWA's New Customer Engagement Coordinator - Lisa Weber
 Lisa Weber joined the Department of System-Wide Accessibility as the Customer Engagement Coordinator in March 2023. Before working at the MBTA, Lisa worked as a Compliance Officer at the Human Service Transportation Office PT-1 program and has served as the Commonwealth's Lemon Law Program Coordinator for motor vehicles and wheelchairs. She also ran the Annual Consumer Conference at the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission for several years.
 
 Lisa has served a variety of volunteer roles at the MBTA. She was Vice-Chairperson of the Access Advisory Committee to the MBTA (AACT) and assisted in the transition of that group from AACT to RTAG. Lisa also served on the Paratransit Task Force and the Vehicle Accessibility Advisory Committee. She is a Women's Transportation Seminar and Young Professionals in Transportation member. Lisa sings in a community chorus and is a certified yoga instructor focusing on chair yoga and seated postures.
 
 "I've been involved with the MBTA in various volunteer capacities for over a decade,” Lisa told us. “I'm thrilled to have joined the Department of System-Wide Accessibility as the Customer Engagement Coordinator. I look forward to working with internal and external stakeholders in the office and the field. I want to hear feedback from as many riders and potential riders as possible. I am committed to ensuring complaints are investigated, and appropriate corrective actions are taken. As a transit-dependent person with a non-apparent disability, I know how important it is for our public transit system to be accessible."
  

Everybody In! Walk/Move for Perkins

 The 3rd Annual Everybody In! Walk/Move for Perkins fundraiser will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2023. The event’s 3.7 mile walk begins at the historic Perkins School for the Blind campus, continues alongside the Charles River and through the Watertown Braille Trail, then loops back to the starting line at Perkins.
 
After the walk, enjoy a festival of family-friendly activities, music, food, and more! Visit the Everybody In! Walk/Move for Perkins website to register, join a team, donate, and share.
 
 All are welcome to join SWA’s Team #TAccess! Choose our team name from the dropdown menu of all teams after registering for the event.
  

Org Spotlight - Disability Policy Consortium

 For more than 25 years, Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) has fought for the rights of people with disabilities across Massachusetts and beyond. Through community organizing, participatory research, public policy development, and healthcare casework, DPC strives to make the Commonwealth a more accessible and inclusive place for our community.
 
 As an organization run by and for people with disabilities, DPC proves every day what members of our community can accomplish when they are allowed to reach their full potential. The DPC credo is "About Us, By Us"—the belief that when decisions are made about people with disabilities, people with disabilities should be the ones making them. That's why more than 75% of DPC employees, including every member of the senior leadership team, have a disability.
 
 Transit accessibility is absolutely critical for the disability community, and it's been a focus of DPC’s work for its entire history, including leading successful campaigns to preserve access to The RIDE and advocating for full accessibility on fixed-route transit. DPC is proud of all the progress that Massachusetts has made in this area since the Daniels-Finegold settlement in 2006. Still, the organization knows that much more needs to be done, from making the Green Line and Commuter Rail fully accessible to improving audio–visual access for riders who are deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision. That's why DPC is a part of the Riders’ Transportation Access Group (RTAG), and why transit is their priority area.
 
 One area where DPC has worked a great deal in the past, and that it hopes will be a priority in the future, is making sure not just that transit stations themselves are accessible, but that they are accessibly connected to the communities around them. Things like sidewalk and curb ramp repairs, as well as outdoor elevators to deal with steep slopes, can make all the difference in ensuring that transit is as usable and useful for riders with disabilities as it is for everyone else. For example, DPC led a successful effort to get the Somerville City Council to commit to building an outdoor elevator between the Gilman Square station and an accessible path that will lead to City Hall. Solving these kinds of problems will require deep partnerships between municipalities, advocates, and the MBTA, and DPC is committed to playing a role in making those partnerships happen.
 
Sign up for DPC's weekly newsletter and stay informed about key issues and upcoming events.

RTAG General Meeting

 Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Time: 3:00 PM–5:00 PM
Location: via Zoom
 
Register in advance for the RTAG General Meeting
 
 The Riders' Transportation Access Group (RTAG) is a customer organization with a mission to advise the MBTA on transportation issues that affect people with disabilities and older adults. Please join us for our upcoming general meeting.
 All RTAG meetings are accessible to people with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency. Real-time captioning (CART) and an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter will be provided for this meeting. Other accessibility accommodations and language services will be provided free of charge, upon request, as available.
 
To request a reasonable accommodation or language services, please email rtagboston@bostoncil.org or call Kat at 978-893-8100 at least two weeks before the meeting.
 
Sign up for the R-TAG newsletter

Safe & Accessible Travels,
 
 The Department of System-Wide Accessibility  

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