STATION REFUSED TO CHECK LUGGAGE

[ALC Rail Writer]

EDM before you paint all of us younger people with a wide brush understand this I have arthritis in my shoulder and knee and it affects my mobility. I manage to do what I have to just fine but I'm apainfully aware of mobility problems. It's funny though in an ironic way as my grandparents were able bodied and healthy but loved to complain about everything and I do mean everything. When I first read the original post it reminded me of them. Second, I believe the books to the bus thing you are refrencing was intended as a joke by the person who wrote it and yes I laughed at it because it seemed to me to be meant to lighten the mood.

I didn't intend to paint all younger people with a wide brush. It was a general statement that there is a general separation in age as to attitudes. You and Wayman and others, young and old, made some very good points.

I felt the school books commentary was a sick joke and insensitive.

And to be told " I will even help shovel you in", well that must have been written by a very young person.

This whole topic seems to have brought out some of the best and some of the worst in people.

Age creates wisdom; youngsters just have to wait their turn...

Saying that... age must also produce a fleeting ignorance and an heir of superiority. <_<

No...it just gives us the right to the soap box via seniority

We need a NAYP to counter the NARP.

Grey dawn! Grey dawn!

h34r:

 

[Long Train Runnin']

EDM before you paint all of us younger people with a wide brush understand this I have arthritis in my shoulder and knee and it affects my mobility. I manage to do what I have to just fine but I'm apainfully aware of mobility problems. It's funny though in an ironic way as my grandparents were able bodied and healthy but loved to complain about everything and I do mean everything. When I first read the original post it reminded me of them. Second, I believe the books to the bus thing you are refrencing was intended as a joke by the person who wrote it and yes I laughed at it because it seemed to me to be meant to lighten the mood.

I didn't intend to paint all younger people with a wide brush. It was a general statement that there is a general separation in age as to attitudes. You and Wayman and others, young and old, made some very good points.

I felt the school books commentary was a sick joke and insensitive.

And to be told " I will even help shovel you in", well that must have been written by a very young person.

This whole topic seems to have brought out some of the best and some of the worst in people.

Age creates wisdom; youngsters just have to wait their turn...

Saying that... age must also produce a fleeting ignorance and an heir of superiority. <_<

No...it just gives us the right to the soap box via seniority

We need a NAYP to counter the NARP.

Grey dawn! Grey dawn!

h34r:

Actually NARP has a youth membership program.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Actually NARP has a youth membership program.

Cloning for the future--

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Actually NARP has a youth membership program.

Cloning for the future--

Not at all. I say we all just let this topic sink back down to the far away pages.

 

[DET63]

I've read through a few pages of rants, counter-rants, debates, sidetracked discussions, and so on. I don't know how legitimate the complaints by the OP were; her apparent reluctance to come in and clarify what she was saying (was she physically traumatized, such as being severely injured by having to drag her bags up the stairway, or was she simply emotionally traumatized, perhaps merely fearing the possibility of bodily injury—or even that of missing her train?).

I know that Birmingham is a fairly large city (about 230,000 in 2007, according to Wikipedia), but given that it has only one train in each direction each day, how much passenger traffic does the station get? Is it justified in having more than one or two on staff at the station? If there were more frequent service, perhaps having three or more staff on at any one time (with two able to do the necessary work in a pinch) might make sense. My guess, however, is that a one-train-each-way-daily service simply means Amtrak would have to pay a lot of wages for little work under normal circumstances with a larger crew.

I know nothing of union contracts, regulations, etc., so I can't speculate as to whether other personnel who normally handle other tasks could have been pressed into service to help passengers.

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

 

[AlanB]

Birmingham saw just shy of 37,000 passengers either boarding or disembarking there in 2008.

 

[Alice]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

 

[Everydaymatters]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

Well that's nice! Just how far have we gone that the driver won't help a passenger. That's criminal! :angry:

 

[Observer]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

Well that's nice! Just how far have we gone that the driver won't help a passenger. That's criminal! :angry:

If the driver helps the passenger, and the passenger gets hurt in any way, the passenger sues the bus company for millions, and a jackass jury awards it -- THAT's how far we have gone, and what is criminal.

 

[MrFSS]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

Well that's nice! Just how far have we gone that the driver won't help a passenger. That's criminal! :angry:

If the driver helps the passenger, and the passenger gets hurt in any way, the passenger sues the bus company for millions, and a jackass jury awards it -- THAT's how far we have gone, and what is criminal.

And, if the driver gets hurt helping the passenger, it is a work comp claim and they loose his services while he recovers. But, it is probably that helping passengers in that way isn't in the driver's job description.

 

[Alice]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

Well that's nice! Just how far have we gone that the driver won't help a passenger. That's criminal! :angry:

If the driver helps the passenger, and the passenger gets hurt in any way, the passenger sues the bus company for millions, and a jackass jury awards it -- THAT's how far we have gone, and what is criminal.

Agreed. Also note that "helping" a person with a disability might mean lifting them up the steps, a good way to injure both lifter and liftee. I think the agent was right to phone and right to make sure I understood the situation.

People not trained (and equipped) for medical lifting shouldn't do it. The solution is a bus with a lift, an entirely different and potentially complicated discussion.

 

[Ispolkom]

Saying that... age must also produce a fleeting ignorance and an heir of superiority. <_<

No, it's good breeding that produces an heir of superiority.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

If the picture of the stairway is of the one at the station, and the elevator was also out of service, then passengers with disabilities or needing mobility assistance might have some beef. If an unexpected incident (e.g., out-of-service elevator) makes an accessible station now inaccessible, does Amtrak have to compensate a passenger who now cannot get to (or from) the train? If so, how? I would assume such issues would be covered under ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or similar legislation, but I'm not a legal expert.

One time I got a phone call that the bus I was going to be on didn't have a wheelchair lift so we'd have to find a workaround. I walk well enough to put the wheelchair under the bus in the luggage section and climb up the steps, and told him so, and he said OK but if I was wrong about this and needed help, I wouldn't be getting it from the driver and would be left behind. This is the Greyhound that runs Denver to Raton, and it never has a lift.

Well that's nice! Just how far have we gone that the driver won't help a passenger. That's criminal! :angry:

If the driver helps the passenger, and the passenger gets hurt in any way, the passenger sues the bus company for millions, and a jackass jury awards it -- THAT's how far we have gone, and what is criminal.

Agreed. Also note that "helping" a person with a disability might mean lifting them up the steps, a good way to injure both lifter and liftee. I think the agent was right to phone and right to make sure I understood the situation.

People not trained (and equipped) for medical lifting shouldn't do it. The solution is a bus with a lift, an entirely different and potentially complicated discussion.

why can't they put lifts on greyhound. on the smart city buses here there are no stairs its almost flush with the curb. the buses "kneel" and a ramp folds out of the floor and you roll up on that. its all done from the drivers seat via a switch. some older buses had stairs at the back door that transformed into a lift.

 

[RTOlson]

Most long-distance motorcoaches are different than the "low-platform" city buses. Most of the Greyhounds I've seen are motorcoaches where the seating area is raised above the luggage storage area (and you need that storage for long-distance travel). There is usually a narrow set of a stairs and an equally narrow aisle to get to your seat. It would be extremely difficult to navigate a wheelchair on these buses through the front.

That said, it is somehow possible to do it on motorcoaches. Amtrak California offers accessible Thruway bus transportation with 24-hours notice. The Thruway I was on Saturday had an area toward the rear where one could secure a passenger riding in a wheelchair.

I'm not 100-percent sure how this is accomplished, but this Web site shows how a panel can open toward the rear of the bus to accommodate a lift and bus access.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

the FOLDover is the one the low-platform city buses here use.