Transportation: a key to independent living

Accessible transportation is essential if people with disabilities, particularly persons who are severely disabled, are to live independently in the community. The development of transportation services has moved from a focus upon special and separate "dial-a-ride" programs to an emphasis upon making fixed-route, main-stream systems accessible. The current state of the art, supported in large part by federal regulations, features a combination of mainstream accessibility and supplemental special services. Future progress in transportation for disabled people depends largely upon resolution of complex, politically explosive cost-benefit arguments on the federal and local levels, and on community acceptance of disabled persons as people deserving a spectrum of transportation services.