This is a subject we have touched on in other threads. I've found a few statistics which are the basis for this new thread. First, I want to say what the issue is not. As far as I know Amtrak has no mandate to provide services for people with disabilities. It does not add trains to serve them. Rather, Amtrak's perspective seems to be to embrace the Americans with Disabilities Act. Amtrak makes an effort to reach out to people with disabilities and to equip its stations to serve them.
Here the the numbers Joe Boardman provided in his testimony to the Congress on March 5, 2013:
15 per cent of all passengers ride long distance routes. 42 per cent of those have identified disabilities. And about half of the long distance passengers are 55 or older.
What I wonder about (and I only wonder, I don't know) is of the 58 per cent who have no "identified" disability how many have an issue that causes them to prefer to ride a train. For example, a person with arthritis of the spine may well find the larger seats on a train important to his or her comfort. Also, I have known of cases of people with implanted medical devices have set off warning signals in airport security and by the time the issue was resolved they have missed their plane. Taking the train may be the simplest way to avoid such risks.
I think this is an excellent point. Much of my Amtrak riding was in the period when I was 55-64 years old (now 81-1/2). But it was a choice, not a necessity in most cases.
But note that lots of older people have to use the facilities much more frequenctly. They are limited on most planes and often unavailable because of "fasten seatbelt" signs.
For years, I have been prodding the disability and the senior community to be more active in their support of passenger rail service in this country. All a person has to do is take a look around any passenger train, especially long distance trains, to observe the mix of passengers. Amtrak loves to promote special savings fares for students and young people and does have a senior discount but just does not seem to appreciate the political power of both the persons with disabilities and the massive aging population. A very important physical problem for both disabled and aging passengers is the design of the Super liner with its narrow/steep staircase which effectively blocks many passengers from using the dining car or the sightseer lounge car. I have no idea how many potential riders this feature prevents them from wanting to use Amtrak but even with car attendant served meals to those "down below," I do think it represents second class service to both groups. I think there is also a safety issue with the two level design as it is, wherein that stairway can effectively block escape to another car should there be a fire/crash. Not sure if the NTSB accident reports go into that.
I am 73 years old and relatively fit but I sure do not like the terrible design of the upper berth in the Super Liner "Roomette" as one is tossed about some 15 feet above the rails....really much prefer the berths aboard the Canadian!
Except for our last trip, two years ago, my wife and I preferred a bedroom on the upper level of the Superliner cars, even though she had to struggle to get up the stairs, for there were no convenient handholds to help her move across the room in room H. She was able to get to the diner, but was worried when going past the stairwell for there was no handhold there. Even so, she and I did eat most our meals in the diner. As to upper berths, on our last trip (room H for every overnight as she could not longer climb stairs), I found them quite cramped; when she was able to climb the steps, we slept together in the lower berth in a bedroom. I have spent one night in an upper in a Viewliner roomette, and do not remember that it was as cramped as the upper in a Superliner room H; our complaint with that roomette was that it was not big enough for the two of us when it came to undressing and dressing.
Amtrak has done more, in general, than was done previously in providing accommodations for the physically handicapped ( I think it is possible to take a stretcher into room H) than was done in previous years; though the North Western did have two cars that were designed especially for overnight service between Chicago and Rochester, Minnesota; these cars had two side doors that were opposite two of the bedrooms so that a stretcher could be carried directly into the bedrooms.
Johnny
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