Rights groups sue BART over ‘filthy’ elevators, broken escalators

BART’s disgusting elevators, often sprayed with urine and populated with piles of poop, are unpleasant for everyone. But for people with disabilities, who have no choice but to use them, they’re a civil rights violation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

So are the transit system’s broken-down elevators and escalators, fare gates and call boxes and the lack of an adequate train-evacuation plan for people in wheelchairs, says the suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco by two advocacy groups and two people with disabilities.

The suit claims that BART illegally discriminates against people with mobility disabilities by making it difficult, unpleasant or impossible to access the transit system. It seeks a court order that BART fix the problems, but it does not seek any financial damages.

Getting into a BART station is routinely unpleasant and possibly unhealthy, said Ian Smith, a plaintiff and BART rider who uses a wheelchair.

Workers fix an escalator at the Embarcadero Station in January. Broken escalators are cited in a suit against BART. Workers fix an escalator at the Embarcadero Station in January. Broken escalators are cited in a suit against BART. Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Rights groups sue BART over ‘filthy’ elevators, broken escalators 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

“I encounter human waste in BART elevators several times a week — so frequently that it has become a predictable part of my commute,” Smith said.

“My hope is that this lawsuit will finally get BART to address the needs of the disability community.”

Smith has a power wheelchair but said many of his friends have manual chairs and more unsanitary troubles.

“Your hands touch your wheels, your wheels touch the floor,” he said. “A lot of people carry gloves, carry hand sanitizer. It’s not pleasant.”

Pi Ra, 63, who teaches young activists at Senior and Disability Action, is also a plaintiff. He has a disability that limits his walking. He commutes daily on BART from Concord to Civic Center Station, where the unreliable escalators often force him to take longer walks to a working escalator or use the often-filthy elevators.

“Even though they put new floors in and cleaned the wells, it’s still disgusting,” he said. “It’s the odor and the new deposits and the trash. They just don’t clean it enough.”

Between the broken escalators and awful elevators, he said, “It’s just not accessible.”

The suit was filed by nonprofit law firms Disability Rights Advocates and Legal Aid at Work on behalf of Senior and Disability Action; the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco; and Smith and Ra.

In response, BART officials acknowledged the issues and said they were being addressed. In addition, BART said, more crews have been sent to keep “affected areas clean and functioning, but riders and employees continue to unacceptably experience the impact of the homeless crisis.”

“We are working with local agencies to help address the complexities involving homeless people in our stations,” the statement said. “We share the frustration of the Disability Rights Advocates legal group, but are disappointed our program of capital improvement is being met with litigation.”

Jinny Kim, an attorney for Legal Aid at Work, said the advocacy groups decided to go to court because a series of changes enacted after settlements with BART in the 1990s seemed to have slipped in recent years.

“We started investigating complaints and found out there are problems,” she said.

The advocates would like to see BART commit to more frequent cleanings and maintenance of elevators, especially when riders report fresh messes, replace escalators that frequently break down, make sure call boxes work and come up with a better evacuation plan.

BART’s emergency evacuation plan for trains calls for passengers with disabilities to abandon their wheelchairs and rely on other riders to carry or assist them. Kim said BART needs to better publicize its existing plan so that passengers without disabilities know that they need to help, and develop something better.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan