§ 15-c. Accessible public transportation. 1. Definitions. When used in this section:

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a. "Transportation provider" shall mean the Niagara frontier transportation authority, the Rochester-Genesee transportation authority, the capital district transportation authority, the central New York regional transportation authority, the Utica transit authority, the metropolitan suburban bus authority, Suffolk county, Westchester county and Broome county.

b. "Committee" shall mean the committee for accessible transportation established pursuant to subdivision two of this section.

c. "Transit-disabled person" shall mean any individual who, by reason of illness, age, injury, or congenital malfunction or other permanent or temporary incapacity or disability, is unable, without special facilities, special planning or design, to utilize mass transportation facilities as effectively as members of the general public.

d. "Para-transit" shall mean a transportation service specifically designed to serve the needs of transit disabled persons using special vehicles operating on demand.

e. "Accessible fixed-route service" shall mean a regularly scheduled fixed-route bus service operated by a transportation provider with lift-equipped transit buses.

2. Establishment of committee. a. To assist in the development of an accessible transportation system, a committee for accessible transportation shall be established for each transportation provider. Each committee shall consist of seven persons, including the commissioner of transportation and the state advocate for the disabled, or their designee, and five persons appointed by the governor including one member from the transportation provider and three transit-disabled persons. If the member appointed from the transportation provider ceases to be a member of the provider, such member shall at the same time cease to be a member of the committee. The commissioner of transportation, or the commissioner's designee, shall serve as chairperson.

b. Members of the committee, other than the commissioner of transportation and the state advocate for the disabled, shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. If at any time there is a vacancy in the membership of the committee by reason of death, resignation, disqualification, or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.

c. A majority of the whole number of members of the committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the committee's business. The committee shall have the power to act by a majority vote of the members.

d. Meetings of the committee shall take place no less than once every two months for a period of fifteen months following the effective date of this section unless waived, in writing, by a majority vote of the members of the committee. Within such fifteen month period, the committee shall, in addition to its regular meetings, hold no less than two public meetings at which the committee shall receive testimony concerning service needs. Thereafter, regular meetings of the committee shall take place no less than every three months unless waived, in writing, by a majority vote of the members of the committee.

3. Committee responsibilities. a. Each committee shall, by July first, nineteen hundred ninety-one, develop an accessible transportation services plan to provide for accessible transportation services at a level sufficient to meet demand in an economic and efficient manner, which coordinates, to the maximum extent possible, accessible fixed-route services, para-transit, accessible rapid transit, and other transportation services available to transit-disabled persons, as appropriate.

b. The accessible transportation services plan shall include service criteria for the provision of para-transit services.

c. The plan shall also include:

(i) service areas and routes which shall reflect residential distributions of transit-disabled persons and existing transportation services operating in the transportation provider's service area that are accessible to transit-disabled persons;

(ii) eligibility for use of para-transit;

(iii) hours and days of operation;

(iv) available financing, including farebox revenue;

(v) passenger and mileage data;

(vi) vehicle hours of operation;

(vii) a financial analysis and comparison of projected capital and operating costs, a revenue plan to cover any additional costs within resources otherwise available to the transportation provider and a determination of the effectiveness of any proposed accessible fixed-route service and alternative para-transit; and

(viii) any other information deemed appropriate. The committee shall consult on such plan with the metropolitan planning organization, and following such consultation, shall recommend the plan to the transportation provider for implementation.

4. Required level of fixed-route accessibility. a. Each transportation provider shall provide access to one hundred percent of its regularly-operated buses that provide local, fixed-route service. To implement this requirement on and after the effective date of this section, all buses purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service on the bus lines of each transportation provider shall be lift-equipped except any bus which a provider has under contract of purchase on July first, nineteen hundred ninety for delivery after that date. Such lift-equipped buses shall be properly operated and maintained to facilitate their use by transit-disabled persons.

b. The provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision shall not apply to buses that are purchased, leased or otherwise brought into service that have a useful life of six years or less.

5. Required level of para-transit service. a. Within thirty days after the submission of the accessible transportation services plan, the transportation provider shall, with respect to that portion of the plan setting forth service criteria for para-transit service, approve such criteria, request amendments to the criteria or reject such criteria. If the transportation provider approves the criteria, it shall proceed to implement such criteria. If the transportation provider requests amendments to the criteria, the committee shall consider such request and, no later than thirty days following such request, submit either amended criteria or the initial criteria. Within fifteen days of such submission, the transportation provider shall either approve or reject the criteria, as resubmitted. If the transportation provider rejects the criteria, it shall be subject to the provisions of paragraph b of this subdivision. This schedule may be modified by mutual consent of the committee and the transportation provider.

b. If a transportation provider rejects the service criteria submitted by the committee, the transportation provider shall, subject to the provisions of paragraphs c and d of this subdivision, provide the following minimum level of para-transit service:

(i) For transportation providers operating up to fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less than ten percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event less than one vehicle;

(ii) For transportation providers operating fifty-one to one hundred buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less than eight percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event less than five vehicles;

(iii) For transportation providers operating one hundred one to one hundred fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less than six percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event less than eight vehicles; and

(iv) For transportation providers operating in excess of one hundred fifty buses, para-transit services shall operate with a para-transit fleet of no less than five percent of the provider's fixed route fleet, but in no event less than nine vehicles.

c. Each provider shall begin implementing the requirements of paragraph a of this subdivision upon the committee's submission of an accessible transportation service plan and shall fully implement such requirements no later than three years thereafter; provided, however, that each provider must fully implement such requirements by December first, nineteen hundred ninety-four.

d. In no event shall the amount of a provider's expenditures on para-transit services be less than the amount allocated for para-transit services in a provider's budget for the year nineteen hundred ninety, unless agreed to by the committee.

6. Committee reports. On or before February first, nineteen hundred ninety-three, each committee shall submit a report to the governor, the president pro tem of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly, which details the progress of the committee in addressing the transportation needs of persons with disabilities and which presents the accessible transportation services plan developed by the committee and recommended to the metropolitan planning organization and the transportation provider.

7. Technical assistance. The committee shall receive technical assistance from the metropolitan planning organization, the department of transportation, the transportation provider, the office of the advocate for the disabled, and any other state agency that it determines appropriate.

8. The committee may, by vote of two-thirds of its members cease to exist at any time after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-five.

9. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.