Some allege that MBTA has failed to communicate with non-English speakers
By Mike Sullivan, WBZ-TV
BOSTON -- A local law firm claims the MBTA is violating federal law with the Orange Line shutdown.
"We are calling on the federal authorities to intervene and investigate the MBTA's lack of compliance with Civil Rights laws," said Oren Sellstrom with the Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR).
Sellstrom says the MBTA must perform an equity analysis study before any major service changes. The study accesses any harm to communities of color or low-income areas.
"Federal law recognizes that communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately disrupted by transportation interruption," explained Sellstrom.
In response, the MBTA says the study is not required by the Federal Transit Administration because the shutdown is only temporary and does not exceed 12 months.
LCR believes the MBTA also needs to add more signage in different languages, as well as more attendants who speak other languages.
"We have seen significant gaps in personnel on the ground who can communicate in Chinese," Sellstrom said.
"If I didn't live in this area, and I didn't read English, it would have been a little difficult because you don't know whether to come to the station or you're boarding a shuttle somewhere else," said Roxie Rogers, who rode the Orange Line shuttle bus on Wednesday, "I think it impacts those of us who live in poor communities more, and the communities of color, because some don't have cars, some of us don't ride bicycles."
The MBTA says their online trip planner is translated to 14 languages, but station signage is translated only where appropriate. They do have attendants who speak other languages, but they are not everywhere.