Editing MBTA accessibility (section)

==History==
[[File:New elevator at Park Street station, 1979.jpg|thumb|left|Newly opened elevator at Park Street station in 1979]]
In 1975, the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board enacted its first regulations requiring accessibility of public facilities. All subsequent new rapid transit stations have been accessible. The first station to be renovated for accessibility was the Red Line level of {{bts|Park Street}} in 1979.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportmas1979mass_0 |title=1979 Annual Report |year=1979 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |page=[https://archive.org/details/annualreportmas1979mass_0/page/27 27] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In the mid-1980s, the MBTA spent $80 million to extend the platforms of seven Red Line and three Orange Line stations to allow the use of six-car trains and add elevators.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportmas1985mass_0 |title=1985 Annual Report |year=1985 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |page=[https://archive.org/details/annualreportmas1985mass_0/page/13 13] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> All new commuter rail stations have been accessible since the mid-1980s, with many existing stations renovated as well.

The pace of renovations increased after the 1990 [[Americans with Disabilities Act]]. Only 26 of the 80 key stations were accessible by 1990; $1.6 billion in renovations raised this to 69 in 2004.<ref name=durso>{{cite thesis |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/66801 |title=Subway Spaces as Public Places: Politics and Perceptions of Boston's T |last=Durso |first=Holly Bellocchio |date=June 2011 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |type=MCP |page=40|hdl=1721.1/66801 }}</ref> Green Line service was not accessible until around 2001, when key surface stops were retrofitted with raised platforms for use with new Type 8 LRVs. In 2006, the MBTA settled a [[class-action lawsuit]], ''Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA'', under which the agency agreed to add [[redundant elevators]] to a number of rapid transit stations and make other accessibility improvements.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gbls.org/sites/default/files/settlement-(4-10-06).pdf |title=Settlement Agreement |work=Joanne Daniels-Finegold et al. v. MBTA |date=April 10, 2006}}</ref>
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