Farias asks about four-point securement and staff training
Farias asks about wheelchair securement and training; EDC says vessels have two-point securement and it is exploring four-point; staff training is provided and language signage is coming.
Any other second round questions?
from my council member colleagues.
Councilmember Fergus.
Hi folks, thank you.
Just wanted to quickly ask some questions, some transportation and logistic questions for folks in our disabilities community.
So, you know, I've drafted some legislation before about multi-language access and looking at the different ways we can do that at each of our ferry landings.
Wanted to understand better on the four-point securement standard on the New York City ferry lines.
And if there's training for staff to do that, if we're already instructing some of the staff members on the ferries to help folks that need assistance.
Making sure that they're boarded correctly with their wheelchairs and we're preventing injury or damage.
Just if we can talk a little bit about what that looks like and if there's training for staff.
Yes, first of all, thank you, Councilmember, for your partnership in previous legislation, not only for discounts for middle schoolers, but also for language access.
I'm happy to report that we have signs that are going up before the end of the calendar year in multiple languages and that are specific to each landing to make sure that the languages are appropriate to each neighborhood.
So thank you again for your partnership on that.
I think it's very helpful to have that as we go forward.
As it relates to accessibility, we do have a two-point securement, which is
on our vessels, but we are looking in the future to understand whether and how additional securements could work.
Because of how our vessels were built, they were not designed with four points, but we are looking to see whether or not they can accommodate that.
We've worked with some engineers to understand the design of that and whether during future overhauls we can incorporate some of those additional features.
In addition, yes, there is training that the operator provides for its staff.
We take a look at that when they make major changes.
But their trainings are related to ensuring that they are sensitive and understanding for what they're supposed to be providing in terms of assistance for people with disabilities.