49 CFR Parts 37 and 38 -- Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities at Intercity, Commuter, and High Speed Passenger Railroad Station Platforms; Miscellaneous Amendments, Preamble

Reasonable Modification of Policies

The NPRM proposed adding language to the rule, parallel to that in Department of Justice ADA rules, the Department's Air Carrier Access Act and, more recently, ADA passenger vessel rules, requiring regulated entities to make reasonable modifications to policies in order to ensure appropriate and nondiscriminatory service to persons with disabilities. This proposal attracted extensive comment. Generally, disability community commenters favored the proposal while transportation industry commenters opposed it.

The Department is continuing to work toward a final rule addressing this subject, including working on a regulatory evaluation concerning the costs and benefits of such a requirement. Because the work on a regulatory evaluation concerning rail service accessibility has occurred before work has been completed on the regulatory evaluation of the reasonable modification proposal, the Department is not issuing a final rule concerning reasonable modification at this time.

The Department notes that its September 2005 guidance concerning origin-to-destination service remains the Department's interpretation of the obligations of ADA complementary paratransit providers under existing regulations. As with other interpretations of regulatory provisions, the Department will rely on this interpretation in implementing and enforcing the origin-to-destination requirement of part 37. This application of the origin-to-destination service requirement of the existing rule is not dependent on the ultimate disposition of the NPRM's reasonable modification proposal.