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Access-A-Ride border bill before Spitzer

Legislation allowing Access-A-Ride customers to travel up to five miles over the Queens/Nassau County border passed both houses in the state legislature, and the bill will now go before Governor Eliot Spitzer for him to decide whether to sign it into law.
“It is ridiculous for transportation services for the disabled to stop at the county line,” said Assemblymember Mark Weprin, who introduced the bill in the Assembly.
Weprin noted that a number of doctors’ offices and hospitals are located a short distance from each other in eastern Queens and right over the Nassau County border, but Access-A-Ride vehicles are not allowed to transport passengers over the county line. The customer would have to exit the Access-A-Ride vehicle and wait for a Nassau County transport vehicle to pick them up and take them the rest of the way.
“It is inconvenient and unsafe for disabled passengers to exit at the county line, cross a major thoroughfare, and wait for another vehicle,” Weprin said.
Last year, the legislature passed a similar bill, which then Governor George Pataki vetoed. However, Weprin and State Senator Frank Padavan, who introduced the bill in the Senate, are urging Spitzer to approve the bill.