Update, 2:15 p.m.: MBTA reports RIDE is back to scheduling rides, but wicked slowly.
MassDOT reports the RIDE, which serves people with disabilities, "is experiencing a communications and technology outage" at its communications and dispatch center that means people who had rides scheduled for today are on their own.
WBZ reports Ride drivers and the comapny that runs the Ride reached a contract deal; the T says the Ride should be back to regular operations today.
Separately, the T's put in new barriers and signs on buses and trolleys, which means riders once again can board at the front on buses and at street-level trolley stops - so break out that CharlieCard The move also means more seats for riders.
MassDOT today announced plans to spend $2.4 million on a year-long pilot project in which it will subsidize the cost of moving people in wheelchairs around the current RIDE service area. Read more.
Yesterday my daughter and I decided to brave the crowds and head to the Esplanade from Newton. Before we left I checked the July 4th web site put up by the city, and specifically looked for information about handicapped parking and seating. On the site they indicated that there would be parking spaces for the handicapped with placards on Storrow Drive as well as a parking lot at Mass Eye and Ear with shuttle buses.
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