Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo will begin providing a shuttle service - to run on the half-hour every Saturday and Sunday - from the South Kirkland Park and Ride. However - the vans running the shuttles will not be wheelchair accessible, and at last inquiry the zoo had no plans to provide a comparable accessible service.
The service, billed by the Woodland Park Zoo as a "partnership with King County Metro with a focus on reducing vehicle impacts and providing transportation convenience and ease" will begin service on Saturday, June 25 and run through the first weekend in September.
Zoo spokesperson Roxanne Murphy confirmed that none of the vans will accommodate people with disabilities. When asked about why the zoo wasn't offering a service that complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Murphy expressed the incorrect assumption that as a nonprofit, the Woodland Park Zoo is "exempt from that law".
Contacts made to the King County and Seattle Offices of Civil Rights uncovered interest from intake personnel, but in a callback from King County's ADA Specialist at OCR that representative said that since the County's sole role has been to authorize the use of the (publicly owned and maintained) Park and Ride lot, that her office had "no jurisdiction". The City of Seattle OCR also claimed no jurisdiction unless and until an actual act of discrimination had occurred and an individual (or individuals) come forward with a specific complaint of refusal of reasonable accommodation.
The Alliance of People with Disabilities is currently looking into the legality of the proposed shuttle service, and may be a resource of legal assistance to anyone with a disability who is denied access. Meanwhile when discrimination does occur (and it will - on June 25th), it will happen on King County property, with the County Office of Civil Rights, the City of Seattle, and the Zoo itself all receiving advance notice.
-jw
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