Demonstrators in wheelchairs blocked Greyhound terminals in several U.S. cities Monday claiming buses are inaccessible to disabled riders, and several landed in jail when they refused police orders to move. In some cases, demonstrators organized by American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, or ADAPT, blocked Labor Day travelers' entry to buses, police said. ``This is a very busy day for us,'' said George Gravley, a spokesman for Dallas-based Greyhound Lines Inc. ``It's a holiday weekend. People are going home and thousands of people are being inconvenienced because buses are being delayed.'' Five protesters in wheelchairs and one blind demonstrator were arrested in Dallas and taken to jail, said police Sgt. K. Walters. A jailer said $213 bond each was set, but she did not know how many were jailed. Arrests also occurred in Louisville, Ky., and Denver, and an organizer said the protests occurred in a dozen cities. Joe Carley, a demonstrator at the Dallas terminal, said society has ``spent thousands of dollars keeping us alive and they say, `We have spent this money to keep you alive we're not going to spend any money to see that you can live.' And accessibility is living.'' Protesters want Greyhound to install lifts on buses to make them more accessible to the handicapped. ``We're asking them to sign an agreement that any new bus built will be accessible,'' said the Rev. Wade Blank, an ADAPT spokesman in Denver. Greyhound officials met with leaders of the Denver-based ADAPT in August. ``We went through all of this in Denver,'' Gravley said. ``We thought we responded in a forthright way to issues they raised. We are disappointed obviously that the demonstrations continued.'' In Denver, 10 people, including eight in wheelchairs, were cited for disturbing the peace. The protest shifted to the Denver City Jail after police officers booked the two able-bodied people, but released those in wheelchairs, said Blank. Two hours later, they too were released, and a police officer at the scene told the protesters they had been booked due to a misunderstanding. In Louisville, Ky., a protest involving 25 people resulted in the arrest of eight demonstrators, six in wheelchairs. The eight were charged with failure to disperse and obstruction of a highway and released on their own recognizance. Blank said protests also were scheduled Monday in Atlanta, Savannah, Ga., Salt Lake City, Utah, Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Another demonstration was set for Tuesday at the Greyhound terminal in Chicago, he said. Gravley said a Greyhound subsidiary has applied for a grant to use toward designing an exprimental bus that would be accessible to the disabled. He said the company has proposed enlisiting the help of an advisory group that would include ADAPT members, the Texas Commission for The Handicapped, and a retired people's group. Greyhound operates Helping Hands, a program that provides a free ticket for disabled people who are unable to travel by themselves. But to avoid fraudulent use of the program, the bus carrier requires users to provide proof of their disability, Gravley said. ``This handicapped organization feels that's demeaning and they ought to be the judge of whether they travel alone,'' Gravley said. ADAPT also objects to Greyhound's requirements that non-motorized wheelchairs be stored in baggage compartments and battery-operated wheelchairs be kept off buses. Greyhound cites concerns about battery acid leaking.
