Not all ART bus stops are wheelchair accessible (Disneyland).

[ZJ5/9D47]

Went back to Disneyland last month and decided to venture out a bit beyond the parks this time.

Riding the ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) busses has always been a cheap, reliable, and safe experience with well-trained and helpful drivers but upon arriving at the Orange County Outlet Mall it became apparent that the system isn’t fully wheelchair accessible.

The sidewalk is only a few inches wider than the space needed by the lift which forces those in wheelchairs to exit into the grassy strip which was several inches lower, soggy, and had almost no traction. Fortunately there were two very helpful off-duty CMs and the bus driver to help. I think multiple busses have their stop there so I don’t know why the sidewalk isn’t expanded in that area.

Just wanted to warn others, especially those planning on traveling alone.

 

[tsumgirl]

I am so sorry you had to experience that! Thank goodness those kind CMs and the bus driver were able and willing to help you.

I'm starting to travel to DL solo more often, and haven't ventured too far from the resort area on my own. I normally use an ECV just in case my energy levels drop sooner than I expect. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I haven't tried using ART yet since I usually stay across the street on Harbor Blvd., but I have been contemplating it more and more. Hopefully, I can ask the bus driver before boarding if getting off/on my planned stop will be difficult.

 

[lanejudy]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I would recommend filing a complaint with both the mall and the transportation company. It sounds like they need to either widen and pave the current bus stop location, or move the bus stop to a more accessible location.

Thanks for sharing so others can know what to expect.

 

[kaytieeldr]

They probably can't easily (cheaply ) expand the sidewalk, but is there a reason they can't stop further from the curb, so maybe just the lip and first couple of inches of the lip are even with the sidewalk? Or would that still not help?

 

[Evita_W]

Just a heads up, in general, you are much better off riding OCTA (Public Transportation in Orange County) than ART (Sort of private transportation in the Anaheim area, it is a very strange story, but suffice it to say that due to city laws, all new hotels in the city of Anaheim have to use them for their shuttle service if they offer a shuttle, older hotels may be grandfathered into a different situation)

With ART when they say last bus is at a certain time, it is at that time no matter how many people are waiting. With ART, not all of their buses are accessible, many of them use the "trolley" style buses and only about 1/3 of those are accessible to begin with and half of those lifts are broken (or were last time my family needed to use ART)

OCTA on the other hand has a few routes (especially along Harbor) that run 24/7, OCTA is also cheaper and all of their stops and buses are fully accessible. OCTA is also cheaper than ART. OCTA also usually has more frequent buses.

So, my suggestion is if you know you need transportation in the Disneyland area, check what options are available with OCTA, you will probably find them better than ART and quite often will get you to your destination in less time as well, as there will often be fewer stops between you and your destination.

 

[tsumgirl]

Just a heads up, in general, you are much better off riding OCTA (Public Transportation in Orange County) than ART (Sort of private transportation in the Anaheim area, it is a very strange story, but suffice it to say that due to city laws, all new hotels in the city of Anaheim have to use them for their shuttle service if they offer a shuttle, older hotels may be grandfathered into a different situation)

With ART when they say last bus is at a certain time, it is at that time no matter how many people are waiting. With ART, not all of their buses are accessible, many of them use the "trolley" style buses and only about 1/3 of those are accessible to begin with and half of those lifts are broken (or were last time my family needed to use ART)

OCTA on the other hand has a few routes (especially along Harbor) that run 24/7, OCTA is also cheaper and all of their stops and buses are fully accessible. OCTA is also cheaper than ART. OCTA also usually has more frequent buses.

So, my suggestion is if you know you need transportation in the Disneyland area, check what options are available with OCTA, you will probably find them better than ART and quite often will get you to your destination in less time as well, as there will often be fewer stops between you and your destination.

Thank you so much for this! I'll definitely stick to OCTA if/when I get brave enough to venture out more on my own.