Opinion ID: 425177
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: review of relief ordered by the district court

Text: 48 We hold that the district court erred in requiring RIPTA to purchase wheelchair lifts and bays for the 42 buses which it proposes to purchase. Especially where RIPTA has complied with the 3.5 percent level of expenditure set in the DOT regulation, the court's order involved affirmative relief of a type which section 504, under Davis, does not contemplate. Accordingly we reverse the lower court's order in this regard. 49 The district court also ordered RIPTA to take certain other steps which would appear to involve de minimis expense, or perhaps no cost at all, to the Rhode Island agency. 50 RIPTA had not repaired the kneeling devices on its buses despite General Motor's offer to pay for parts and labor. RIPTA had also failed to provide a locking mechanism for electric wheelchairs even though the cost of doing so appears to be de minimus. Further RIPTA had maintained a higher reserve ratio for its lift equipped buses than for its other buses. The district court ordered RIPTA to repair the kneeling devices, provide locking mechanisms, and maintain a lower reserve ratio. While we now vacate these orders because they were decided under an improper standard, we do not reverse but rather remand them to the district court for further consideration in light of this opinion. It may be that some or all of these matters involve conduct on defendants' part which fits within the language in Davis authorizing corrective steps where an insistence on continuing past requirements and practices might arbitrarily deprive genuinely qualified handicapped persons of the opportunity to participate in a covered program. 442 U.S. at 412, 99 S.Ct. at 2370. RIPTA's refusal to act in those situations may possibly be unreasonable and discriminatory. Id. at 413, 99 S.Ct. at 2370. There are apparently no supervening DOT regulations covering these matters or providing RIPTA with some proper justification for its actions. (Were any claimed to exist, this would be a proper matter to be argued on remand.) 51 To be sure, RIPTA's own views are entitled to considerable deference even absent DOT regulations. As the local agency carrying out the program, its reasonable, non-discriminatory judgments are entitled to significant weight. It is not the function of the courts to administer Rhode Island's transportation programs, nor to make their own choices between lawful and proper alternatives available for the treatment of the handicapped. 52 While we hold that the district court's decision requiring RIPTA to equip buses with wheelchair lifts went beyond its authority, we believe the district court should have a further opportunity to review RIPTA's other actions in light of the standards set forth in this opinion. 53 Reversed in part, and vacated and remanded in part.