Not fare! Disabled rip discount bus company after being denied access By Casey Ross/Herald Exclusive Monday, July 25, 2005 - Updated: 01:51 AM EST A popular Boston-to-New York City bus carrier that has repeatedly violated disability laws by denying service to wheelchair-bound passengers has escaped federal enforcement, a Herald investigation found.      The Fung Wah bus company, whose low-cost ride to New York City attracts hundreds of daily passengers, operates only one bus with a wheelchair lift in Boston and sometimes flatly denies service to handicapped riders, according to state officials and disability advocates.      On a recent afternoon, a reporter watched Fung Wah employees deny a ride to the head of Boston's Disability Law Center, who uses a wheelchair and went to South Station to buy a ticket.      ``I don't understand why this is allowed to happen,'' Disability Law director Christine Griffin said. ``It's a violation of peoples' civil rights. If this was another protected class, if they decided today not to serve women, can you imagine how quickly they would be shut down?''      When Griffin tried to buy a ticket, she was initially told by Fung Wah employees that the company has no accessible buses. Then, after complaining that handicapped access is a legal requirement, she was told the company has one bus but couldn't help her because it was unavailable.      Under federal law, private bus companies are prohibited from denying service to handicapped passengers. The companies must be able to provide an accessible bus within 48 hours of requests for service.      A Fung Wah official said the company does not routinely deny service to handicapped people. ``They are welcome to the bus,'' said spokeswoman Mona Louis. ``We do have handicapped service.''      However, in a follow-up phone call by a Herald reporter, a Fung Wah employee who answered the phone at the company's ticket office denied a request for a handicapped bus and said such service is not provided.      Bus industry officials and competing carriers have continually complained about Fung Wah's lack of handicapped access. In April, Peter Pan Bus Lines protested the company's application to add service between Providence and New York City, but the protest did not stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from quickly granting approval.      A spokesman for that agency, which primarily enforces safety regulations, said the protest was not considered because accessibility compliance is enforced by the Department of Justice. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment for this story.      Fung Wah first came under scrutiny in March when the state attorney general's office filed a discrimination complaint alleging the company refused a ride to a blind couple with a seeing-eye dog. The complaint is now pending with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.       An official within the attorney general's office said she was shocked to learn of the new concerns raised by the Herald's report. ``Given that there is ongoing litigation, it surprises me that this is continuing,'' said the official, who spoke on a condition of anonymity.      Meanwhile, industry officials continue to urge federal regulators to crack down. ``This company continues to skirt the laws,'' said Peter Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association. ``(Handicapped access) has come up repeatedly as an area where they are definitely in violation.''