The Bay Area Rapid Transit approved a compromise with disability advocates on February 26 that would somewhat preserve wheelchair access by removing floor-to-ceiling poles from the center door of its new “Fleet of the Future” train cars.

Jessie Lorenz, executive director of the Independent Living Resource Center in San Francisco, isn’t happy with the compromise. “This compromise is creating segregated seating for disabled people in the middle door of each car,” she says. “The compromise, in my opinion, takes us backwards.”

Disability advocates argued the placement of the poles blocked wheelchair access and several disability rights organizations threatened BART with a lawsuit. “It was not a simple oversight,” says Lorenz. “I believe they thought that they could do it and there would not be enough outcry from the community.”

BART plans to begin replacing its aging fleet in mid-2016. By the end of the year, a 10-car trial of new cars will be used to test various seating configurations. According to Lorenz, BART will then share user feedback with disability advocates on a quarterly basis as part of the compromise.

The diminished amount of wheelchair access concerns advocates, despite the compromise. “In the old cars wheelchair users and blind people could enter anywhere and expect same level of access,“ she says. “In the new cars it’s not going to be the same.“ Lorenz wonders how the change will be communicated to the blind, wheelchair users and non-English speaking passengers.