Wheelchair Accessible New York

The New York Times has created a map of Where the Subway Limits New Yorkers with Disabilities. The map shows all the areas of the city that are within a ten minute walk from a wheelchair accessible subway station. It also shows where the most people with problems walking live in New York.

The map reveals that Manhattan is the most easily accessible area of New York for people with disabilities. This is mainly due to the fact that subway stations in Manhattan have elevators. At the other end of the accessibility scale is Co-op City, where 3,500 residents with walking difficulties live over one hour from the nearest accessible subway station. Parents with strollers may also struggle at subway stations with no elevators. The NYT has included a map showing the ten minute walksheds from wheelchair accessible subway stations and where the population under 5 years old live in New York.

To create the ten minute walksheds around subway stations the NYT used the Openrouteservice. The Openrouteservice API allows you to return isochrones around a location which show areas which can be reached in given times or distances.