NYC Transit names Elegudin 'accessibility' chief

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) has appointed Alex Elegudin senior adviser for systemwide accessibility.

Elegudin will oversee expansion of accessibility for subway and bus riders, as well as improvements to the Access-A-Ride paratransit service. The efforts are part of NYCT President Andy Byford's plan to modernize subways and buses.

Under Byford's plan, NYCT over the next five years will install enough new subway station elevators to ensure that riders will be no more than two stops away from an accessible station, NYCT officials said in a press release. The plan proposes to add 180 elevators in 10 years.

Elegudin will start the new job June 25. In 2011, he co-founded Wheeling Forward, a nonprofit aimed at helping people with disabilities integrate into their communities.

In 2015, he became accessibility program manager for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.