When Laura Brelsford began riding the MBTA between Cambridge and Boston in the early 2000s, she found the system’s accessibility “deplorable” for people like her who use a wheelchair or other mobility device.

Broken elevators hampered easy travel between the subways and the ground level. Buses were not always equipped to board riders in wheelchairs. Some drivers blew off boarding disabled riders altogether. All told, a regular commute could routinely take 45 minutes or an hour more than it should, Brelsford, now the MBTA’s assistant general manager for system-wide accessibility, said.

“If I were visiting friends or on my way to an appointment using the bus, it wasn’t unusual that I would have to wait for the third bus on a route because either the lift would be broken or the operator jus

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