2026-05-17 · 6 min read

Florida Transit Agency Website Accessibility: DOJ Title II Compliance for Public Transportation Authorities

# Florida Transit Agency Website Accessibility: DOJ Title II Compliance for Public Transportation Authorities

Florida's public transit agencies serve millions of riders — including a disproportionately high share of riders with disabilities, seniors, and transit-dependent residents. The digital infrastructure of these agencies: trip planners, route and schedule information, rider alerts, fare payment portals, and paratransit request systems — is squarely within the scope of the DOJ Title II Final Rule.

Every Florida public transit authority that serves a jurisdiction above 50,000 people must bring its public-facing web content and mobile apps into conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 26, 2027.

Florida Transit Agencies Covered by the April 2027 Deadline

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) — Serves Hillsborough County (~1.5 million residents). hart.org, trip planner, fixed-route schedule information, ridesharing services (HARTPlus), and public rider communications. HART is an independent transit authority, not part of Hillsborough County government. It is separately covered by the Title II rule.

Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) — Serves Pinellas County (~970,000 residents). psta.net, route maps, schedule PDFs, and rider information. PSTA is an independent authority. April 2027 deadline applies.

LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority) — Serves Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties (~2 million combined). golynx.com, trip planner, route information, and the SunRail connection portals. April 2027 deadline applies.

Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) — Serves Duval County/Jacksonville (~950,000 residents). jtafla.com, trip planner, route information, and JTA Connexion paratransit scheduling. April 2027 deadline applies.

Broward County Transit (BCT) — Part of Broward County government. Covered under Broward County compliance.

Miami-Dade Transit — Part of Miami-Dade County government. Covered under Miami-Dade County compliance.

Palm Tran — Part of Palm Beach County government. Covered under Palm Beach County compliance.

Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS) — Serves City of Gainesville (~135,000 residents). gainesvillerds.com and public-facing schedule information. Gainesville RTS is a department of city government and covered under the City of Gainesville's compliance program.

Space Coast Area Transit (SCAT) — Serves Brevard County (~600,000 residents). transit.brevardfl.gov and public-facing route information and rider communications. April 2027 deadline applies.

LeeTran — Serves Lee County/Fort Myers area (~760,000 residents). leegov.com/leetran and public-facing schedules. Part of Lee County government. Covered under Lee County's compliance.

Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) — Serves Pensacola area (~320,000 residents). myecat.com and public-facing rider information. April 2027 deadline applies.

Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) — Serves Sarasota County (~440,000 residents). Public-facing transit schedules and route information. April 2027 deadline applies.

VOTRAN (Volusia County) — Serves Volusia County (~530,000 residents). votran.org and public-facing rider information. April 2027 deadline applies.

PATS (Polk County) — Serves Polk County (~730,000 residents). polk.governmentransit.com and rider portals. April 2027 deadline applies.

Why Transit Websites Are Particularly High-Stakes

Transit agencies have the clearest possible relationship between web accessibility and disability equity: riders who are blind, have low vision, or have motor disabilities that prevent driving are disproportionately transit-dependent. These same riders are the most likely to rely on screen readers and keyboard navigation.

An inaccessible trip planner for LYNX isn't an inconvenience for a transit-dependent rider who is blind — it's a complete barrier to using the service. The legal exposure is direct: a complaint about an inaccessible transit website names a public entity that has denied service to a person with a disability, which is exactly what Title II of the ADA prohibits.

What Transit Agency Websites Must Cover

The rule applies to all public-facing web content and mobile apps used to offer transit services. For a Florida transit agency, covered content includes:

Trip planners and route information — The core service delivery interface. If a blind rider cannot use the trip planner independently, the agency is denying equal access to its program.

Schedule and route PDFs — Many agencies publish schedule information as PDFs. These must be tagged and readable by screen readers, not scanned images.

Rider alerts and service disruptions — Real-time and planned service disruption alerts published on the website or via web-accessible APIs must be accessible.

Fare information and payment portals — Web-based fare payment, pass purchase, and account management portals are covered.

Paratransit scheduling systems — ADA paratransit (complementary paratransit under 49 CFR Part 37) scheduling portals that are web-accessible are covered by the Title II rule. Note that paratransit services are also separately regulated by FTA under the ADA — this is an additional layer of accessibility obligation.

Mobile apps — Transit apps distributed to the public must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This includes iOS and Android apps for trip planning, real-time arrival information, and fare payment.

Service planning and public participation — Public-facing materials for route planning public meetings, environmental reviews, and federal Title VI compliance notices must be accessible.

Common WCAG Failures for Transit Websites

Screen reader inaccessibility in trip planners — Mapping interfaces, route selection dropdowns, and transfer point information are frequently inaccessible. Interactive maps without text alternatives, and departure time information that updates dynamically without ARIA live region announcements, are common failures.

Schedule PDFs as images — Many agencies still publish schedule PDFs that were scanned from paper or printed from design software without accessibility tagging. These fail WCAG 1.1.1 (non-text content) completely.

Inaccessible real-time departure boards — Web pages showing real-time departure information that auto-refresh often fail to announce updates to screen readers, leaving blind users without the current information.

Mobile app accessibility — Transit apps are frequently built by third-party vendors without WCAG testing. iOS VoiceOver and Android TalkBack testing of the fare payment and trip planning flows frequently reveals critical failures in interactive elements.

Keyboard navigation in fare portals — Fare payment and pass purchase flows involve multi-step processes with file uploads, payment form entry, and confirmation dialogs — all common sources of keyboard navigation failures.

FTA and ADA Compliance Context

Florida transit agencies receiving federal funding are also subject to the Federal Transit Administration's requirements under the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. These frameworks overlap with, but are not identical to, the DOJ Title II web accessibility rule.

The DOJ Title II rule is the specific federal requirement governing WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance for public-facing digital content. The FTA's ADA requirements cover service delivery, paratransit, and physical accessibility, with some web-specific elements. Both apply.

An agency with an existing FTA ADA compliance program should treat the DOJ Title II web accessibility rule as an additional digital component of that program, not as a substitute for or complement to existing FTA compliance.

Compliance Timeline for Florida Transit Agencies

For a transit agency starting in May 2026:

May–June 2026: Scope definition and procurement. Catalog all covered digital surfaces: main website, trip planner, mobile apps, schedule PDFs, paratransit scheduling interface, fare payment portal. Issue or award a WCAG audit engagement.

July–August 2026: Professional audit — 200 representative pages/screens, NVDA and VoiceOver manual testing, axe-core automated scan, PDF sampling, mobile app testing.

September 2026: Findings report and remediation plan. Critical failures (inaccessible trip planner, keyboard-inaccessible fare payment) assigned for 90-day completion.

September–January 2027: Remediation. Third-party vendors notified with specific remediation requirements. Internal content (schedule PDFs, alert pages) remediated by agency staff.

February 2027: Re-audit and accessibility statement drafted.

March 2027: Accessibility statement published.

April 26, 2027: Compliance deadline.

The Parallax WCAG Audit

The Parallax WCAG audit from Morton Technology Consulting is a fixed-fee ($9,500) professional WCAG 2.1 Level AA audit designed for Florida government entities — including transit agencies — under the April 2027 deadline.

For transit agencies, the 200-page scope typically covers: the main website (50 pages), the trip planner (30 pages/screens), schedule PDFs (sampled), the fare payment flow (20 screens), mobile app key flows (NVDA/VoiceOver), and public participation documents. A scoping call establishes the right sample for your agency's configuration.

See the sample audit report — a completed WCAG 2.1 AA assessment of a Florida government website — to understand the deliverable format.

Contact: [email protected]

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*Morton Technology Consulting LLC, Tallahassee, FL. Government and transit agency WCAG compliance audits for the April 2027 deadline.*

Morton Technology Consulting LLC — WCAG 2.1 AA audits for Florida government agencies. Parallax audit → · WCAG Readiness Kit → · All posts →