While Only Ten Percent Of Subway Stations Are Handicapped Accessible . . .

. . . the Americans with Disabilities Act extends to beaches:

[T]o make it easier for . . . people with disabilities to get close to the water, the city’s Parks Department said yesterday that it was installing heavy-duty mats at four city beaches to give wheelchairs and walkers a smooth pathway over the sand.

Called Mobi-Mats, the blue mats — bought for a total of $130,000 from Deschamps Mat Systems, a French company — are made of polyester and are anchored into the sand by 19-inch heavy-duty staples. The mats are at Beach 116th Street in the Rockaways in Queens, on Orchard Beach in the Bronx, on Midland Beach in Staten Island and on Brighton Beach until Labor Day, a Parks Department spokeswoman said. Each mat runs in a straight line from a boardwalk or pavement toward the water, where it then branches out into a T, and varies in length from 200 to 400 feet, said Katia Taillard, a representative of Deschamps.

The move to install the mats comes after a state audit two years ago, spurred by complaints, that found that the Parks Department was failing to meet many of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law that mandates cities to provide equal access to most facilities. Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, pledged to make improvements, and the department has responded by hiring an accessibility coordinator, increasing the number of signs for disabled users and installing special equipment in various playgrounds.

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People in wheelchairs were not the only ones using the mats yesterday. They were dotted with mothers pushing strollers, young children riding bicycles and older men with walkers as well as those who seemed to prefer walking on a mat rather than exposing their feet to the warm sand.