That's because UTA's fare increase proposal would continue to offer unlimited passes to regular transit riders - a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Leslie Schaar, a staff attorney for the Salt Lake City-based legal advocacy group.

"My reading of the law and the law center's reading of the law is that if you offer something to one, you have to offer it to the other," Schaar said.

UTA officials say there's nothing illegal about its proposal to allow Flextrans riders to buy 60-ride passes, 30-ride passes or pay the standard one-way fare, which would rise to $2.50 per trip by January 2009.

"We would not have proceeded with this proposal if we thought it was a violation of ADA requirements," said Sherry Repscher, ADA compliance officer for UTA.

In fact, she said, UTA is under no obligation to continue to discount the paratransit fares, though the transit agency intends to do so. Nor is any transit agency required to offer monthly paratransit passes at all, Repscher said, adding that UTA is one of only a few agencies nationwide that do so.

The Disability Law Center's opinion is the latest argument over the fairness of UTA's fare proposal, which the agency is fine-tuning at the same time it is finalizing the biggest Salt Lake County bus route redesign in its history.

The law center believes "this inequity runs afoul of the ADA by offering a greater benefit to regular transit passengers than to paratransit passengers. The proposed fare schedule treats regular transit passengers differently than it treats paratransit passengers, which is expressly prohibited under the ADA," according to an e-mailed statement.

For now, the legal advocates have been "making noise" and have submitted comments to UTA on the fare question, Schaar said. As for a lawsuit, "that's something we'll consider when we see what they do," she said.

Some of UTA's disabled customers are angry at the proposal to do away with the current $69 unlimited monthly Flextrans pass for a fixed-fare system that would cost $44 for 30 trips or $76 for 60 trips.

"It's just not a fair thing to do," said Doris King, vice-chairwoman of the Disabled Rights Action Committee. "If they're giving unlimited services to the regular bus [riders] they have to do the same thing with the paratransit."

Repscher emphasized that UTA has not made a final decision on the fare structure, which its Board of Directors must approve. The board is expected to take up the fare and the redesign proposals next month.