Disabled Access for Public Transport
Yesterday's report into Public Transport Access for disabled users recommends that minimum standards be put in place so that operators of trains, buses and taxis can take disabled passengers. This would also include upgrading train platforms, bus stops and other public transport access points.
Personally, I think having disabled access to public transport is fine - as long as other users and ratepayers are not having to pay an unfair additional cost to fund the higher cost of making trains, buses and taxis wheelchair accessible and adding audio information for sight-impaired.
If the report had recommended that reasonable steps be taken, considering cost/benefit, that would be acceptable to me. After all, how many times have you seen a wheelchair user on a disabled access bus? It would probably be cheaper to send wheelchair bus users by taxi when required than pay for the extra expense of lowering bus floors and installing ramps.
Personally, I think having disabled access to public transport is fine - as long as other users and ratepayers are not having to pay an unfair additional cost to fund the higher cost of making trains, buses and taxis wheelchair accessible and adding audio information for sight-impaired.
If the report had recommended that reasonable steps be taken, considering cost/benefit, that would be acceptable to me. After all, how many times have you seen a wheelchair user on a disabled access bus? It would probably be cheaper to send wheelchair bus users by taxi when required than pay for the extra expense of lowering bus floors and installing ramps.
posted by Michael at
10:32 PM
5 Comments:
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Anonymous, at 9:51 PM
Shame on you Michael!!!!
If you were relegated to a wheelchair then you would soon want all the buses to have low floors and ramps. It is not rocket science to have them fitted to all public buses. After all a public transport system is for all the public and not just those fit enough to be able to jump on the running boards of a racing tram as it speeds past.
Christchurch currently has low floor buses (which can kneel) and working ramps on about 90% of its buses and this will climb to 100% as soon as the last of the old bus contracts expire and the new ones specifiy this feature. It is amazing how quick a wheelchair person can board a bus when it is fitted out properly. It takes virtually no extra time. The same goes for people pushing prams who use the same facilities.
If you have to pay 2% extra on a bus fair to have a modern bus capable of taking all then I'm all for it. After all I might need it myself sometime as might you.
By
steven, at 1:02 AM
I want diasabled people to have good access to transport too - but I agree that there are different methods of doing this.
The emotional and monetary costs have to be weighed up to see whether, a) subsidised taxi's, or b) renovated buses/trains, are the best.
With taxis, at least there's no danger of missing the right stop - AND the driver can take them right to the destination, rather than to the closest stop/station. But I don't know how much it'd cost to have this available enough.
The public transport option means fitting lots of extra features, and on all(?) services. A beneift would be that it helps disabled people from out of the region (don't need to know about taxi scheme), and also helps tourists (eg the visual "next stop is" signs, and the audible announcements).
Or perhaps some combo?
I read an intersting submission about how difficult public transport is for blind people and it really made me think. I'm really in awe of how blind people navigate.
By
Chaucey, at 7:12 PM
I was more on the line of cost/benefit analysis. For instance, the bus stop outside our house has no concrete ramp for wheelchairs and no information for sight-impaired people. An upgrade would cost, say $10000. If there was only one potential user then wouldn't be cheaper to put on a taxi for them.
The expense of upgrading every bus and train in Wellington to take wheelchair users would probably be more than the cost of buying cars with handcontrols or paying for taxis for every disabled person for twenty years. That just reflects that a majority of Wellington's buses are 1980s trolley buses and 1940s (Red Rattler) and 1970s (Hungarian) trains.
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Michael, at 1:30 PM
Michael, you don't waste time trying to upgrade existing buses. you just make sure that all the new buses you buy have low floors and ramps, fold down chairs etc and the cost is very little more than a old style bus. You know within a few years the Government will probably start legislating for it anyway so its best to have your bus fleet ahead of the pack.
Chaucey, taxis are taxis and buses are buses. make sure you don't confuse them. If somebody in a wheelchair wants to catch the bus. they don't want to wait, go find a phone and phone up a taxi. You have to make it fair for the disabled to get around otherwise you may as well ask for Maori to sit in the back and women on the left. A public bus system using Omnibus's means for all. Christchurch has held the World wheelchair games as well as regional games and currently has at least one wheelchair bound councillor.
regarding your own bus-stop it obviously needs a suitable surface but it is the buses which have tghe ramps not the bus stops. Have you seen a total mobility bus working?
Regarding the signage at the stop it should be clear and readable. A visually impaired person can wear glasses or even a scanner so the stop itself only needs clear and sharp graphics. mind you many of our stops now have push buttoms to tell you how long away the next bus is so what more do you want to know. Actually I foresee the time when the bus stop tells you all the days news, local snippets etc while you wait along of course with some desirable advertisements.
Mind you some cities could be crazy and give up buses and rely on cars. UGG!
By
steven, at 2:31 AM
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