PTaccess - Newsletter 2
This is the second newsletter of the PTaccess project, which is an EC-funded research project. PTaccess deals with the accessibility of public transport systems for people with disabilities in Europe. PTaccess has three research focuses: 1.) investigation of the state of accessibility of public transport systems in Europe 2.) Good practice examples for accessible public transport and their costs and benefits 3.) Correlation of accessible public transport and social inclusion.
This 2nd PTaccess newsletter gives an overview of results achieved so far in the project and highlights some interesting findings.
The state of the accessibility of public transport in Europe
In order to get a detailed view of the accessibility of public transport in Europe, PTaccess conducted interviews in 25 European Member states. Representatives from all relevant stakeholders (public transport operators, disability organisations, and governmental authorities) were interviewed regarding various accessibility issues in public transport.
The results of the interviews showed that no comparable statistical data on disability issues can be obtained, as the definition of "disabled people" varies a lot amongst the European countries: e.g. from Malta we got the information that about 2% of the inhabitants are disabled whereas the results from France showed that 40% of the inhabitants are disabled.
The safety of public transport is perceived very differently by people with disabilities in the countries of the European Union: In 10 countries (Cyprus, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, and Sweden) people with disabilities think that travelling by certain modes of public transport is dangerous.
In all the interviewed European countries, stops and stations are much more accessible in urban areas than in city outskirts and in rural areas. In most countries accessibility issues are only taken into account, when stops and stations are newly constructed and when existing stops are refurbished. The results showed that the existing stops and stations are not sufficiently accessible for people with disabilities.
All detailed results from the interviews can be found on the PTaccess website www.ptaccess.eu
There you can download the comprehensive report, which summarises all the results from the interviews, and you can download the single country reports, if you are interested in the results of one specific country.
How to make public transport accessible
If you are looking for examples of how public transport can be accessible then look no further than the PTaccess website. Within PTaccess more than 70 good practice examples for accessible public transport have been collected. Here are just a few:
Bus buddying was established to help people who lack confidence (e.g. people with disabilities) in using public transport. It provides one-to-one support from volunteers who travel around with clients in the public transport network and help them to improve their confidence in using public transport.
At a talking bus stop people with visual impairments receive timetable information via spoken announcements. By pressing a key at the bus stop one can activate the speaking unit and the contents of the electronic display are announced acoustically.
In Paris tactile relief models were installed in metro stations. These tactile models help visually impaired people to orientate themselves in the metro station.
In Finland a nice way to raise awareness for accessible public transport has been developed: Toy accessible buses and bus stops and toy wheelchairs with dolls are distributed to kindergartens together with a storybook about accessible buses.
All the good practice examples (compiled in the summary report as well as single examples) can be downloaded from the download area at www.ptaccess.eu
Outlook
PTaccess is in its final phase and consists of examining the costs and benefits of selected good practice examples and drawing conclusions on the correlation of accessible public transport and social inclusion.
A PTaccess brochure will summarise the most important findings and results and will be distributed with the next newsletter.
Partners and Contact Information
Project Coordinator- Austrian Mobility Research FGM-AMOR, Austria (http://www.fgm.at)
Project Partners
- Independent Living Institute, Sweden (http://www.independentliving.org)
- Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Transport Sciences, Chair of Transport Ecology, Germany (http://www.verkehrsoekologie.de)
- JMP Consultants, UK (http://www.jmp.co.uk)
Contact
- Ursula Witzmann, FGM-AMOR, Phone: +43 316 810451 -45
Legal Disclaimer
The sole responsibility for the content of this newsletter lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.