Transport Department project officer Paul Smith designs tram stops so they are easier to use for people with disabilities. But it took the temporary loss of his own vision during a cross-town tram trip to fully appreciate how tricky using public transport is for the blind.
The experience was part of a Guide Dogs Victoria program, in which public transport workers are blindfolded and given a white cane before travelling on foot and by public transport with the assistance of a guide. It aims to give them a true taste of the challenges the vision-impaired face, and lead to better-designed public transport infrastructure. About 130 people have completed the workshop so far.
For Mr Smith a 1.5-kilometre journey from Exhibition Street to Docklands tired him out within a few hundred metres as he struggled walking to the tram stop, fearful of being hit by traffic or stumbling on footpath hazards.
”By the time I got to La Trobe Street I was quite mentally exhausted, just trying to get there without any major incident, even knowing I still had a guide there who was going to keep me out of trouble,” he said.
The trip involved an older-style tram stop and a newer super stop in Docklands with better access for people with disabilities.
The government hopes to upgrade half of Melbourne’s 1770 tram stops by 2017 and all by 2022. The average cost of those completed has varied from $500,000 to $1 million.
The works involve laying tactile tracks, installing audio bollards for arrival announcements, and raised platforms for level access.
Guide Dogs Victoria chief executive Karen Hayes said an ageing population and the increasing incidence of blindness through diseases such as diabetes meant any failure to improve public transport for the disabled risked isolating a growing section of society.
”If we do not begin to address these … issues now, we are going to further isolate a segment of our population by making them less mobile and more dependent,” she said.
The number of vision-impaired people in the state is forecast to jump from about 200,000 today to 350,000 by 2020, according to a report by Access Economics.
But some upgraded tram stops have been criticised for not being as safe and accessible as they ought to be. The chief executive of Blind Citizens Australia, Robyn Gaile, said Swanston Street’s new super stops were confronting for the vision-impaired because of cyclists and an absence of tactile paving in some places.
A spokeswoman for the City of Melbourne said the council was ”considering some design modifications”.
View Article (off-site)
- Cost
- Free
- Topics:
- Inclusion and access, Transport
- Author:
- Adam Carey
- Source:
- The Age
- Date published:
- Tue 10th Apr, 2012