How long will disabled lives be sacrificed due to crying govt departments claiming they don't have money for pension funds?
Cost of low floor bus
vs
cost of disabled person's education, livelihood and freedom.
How can we even compare without looking at the bigger picture?
#A11y
Disabled people are under involuntary house arrest due to inaccessible public transport.
The Govt of Tamil Nadu has magnanimously made travel free for women and disabled @mkstalin .
Yay mobility = right, but how can a wheelchair user board a 3 step bus?
Low floor is for all
MTC has some cheek using the pandemic as an excuse when all TN's 4000+ buses bought since Madras High Court's order in 2016, are in contempt of the mandate of disabled-friendly buses.
At ~1100 mm floor height, they're under the TRUCK, not bus code!
With those 4000+ accessible buses, new worlds could have opened up for @RajivSpeaks , the petitioner who's spent his youth - 20 years waiting for the state to do the right thing.
Would you much rather we exist and die in our houses drawing paltry disability allowances than LIVE?
If ethics and empathy do not come easy, how about you just comply with the law?
Under #RPwDA India's disability act, the deadline for public transport service accessibility pan India was 15 June 2019.
Tamil Nadu by flouting Madras High Court's 2016 order got away for 5 years.
We cannot allow this charade of "public (but not for disabled) transport" to continue.
Not at the cost of our lives.
No lift workarounds for city buses at the cost of our safety.
A disabled-friendly bus for intra-city use can only be a level boarding low floor / low entry bus
The only road map disabled people need is :
* unencroached, wheelchair-friendly pavements with curb cuts and tactile warnings
* 400 mm bus shelter platform to enable easy boarding of low floor bus (required from 2012)
* Low floor buses + foldaway ramps
* Puffin crossings
* GTFS
This is your how manyth road map with mock earnest reassurances @RajivSpeaks ?
This begs for a cartoon titled 'Long and winding road to bus accessibility in Madras High Court'
Stars a wheelchair user growing old waiting to board while MTC buses pass by
🧵The Retrofit India deadline lapsed on 15 June 2022.
In 2023, only 10 out of 765 Chennai bus stops had ramps as per @chennaicorp survey.
Yet, < half of the surveys' bus shelters in 2024's 29 crore value tenders include ramps.
... because the ad hoc ramps put up hastily during the bus PIL slugfest are tacked on - protruding into the carriageway, blocks access to rest of the bus shelter with no access to pavement. The landing assumes Beam Me Up Scotty accuracy with non-BRT buses!
In further meaningless of Chennai's current bus shelter design, the ramp is only a little higher than the bus shelter floor making level boarding an impossibility.
In 2006, Delhi piloted a 380 mm GFH bus shelter (to level board LFBs) that blended into pavements with gentle ramps
This is an extraordinarily passive reaction @DGCAIndia. (Also what happens to the fine money invariably collected post such incidents - is it being used for passenger welfare?)
Please publicly release advisory issued & report when ready. Collating the many wheelchair incidents 🔻
Also a stakeholder consultation is to be conducted by @IBA_org_in - instead we have an incomplete document published with no publicity and a 1 week deadline!
Shouldn't it be held BEFORE releasing the draft, @ChiefIBA ?
Or is this 1 week mockery of a deadline the consultation?!
@IBA_org_in @ChiefIba And what's the point of your existence @mygovindia if you can't even provide a feed of such calls for public comments or requests for stakeholder feedback?
Are we expected to scan 10000 websites since Govt refuses to host on the platform created for this purpose @CEOMyGovIndia?
Why is Govt delaying organising a visit to check on whether Kilambakkam Bus Terminus design is inclusive for diverse populations, especially disabled citizens?
It's 2 weeks+ since #a11y concerns were flagged & access audit requested @CMDA_Official @PKSekarbabu @anshulmishra555!
#KilambakkamBusTerminus
Noting the lack of proper facilities for the disabled persons, @TARATDAC1 has requested the @CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin to order the officials concerned to conduct a complete inspection soon, along with representatives of Associations.
@TARATDAC1 @CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin As per the directions issued by the Madras High Court in April this year, bus infra should be scientifically designed to suit the requirements of disabled citizens, including level boarding platforms for passengers on wheelchairs. m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/d…
Dear @narendramodi @PMOIndia, @AshwiniVaishnaw @RailMinIndia , Members of the Railway Board & PM Gati Shakti - The Freedom of Movement Coalition (FMC) cautions you that 24470 crore of public funds must not be wasted to create infrastructure that can't be used by all.
#ABBS #a11y
There are gaps and faulty logic employed in current designs for redevelopment of stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme detailed in linked FMC media release and Railway Board communication :
Like missing or non standard tactile platform edge warning... bit.ly/on-access-track
Or safe indoor access to every platform for passengers on wheelchairs.
Currently without ramped Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), wheelchair users have to risk lives to use the tracks' trolley path. These can sometimes be blocked by goods vehicles.
List of 36 Indian rail stations with portable train boarding access ramps for passengers on wheelchairs :
Agra
Ahmedabad
Allahabad (Prayagraj)
Ayodhya
Bandra Local
Bhopal
Bhubaneshwar
Chengalpattu
Chennai Central
Dhanbad
Dharmapuri
EGMORE-Chennai
Erode
Guna
Hosur
@RailwaySeva please note this facility for passengers with disabilities. This isn't to be confused with built wheelchair accessibility ramps across railway station