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“We are also humans; things must be accessible even to us. Though there are rights and policies, we are still not able to access them fully,” said Anusuya, a sportsperson with a walking disability, adding that when she has to board a bus, she has to argue with the staff for at least five minutes before they help her.
Anusuya was speaking at an event organised by the Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) along with the Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) to launch a report titled “Moving without Barriers—Documenting mobility barriers encountered by people with disabilities in Chennai” on Thursday, August 20.
The report was based on a survey of about 200 people with disabilities about the difficulties they face while using public transportation to travel around the city, and brought up questions about accessibility and whether every person in Chennai is able to move safely and independently.
The survey showed that each mode of city transportation posed several problems. In buses, the disability ramps are not accessible, in metros there are gaps between the platform and the train, and railways has poor ramps and crowded platforms.
To find solutions, the event brought together all the stakeholders, such as the government, transport corporations, urban planners, civil society, and disability organisations.
A panel discussion titled ‘Accessibility a Challenge for the City’ with Akhila Shamugaraj, architect and urban planner from the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), Selvakumar, General Manager of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) , Gopinath Mallya, Chief Advisor of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) and Sathish, member of Disability Rights Alliance (DRA), was held on the challenges that people face while using public transportation.
S Saravanan, Joint Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation, who spoke on inclusivity, said, “Accessibility is a right, not a privilege.”
A city must be designed in a way that all the facilities are accessible by everyone, Akhila from CUMTA shared, adding, “We look at inclusivity and go on to cater for the wider community.”
Buses are one of the primary modes of transportation across Chennai city, of which the low-floor vehicles have been one of the facilities available for wheelchairs users. Selva Kumar from MTC said, “There are 1, 546 low-floor buses, of which 625 are ultra-low-floor buses. By the end of this year, 1,000 more low-floor buses will be added.”
Metro is the first transportation mode where the facilities are explained clearly so that users understand the mechanism, shared CMRL’s Gopinath Mallya. He said that the upcoming phase 2 will have ramps and braille boards, along with other facilities to ensure accessibility.
Srivatsan, from DRA, who has a speech and hearing disability, shared that communication has always been a challenge while using public transportation. He explained that while using the metro, it’s hard to understand which stop one is at due to inadequate signboard availability.
The event concluded by reiterating the need for an inclusive and accessible society. Urban planning needs to ensure that every available feature in the city is accessible to everyone.
This story was written by a student interning with TNM.
