The law on “Equal rights and opportunities, and inclusion of disabled citizens” passed in 2005 imposed on public transport authorities to elaborate an Accessibility Master Plan prior to February 2008 that describes the public transport services and draw measures to achieve full accessibility of the transport system by 2015.
STIF has just completed the first phase of the project and released the state of the art of accessibility of the Ile-de-France (Paris region) public transport network. The review covered all services: bus routes, rail and tram lines and stations, travel information, and door to door services (the obligation excludes metro lines).
A large consultation with all actors, operators, disabled people representatives and municipalities was conducted and the document reflects a common view.
Among the outcomes of the review:
– priority should be given to intermodality and to consistency across the network to ensure accessibility of the whole chain of transport,
– mechanical devices are not sufficient to achieve accessibility, human aid is needed in some cases,
– priority should be given to accessibility of bus routes less expensive to improve in a short period of time.